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Four Must-Have Beginner Gardening Books

It’s never too early to start planning your garden. Try these beginner gardening books to avoid my mistakes.

I grew up on a 150-acre sheep farm in rural Virginia. We had a fabulous garden right out our back door. We ate from it all season long and well into the winter. Our pantry and freezer chest were chock-full of homegrown food. I still have vivid memories of picking fruit and vegetables throughout the summer, sweet corn, green beans, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, snap peas (my personal favorite as a child), potatoes, lettuce, squash (not my favorite as a child), pumpkins, strawberries, and even blueberries from the bushes my grandfather planted along the garden’s edge.

I don’t know about you, but when we went into COVID-19 lockdown I decided to start a backyard garden with my kiddos. I suppose it was partly nostalgia and the desire to keep my children outside busy and learning—and partly the new reality of limited trips to the bare-shelved grocery store that provided the motivation I needed to give backyard gardening a try.

Having grown up on a farm, I figured how hard could it be? I donned my mask and gloves, armed myself with a bottle of hand sanitizer, and made a trip to our local garden center for seeds and soil. Feeling optimistic, we started all kinds of seeds.

In the end, we managed to keep a small patch of snap peas alive long enough to harvest and learned a ton along the way, including what “leggy” beans are, that plants have to be hardened in New England (who knew?), that squirrels are out to get you (they love strawberries!), and that your garden zone really does matter.

Which got me to thinking, if only I had spent a few hours flipping through beginner gardening books, perhaps more of our plants would have seen the light of day. So, without further ado, here’s a short must-have list of beginner gardening books to get your garden growing.

Food definitely tastes better when you grow it yourself. Would these faces lie? We’d love to see your garden grow. Share your photos with us online @storeypub.

Oh, and if you are curious, my parents sold our farm after my little brother, older sister, and I left to start our own families. A lovely couple purchased it, and they carry on our family farm tradition (and then some!).


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