A Summer Bibliography

After many years of pretending to love books, I've finally admitted that I'm really not a great reader and don't love to read. It's such a shame to me and to my family, but it's the truth. I really, really don't want to "just curl up with a book" or do whatever it is my book-loving-mind of a husband does in his basement Bar-brary (he'll want me to mention that that is my name for his study, not his). I'd rather watch a show, listen to the radio, have a chat, or - what inevitably happens when I do pick up a book to read - fall asleep. Shame on me.

But there is one glaring exception to this rule, you guessed it; I love books about gardening. They are beautiful, they are useful, inspiring, challenging, they answer my questions known or unknown, and on and on. I love them and read them cover to cover and then leaf through them incessantly until I have to bring them back to the library - or pay for them because I left them out in the rain.

This year in books was especially memorable, but just in case, here's a recap:

WOW! This one blew my mind. I spent so long entrenched in garden rows and mini-monocultures, and this book suggested I make an aesthetic space out of my vegetable garden. Shocking! Mixing perennials with annuals! Flowers with veggies! Adding groundcover to a kitchen garden (still trying to digest that one)! Also, it is very lovely to look at and daydream of growing persimmon in MN.

I left it in the rain and am now the proud owner of a wrinkly, moldy, withdrawn-from-the-library copy of the book.

Same idea as The Beautiful Edible Garden, much less perfectly executed. Ivette Soler has lots of good ideas and a nobody's-perfect approach to gardening that I really appreciate, but her voice! Too sassy. As if I could be the judge.

Take the inspiration of The Beautiful Edible Garden and translate it to your entire property. More bonus mind-blowing, with lots of useful lists, such as: edibles for privacy; edibles for shade; edibles for foundation screen; etc. Featured are gardens of the rich and famous, including photos and diagrams of Chuck Close's amazing edible front yard. I'd love to own this one. It's very expensive.

Here's a farm-style gardening book that I keep coming back to because it is so very helpful. Holly has a copy, which I skeptically leafed through a few years ago and discovered a gardener's treasure trove of good information. Deep bed method gardening with really helpful sections on interplanting, crop rotation, and other matter-of-fact needs-to-know of vegetable gardening.

One from my mother. I didn't care much for it at first (years ago) because I didn't believe in growing anything but vegetables. This book covers everything but vegetables. Now that I'm a homeowner, I've discovered its use: specific notes on specific plants that are good for Minnesota, with pictures. Thanks Mom!!

Another nerdy book, but it's exactly what I need to have lying around the house. I got it at the bookstore by the Matchbox!!!

I will always love you, John Seymour. This was my very first book on gardening, a gift/cast-off from Matthew Beaver, and I reference it year after year after year. I'm trying to reconcile the deep bed/row style gardening of this book and Ed Smith's with the aesthetic approach I'm working toward in my front yard garden. I want to believe it can be done.

Finally, an impulse buy from left field to guide our transformation of the backyard into native prairie. Not a showstopper, but I'd read it again.

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I wish they had good books about sewing childrenswear and ladies' nightgowns in the dead of winter in your cold basement.