Greengirls » Blog Archive » Hot garden reads for cold winter nights

Hot garden reads for cold winter nights

Posted on September 28th, 2007 – 7:45 AM
By Jaime Chismar

As mulching, planting and weeding took more and more of my time, I had less and less time for reading. In the spring, I was lucky enough to get through Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilema,” a must-read for anyone who likes to eat. I breezed through “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” but, it took me all summer to get through Elizabeth Royte’s “Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash,” — a mere 336 pages about landfills, recycling programs and dreams of zero waste.*

Somehow I still found the time to buy books, a stack of good intentions waiting patiently for the first snowy Saturday morning and a cup of coffee. Amy Stewart’s “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers” is a the top. The bright orange cover taunts me, “Why plant mums when you can read about the flower industry?”

Good point, little book. Maybe I’ll skip the mums and grind up some coffee beans.

Besides all the colorful, drool-inducing catalogs, what garden reads are you looking forward to this winter? What titles would you recommend to other gardening bookworms? Do you make it through your pile, or give into guilty pleasures like Harry Potter?

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 7:45 am and is filed under Books + Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Responses to "Hot garden reads for cold winter nights"

trudy says:

September 28th, 2007 at 9:28 am

Plenty, the year of eating locally.

sparklegirl says:

September 28th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

My copy of “Month-by-Month Gardening in Minnesota” — already very dog-eared and annotated — will no doubt see a lot of action again this winter as I plan for next year. My only complaint is that the book is organized in a way that — to me, at least — is a little clunky. It’s divided into chapters by plant type (e.g., roses, bulbs, perennials, etc.,) and then each chapter is broken down by months. I think I would have preferred chapters for entire months and THEN broken down by plant-type (this would make it much easier to compile a list of everything I need to do in May, for example).

That said, it’s a wealth of MN-specific information and a real help when trying to make plans for what to do when. Here’s the Amazon.com link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Month-month-Gardening-Minnesota-Melinda/dp/188860896X

bsimon says:

September 28th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

I’m looking forward to “Omnivore’s Dilemma” which is coming out in paperback soon.

Annie says:

September 28th, 2007 at 1:13 pm

Jaime I need your helpful advice! My Dutch bulbs just arrived in the mail yesterday and I’m nervous about planting them in these mild temperatures. Is it still too warm to put them in the ground? Will they send schoots up prematurely? This is my first time planting bulbs in the fall and I don’t want to waste or ruin them. Thanks!

laura says:

October 2nd, 2007 at 1:35 pm

i’m looking forward to having the time to page thru this book:

“easy garden projects to make, guild, and grow: 200 do it yourself ideas to help you grow your best garden ever” by barbara pleasant.

heres the link to amazon with a better description of the book
http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Garden-Projects-Build-Yourself/dp/0899094007/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7435084-5616063?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191350050&sr=1-1

Sarah says:

October 14th, 2007 at 11:36 am

I just finished “This Organic Life” by Joan Dye Gussow - a memoir about growing your own food by a nutritionist and local food advocate. I LOVED the first 2/3rds, the end got repetetive to me. But it’s a lovely memoir sprinkled with recipes and gardening ideas (and references to some other classic women’s gardening literature I’ll be checking out soon). If you need any justification for your vegetable gardening habit, look here.

Also reading essays here and there out of “Grassroots Gardening: Rituals for Sustaining Activism.” If you are an activist, organizer, overworked engaged citizen, or progressive person of faith, I highly recommend it. Great writing, very inspiring.

I bought them both at the first Amazon Books - a local bookstore in on 48th and Chicago in Minneapolis. http://www.amazonbookstorecoop.com

Jaime Chismar says:

October 16th, 2007 at 9:36 am

Thanks Sarah!

I love Amazon… This looks like a great read!