From The Ground Up: Gardening books in full bloom

If I’ve learned anything working in the garden all these years, it’s that you need to know before you sow.

It doesn’t matter if you are laying down a new lawn, putting in a rain garden, tacking up a trellis or planting your first tomato garden.

That’s why the only thing that is filled up more than my composter is my bookshelf, with gardening books.

I’ll soon be adding to the compost “pile,” as the 2012 crop of books is ready to be harvested.

Here’s a sampling of what the yield looks like this year.

E-mail: edel@northjersey.com. For the latest in gardening news, head to Ray’s blog at northjersey.com/compostings or follow him @ twitter.com/njgardening. Got a garden question? Post it in detail at northjersey.com/root.

* “Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers’ Movement,” edited by Zoe Ida Bradbury, Severine von Tscharner Fleming and Paula Manalo; Storey Publishing, $14.95. A collection of essays written by young farmers. Many of these agri-activists have left behind desk jobs to build self-sustaining farms and advocate for a more ecologically sound and re-localized food system.

* “Gardening Vertically: 24 Ideas for Creating Your Own Green Walls,” by Noemie Vialard; Norton Books, $24.95. It’s time to grow up — literally. Vertical gardening is not limited to growing climbing plants on walls and trellises anymore. Vialard packs her 144-page book with 24 ideas for vertical garden compositions.

* “Herb Gardening from the Ground Up,” by Sal Gilbertie and Larry Sheehan; Ten Speed Press, $16.99. Gilbertie and Sheehan offer up plans for 40 styles of herb gardens, including Tex-Mex, tea, breakfast, cake cookie, colonial and soup garden.

* “How to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other Crops” by John Jeavons; Ten Speed Press, $19.99. Now in its eighth edition, this 242-page paperback is a great reference for food growers, from home gardeners to small-scale commercial producers.

* “Natural Companions: The Garden Lover’s Guide to Plant Combinations,” by Ken Druse; Stewart, Tabori Chang, $40. Druse, a part-time New Jersey resident, presents the perfect plant pairings. Organized by season, topics include color, edible flowers, foliage, fragrance and grasses.

* “Northeast Fruit Vegetable Gardening,” by Charlie Nardozzi; Cool Springs Press, $22.99. From maintaining a garden and storing and preserving to knowing what vegetables, herbs and fruits work best, the author of “Vegetable Gardening for Dummies” and “The Ultimate Gardener” offers answers for us Northeasterners.

 

* “Rain Gardens: Sustainable Landscaping for a Beautiful Yard and a Healthy World,” by Lynn M. Steiner and Robert W. Domm; Voyageur Press, $24.99. Rain gardens are a hot topic these days. Hydrology scientist Domm and horticulturist Steiner provide simple, low-cost ideas and advice to help create a rain garden using native flowers, shrubs and trees.