Amazing Books, II

I gave you my two favorite gardening books in my last post, but I thought I'd also list some honorable mentions.

1) McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container, by Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey. This is a great container gardening book, with good tips and instructions, suggested planting arrangements, and a sort of motivational "you-can-do-it" feeling about it.
2) How to Grow More Vegetables.... by John Jeavons. I have the more recent edition (the one with fruits, etc), though I think the first one is just as good. I like the main idea here: sustainable food production methods that can produce good yields and improve soil fertility in nearly any soil. However, I'm skeptical that it's possible to increase soil fertility without adding amendments if we aren't willing to put humanure in our gardens. It's a fun read, though, and offers thorough descriptions of many techniques relevant to home gardening.
3) Successful Gardening in the Greater Washington Area, edited by Thomson, Allen, Edwards, and Shaffer. This book won't be terribly useful to anyone living outside the Washington, D.C. area. (And might actually be very confusing to those in Washington state.) It was published by the Men's Garden Club of Montgomery County (Maryland) and includes a lot of region-specific wisdom, which is why it's one of my favorites. If you don't live in the DC area, maybe there's a garden club near you with some pearls of wisdom to share.

Hmmm, I think that's it for now. If I think of any more I'll post them later. Let me know what your favorites are - it's the reading/dreaming time of year!