Gene Logsdon's The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening. To me it reinforced my belief that gardening is not a hobby or time filler, it is living a philosophy. Tom

For a how-to gardening book my favorite is 'The Vegatable Gardener's Bible,' by Edward Smith. As far as gardening tales and wisdom I love Michael Pollan's 'Second Nature' though anything by Roger Swain is a great read as well.

Gosh! Hard to pick. I divide gardening books into the practical advice and those about philosophy of gardening... The practical one I use the most is the "Readers' Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening in Canada" and then, one which I have enjoyed a lot this year: "The Garden, an English Love Affair", which covers about 1,000 years of gardening, going back to the Norman Conquest. Another really good one is "Lilies of the Hearth", this is all about the relationship between women and plants in history.

Still Square Foot Gardening. It's probably not the best, but my brother bought it for me when I was in high school to encourage me. It's the book that got me hooked. It helped me be successful and stick with it. It still gives me ideas.

Interesting question... but hard to narrow down to just one.

There are books about food history & culture (such as Will Weaver's books).

How-to's, such as "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" by Carol Deppe, or "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth.

Reference books, such as "Cornucopia II, A Sourcebook of Edible Plants" or "Garden Seed Inventory, Sixth Edition".

Harvest books & recipes, such as "The Bean Bible" by Eliza Green & "The Joy of Pickling" by Linda Ziedrich. And of course, the Ball Blue Book.

Coffee table books, including Amy Goldman's pictorials on squash & melons, and "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden" by Carolyn Male.

RODALE'S ALL-NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ORGANIC GARDENING and BETTER VEGETABLE GARDENS THE CHINEESE WAY by Peter Chan: wonderful method of raised bed gardening with many inspiring photographs. This has been my raised bed bible...not totally organic...

My favorites are two that haven't been mentioned. First is "The Progressive Farmer's Garden Book for the South."
(Out of print since the 60's)

Another is Angello Pelligrini's "A Food Lovers Garden." It is about gardeninig on the Pacific Slope of Washington and Oregon but it is so inspiring and well written that it will make your mouth water. It is easy to adapt to my zone by using the spring frost free and fall first frost dates.

I may have misspelled the names because I am at work and I don't have the books in front of me.

Joe

Any of Dick Raymond's books, especially Joy of Gardening.
He has a love & enthusiasm of gardening which is contagious.
The guy is a bit of a goober, but if his writings don't make you wanna get out & get your hands dirty, you don't have a pulse!

I use Joy Larckom's garden books for reference quite often.

Laugh all you want, but my first and only book to date on gardening is Gardening for Dummies. Everythign else I have learned in my rookie year came from these forums.

The book was an excellent newbie reference guide and has been helpful, and I thank them. I also thank you folks here for teaching and entertaining me. What a slice!

Clock

There's nothing wrong with the "...For Dummies" series. They actually go to the most respected authorities in the fields and ask them to contribute in writing.

{{gwi:98808}}

High-Yield Gardening by Brenda Bortz is an excellent book on how to utilize your vegetable garden space efficiently. I highly recommend it and it's very inexpensive via eBay or Amazon. A great reference addition to the garden library.

Crockett's Victory Garden by Jim Crockett is still my favorite. I learned more about gardening from Crockett than from anybody.

For me it's "Getting the Most from Your Garden, Using Advanced Intensive Gardening Techniques" It's by Dan Wallace, published by Rodale Press. It was written in 1980 and is long out of print but it can be found in used bookstores, Ebay, and such. This book is written so clearly and is a wonderful source of intensive gardening info.

My all-time favorite how-to book is John Seymour's The Self Sufficient Gardener. Luscious illustrations, practical information, easy to read. {{gwi:98809}}

My two favorites are "Tough Plants for Southern Gardens" by Felder Rushing and "Secrets of a Kentucky Gardener" by Karen Angellucci

Ruth Stout, "No Work Garden Book"