GERTRUDE JEKYLL | BRITISH HORTICULTURIST
A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.
Want to learn how to garden organically? We’ve reviewed some of the best organic gardening books to help make you successful in your endeavors.
With the newly inspired age of health and fitness, people are slowly becoming conscious of what they eat. More and more people are turning to gardening, growing their own organic vegetables as an alternative to processed foods. But while it might be everyone’s hope to achieve that beautiful garden bursting with healthy greens and fruits, the sad reality is that it often doesn’t work out. Well, not without a little help, at least. Well, this is where gardening books come in.
Unlike the mild, shallow information you gain here and there from blogs and online platforms, books are a more comprehensive way of learning about organic gardening. With one of these at hand, you get a wealth of information on all aspects of the art, ranging from the soil structure to planting and maintenance techniques to weeding and pest control, and ultimately harvesting. All this can go a long way in expediting the gardening process and save you a ton of time and effort.
But then again, not all books are drafted equally. To help narrow down your selection, we filtered them down for you from the best sellers and fan favorites, coming up with one comprehensive list. These books are all written in elaborate and practical ways while still being relatively easy to follow.
You May Also Like: Organic Gardening Tips for Beginners
Best Organic Gardening Books Reviews
When it comes to organic gardening, people come to the table with different goals and experience levels. Perhaps you just want to start a small kitchen garden. Or maybe you want to learn how to grow food for your family so you can stop purchasing expensive organic fruits and vegetables at the store.
Then there are those people who are interested in learning how to become totally self-sustainable with their own mini farm or homestead. And maybe even make some extra money with an organic market garden.
Because we understand people have different needs, our top organic gardening book recommendations list include a variety of topics — ranging from organic raised bed gardens to small no till gardens, all the way up to starting your own organic mini farm or homestead. We know you fill find something that's perfect for you!
We also have three honorable mentions you may want to consider.
Don't have a lot of time to read reviews right now?
Skip ahead to our list of organic gardening book recommendations.
The First-time Gardener: Growing Vegetables. All the know-how and encouragement you need to grow — and fall in love with! — your brand new food garden.
By Jessica Sowards
The first book in our list of the best organic gardening books for beginners, First-time Gardener: Growing Vegetables just about says it all in its name. With years of gardening experience backing her up, the author Jessica Sowards sets out to educate new gardeners looking to sink their hands into soil for the first time. She answers, in detail, all the questions common to new gardeners while giving numerous tips on how you can best manage your time as you start out.
Other than her history as a homesteader, Jessica is also famously known for her YouTube channel, the Roots and Refuge Farm. And as you might expect from a famous YouTuber, she has perfected the art of storytelling. The book is laid out in this easy-to-read and interactive format. She emphasizes how you need to fall in love with your garden for it to flourish.
Despite its extremely warm and hearty approach, all the information is factual, clear, and easy to follow through with. You get step-by-step instructions on sure-to-work techniques, as well as colored illustrations all through. The author also gives a rundown of some organic pesticides you can use to decrease the interaction with chemicals in your garden.
What people say about this book...
“Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout in full-color photography...the ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, school, and community library Gardening & Horticulture instructional reference collection.”
“Jess has SUCH a way with words, and explains all the ins and outs in a way that is both poetic and so beautifully written but also very easy to understand.”
The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, 2nd Edition: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions: Wide Rows, Organic Methods, Raised Beds, Deep Soil
By Edward C. Smith
The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible is perhaps one of the most celebrated materials on gardening of all time. It has been the subject of many talks and referred for years to both novice gardeners and experienced gardeners alike. Its author, the legendary Edward Smith, is inspired by his own gardening experience. He is renowned for cultivating over 100 types of vegetables in his over 15,000 square feet garden. Needless to say, you can trust that he knows what he is talking about.
In this book, the author shares insight into cultivating healthier, organic, and great-tasting vegetables most effectively and systematically. This second, newly updated version comes with the latest insights on modern gardening methods. It emphasizes more so on smith’s W-O-R-D gardening system. The abbreviation in full represents Wide rows, Organic methods, Raised beds, and Deep soil. It covers a thorough profile of many different plant varieties; you’ll learn new innovative ways of extending your growing season.
Readers especially appreciate the way it is structured. It boasts a vast array of gardening techniques grouped from A to Z format. You’ll get to understand every aspect of beginning and maintaining a garden. It also touches on different planting schemes, like how you can economize on your raised gardens so that you can plant as many plants in a particular area and which plants you can interplant and do well together. Additionally, he mentions a thing or two about soil like how you can check its state while improving it to produce better organic plants.
What people say about this book...
“This is exactly what it says the gardening bible!! Tells You every little thing about every kind of vegetable and most herbs!! And its a big big book”
“This year my garden is twice as big and I’ve had to give away two harvest on top of what I’ve eaten. I am only two months in and thrilled with what I’ve learned. I highly recommend this is your new to gardening”
The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control: A Complete Guide to Maintaining a Healthy Garden and Yard the Earth-Friendly Way (Rodale Organic Gardening)
By Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara W. Ellis and Deborah L. Martin
As a farmer one of the issues you’ll have to battle with at some point is pests and diseases. And if you are truly committed to all organic gardening, you want to avoid using chemical-based pesticides. The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control is here to show you how more natural methods can be used to control pests and diseases. It's one of the best books about organic gardening in terms of teaching how you to maintain your garden.
This gardening book begins by touching on soil health. It emphasizes how you can use compost and cover crops to increase the vitality of the soil. It then gets into detailed explanations grouped by fruit, vegetable, or nut. Taking about the particular culture of each plant and the problems it is likely to follow. Then it goes over a couple of organic methods proven to work when dealing with pests and diseases.
The Organic Gardener’s Handbook comes as a third edition of the Rodale Organic gardening book series. The series has been a go-to in organic farming methods for decades; only this updated version comes with all the newer science-based techniques of dealing with these gardening problems. It is filled with new photos to help you identify newly emerging plant diseases and pests. This way, you can distinguish between harmful visitors in your plant ecosystem and insects that actually help the plants, like earthworms, bees, garden spiders, and butterflies.
What people say about this book...
“This book is incredibly useful! It starts with a section of cultivation information for a wide variety of edibles, which has been so helpful! In addition to how to grow each plant, there are sections on possible issues, including diseases, pests, and poison”
“Thorough, easy to read and well organized. Helps me to find the problem and the solution to pests and diseases in my vegie and flower gardens”
The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition
By Eliot Coleman
Since its first publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been the holy grail of gardeners and farmers everywhere for years. It has supported countless new farmers venturing into the gardening realm, helping them build successful farms while being mindful of nature. And now the recently updated 3rd edition is even more relevant than ever.
The author Eliot Coleman boasts an incredible amount of knowledge in the field of organic farming. In fact, he is currently heading the organic movement in the US. In the book, he showcases all the new techniques and tools he’s developed and experimented with over nearly 4 decades. Part of the new material is a special section about incorporating flowers on a small firm as well. The information is well researched and inspired by working techniques used on earth over centuries.
The new organic grower is especially useful for gardeners working with small-scale fields of 2.5 acres and below. It shows how you can start off as a young farmer, and make the most of your organic garden and expand into a more commercial arena. You’ll get how to make a profit from the farm you live on. The book features elaborate color photographs to guide you through the how-to’s and give you a visual understanding of it all.
What people say about this book...
“Eliot Coleman is an experienced farmer, eloquent author and probably an extremely hard worker. I have always enjoyed his books, written in an easy to understand conversational style and full of valuable information for me as a ever-learning gardener and garden instructor.”
“There is a reason this book is so often referenced everywhere you look. It has the perfect balance of detail while still being simple to digest”
Organic Gardening for Everyone: Homegrown Vegetables Made Easy - No Experience Required!
By CaliKim
Much like you saw with our first pick, The First Gardener, CaliKim the author for Organic Gardening For Everyone, started out her journey in gardening on YouTube. Her channel has grown to be one of the most popular online platforms addressing topics around organic farming over the years. The organic farmer-cum-California mom garnered most of her information by sourcing it from her subscribers when starting out. She would ask her subscribers for advice to questions as they came up; ultimately, using the information to grow a successful organic garden that even thrived in the harsh California climate.
Organic Gardening For Everyone is a culmination of all her personal experience starting out. At its core, the book takes a personal approach to the social-economic aspect of growing a successful organic garden. Coming from a mother, it also touches on how you can manage to balance out a hectic family-oriented lifestyle while fulfilling your gardening ambitions. You get to learn how to manage your time efficiently and how you can involve your whole family in the process to make the experience delightful for everyone.
Despite being only 150 pages, the book covers all you need to know about gardening. It Includes a step-by-step approach on how to grow the most common edibles in an organic way. The author uses an interactive approach, backing it up with an easy-to-follow format and stunning photos. She has this incredible way of simplifying the process, so it feels actually doable by literally everyone. Yes, kids included!
What people say about this book...
“Love to watch the CaliKim YouTube videos & the wealth of information she gives out regarding a home organic garden. This book is a great go-to hands-on resource for most all of your gardening needs. Well written in language even the newest gardener can understand & follow”
“If you are looking to learn about growing your own herbs and vegetables then the next, … is simply a must have. It is brimmed with a wealth of knowledge.”
Companion Planting: The Beginner's Guide to Companion Gardening (The Organic Gardening Series)
By M Grande
If you are not new to gardening, then you’ve probably heard about companion planting. It is where you strategically place certain plants in proximity to each other so they can help each other grow. Well, Companion Planting: The Beginner's Guide to Companion Gardening takes you through a detailed elaboration of how exactly this works. It also highlights the plants known to work well together and the ones that impede each other’s growth.
The book is well written, informative, and precise. It is a fast read yet still covers all the fundamentals of companion planting. It is well organized, in alphabetical order of herbs, fruits, and vegetables, so you can better plan for your crops more efficiently. You’ll also see how the different plant root systems under the soil improve the soil's structure and help bring the nutrients closer to the surface.
Additionally, there is an extensive segment on pests and how to deal with them in an organic manner. You’ll get to learn which plants tend to attract beneficial bugs that help the soil and fend off the bad pests. The only downside is that it lacks tables and photos, so there is little visual aid.
What people say about this book...
“Easy to read and understand, helpful for keeping a balance in your back yard garden. I double check it before planting time every year”
“Love the way the book is laid out. Makes a quick and easy read and a wonderful reference to read over and over. Indexed and outlined perfectly”
The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening: Grow beautiful vegetables, herbs, and flowers — the easy way! Layer your way to healthy soil.
By Charlie Nardozzi
If you are looking to try out the no-dig gardening method but don’t know where to start, then look no further than The Complete Guide to No-Dig Gardening. The book offers a step-by-step approach to making healthy garden soil by adding organic matter in layers instead of traditional digging, which involved disrupting the soil.
The book goes over the vast benefits of the technique, explaining why no-dig gardening can help yield more fruitful results. The author, and veggie-growing expert Charlie Nardozzi, elaborates how you can get started with creating your own no-dig garden. You’ll learn how to build a more nutrient-rich soul, other variations of the no-dig gardening technique like containers and raised beds, as well as how you can incorporate the no-dig growing on your already existing garden.
The book is written in a simplistic, easy-to-follow approach. The writer is nationally recognized as a speaker, writer, and radio and television personality. He finds a way of bringing out the information in a fun and accessible way for everyone.
What people say about this book...
“Charlie Nardozzi's No-Dig Gardening guides you in user-friendly terms how to turn your backyard spaces into easily managed healthy gardens that are less work with greater yield using no-dig techniques.”
“The book explains both quite well and there are lots of how-to step-by-step pictures. The pictures and illustrations in the book are great and really help you to digest the material quickly and easily”
Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know to Start and Sustain a Thriving Garden
By Tammy Wylie
No list of the best organic gardening books would be complete without one that covers the topic of raised bed gardening. Not everyone has acres worth of yard to spare for their gardening ambitions, but this shouldn’t stop you from following through with your gardening dreams. The Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners is here to show you how you can use the raised bed technique to make a beautiful garden in just a few square feet.
The book addresses all you need to know about raised bed gardening. This includes everything from constructing the bed to preparing and maintaining the soil. There are also detailed recommendations on how to do partner planting, crop rotation, and seed starting. Other than that, in chapter 6 of the book, you’ll find 30 plant profiles, so you can choose the appropriate plant to grow in your particular garden. This way, even the most inexperienced gardener will get to enjoy their freshly picked herbs and veggies in no time.
The book is written in an easy-to-read fashion. It has all the pertinent information backed by a lot of pictures and drawings. The author Tammy Wylie makes it so that all the concepts are easy to comprehend so you can spend less time planning. The book itself is physically appealing, feels food to the touch, filled with smooth, thick square pages, with plenty of space for taking down notes.
What people say about this book...
“This book was great! It has everything you need to know for a starter raised garden, including what plants work best together and how exactly to purchase your supplies”
“I appreciated the personal perspective of the book - felt like having a conversation with my grandfather. Very simple, straightforward and well-thought out approach to beginning gardening”
Rodale's Basic Organic Gardening: A Beginner's Guide to Starting a Healthy Garden
By Deborah L. Martin
If you’re are a completely new gardener and have no clue where to begin, then the Rodale's Basic Organic Gardening by Deborah L. Martin would be the perfect start. It's arguably one of the most comprehensive guides for new gardeners. It answers all the questions new gardeners usually have, starting with whether you need to dig to where to dig. You’ll also get strategies you can use while planting, like how to plant the seed and how much water you should feed it.
Rodale’s Baic Organic Gardening other major need to know gardening topics like the soil and how to interact with it, seeds, compost, pest and weed control. The author expresses it in simple language, so even small-scale gardeners can get sure success on the first try. As a plus, the book defines over 100 of the common garden terms. The start starts sidebars are extremely handy. They offer the most doable projects you can start with to build your confidence.
The book also touches on the most modern approaches to organic gardening, including the no-dig method and garden layouts. It speaks to the novice gardener’s goals, enthusiasm while supplementing them with all the necessary information.
What people say about this book...
“As always, Rodale delivers--this time it's a comprehensive source for organic gardening. The book is well-organized and anticipates and answers questions clearly.”
“Fantastic, informative text that has anecdotal information along with all you need to know about beginning a small organic garden.”
The Family Garden Plan: Grow a Year's Worth of Sustainable and Healthy Food
By Melissa K. Norris
Organic food is hands down the better way of ensuring the well-being of you and your loved ones. And with a well-established garden, it is entirely possible to sustain all the vegetable and fruit needs of your family all year round. The Family Garden Plan is centered on how exactly you can build this garden. You’ll learn all the practical ways you can do this, like drafting yearly worksheets, so you can plan out the amount of food to expect to grow. Charts will also help figure out how much each person in the family needs for a year’s supply and how much each plant produces.
The author Melissa Norris is a homesteader and host of the renowned Pioneering Today podcast. She also has other books and Facebook groups centered around organic gardening. She has years of experience in sustainable gardening and is therefore at a position of helping a beginner find their tracks. She walks you through each step, from planning, choosing crops, economizing on the gardening space to preserving the food you harvest.
The writing flows well and incorporates a friendly, personal tone. Other than the usual veggies you might already be familiar with, it covers other different types of plants, including edible perennials, herbs, fruit trees, and edible flowers. While primarily intended for beginners, the book is still resourceful for experienced gardeners. It is riddled with illustrations, worksheets, and charts that can go a long way in helping plan each year’s gardening.
What people say about this book...
“This is the most detailed & well thought out gardening guide I have found. Melissa K Norris walks you through & shares her tried & true knowledge so that you may also have the best gardening experience possible”
“The Family Garden Plan is one of the most well thought out, detailed, straight forward gardening books that I have ever had the pleasure to read. It is one that I will reference again and again”
JADAM Organic Farming: The Way to Ultra-Low-Cost Agriculture!
By Youngsang Cho
If you are farming on a budget and need to make the most out of your money, then look no further than JADAM Organic Farming. The book was primarily written to help organic farmers do their operations at ultra-low costs. It goes over various affordable methods and technologies used by farmers that are effective yet incredibly affordable.
Some major topics in the book include soil. Here, the author show’s you how to boost soil minerals and increase microbial diversity. It also tackles soil fertility, how to raise it, and how to tackle soil compaction and high salt levels. Other topics include how to make and use natural pesticides instead of the more harmful chemical ones. The author supports his minimalistic strategy of farming using logical and sound philosophy. You’ll also get some refined recipes to the methodology, including sulfur, wetting agents, and such.
The author Youngsang Cho started his own farm back in 1991 in the Chungnam Province of Asia, majoring in the Jadam system. After success, the author continued since then, promoting this farming system in his book jadam organic farming. In 2002, he established the Jadam natural pesticide institute, where he’s been researching and experimenting with different natural pesticide techniques since. Instead of patenting his technologies, Cho opted to share them in his books.
What people say about this book...
“I haven't read the whole thing yet, but from the first 60 pages, I thoroughly appreciate the author's respect for nature and the explanations of what to pay attention to when trying to come up with a solution. Great recipes, too, that make a lot of sense and are very inexpensive to make. Highly recommended”
“This is a great resource for the natural farmer! The JADAM style is much easier than other Korean Natural Farming methods I've studied”
The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower's Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming
By Jean-Martin Fortier
The Market Gardener is the book to consider when you need a quick and efficient strategy to maximize on small-scale organic farming — and that's why this classic book made our list of the best organic gardening books. Author Jean-Martin and his wife Maude-Helene drew inspiration from their personal experiences where they were able to feed over 200 families, using their CSA and thriving seasonal market stands. It is specifically written for the market gardener who is not yielding expected returns or any individual considering being one.
In the book, the authors reveal a few of the secrets they used adapted and used for over 10 years to guarantee their success. This included low-tech and high yield methods that focus on growing better instead of bigger. It has practical information on how to set up micro-farms through biologically intensive crop systems, farming without the use of the tractor to minimize fossil fuel inputs, and mixing your vegetables systematically to enhance weed and pest management, harvesting, and crop yields.
The book is filled with helpful farming tips that will prove handy. For instance, you’ll see how densely you should plant your seedlings, crop rotation, the equipment you’ll need, and CSA and its benefits. It is a must-have for seasoned growers as well as beginners looking to be more economical with their effort and time.
What people say about this book...
“Jean-Martin Fortier shows a very viable, low-tech and sustainable alternative in “The Market Gardener,” where a homestead on just two or three acres can be enough to earn a reasonable living while pursuing your dream”
“This book is overflowing with helpful tips to move from having a hobby farm to achieving real volume of production for sale to the market. I've used many of the instructions in the book to increase the production of my small farm”
Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
By Brett L. Markham
Now, if you are working with a much smaller, less-than-quarter acre farm, it doesn’t mean that you still can’t adequately feed your family and earn some profit while at it. Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre is just the book to show you how. The book takes on a holistic approach to mini farming. The idea is that you can produce up to 85 percent of your average family’s meal requirements while spending a fraction of the time you would normally need for this.
The book will show you how to plan, prepare, choose, time, and manage your farm. And everything else you need to run a garden successfully. The author particularly focuses on delivering the most fundamental information in a straight-to-the-point fashion, so you can easily get what you are looking for without having to skim through a lot of unnecessary data. Being an engineer by trade Markham is also able to showcase the mathematical aspect of it all you can use in projecting crop yields without making it seem so technical
On the first few pages, you’ll also get tips on how to manage and prepare your soil. The topics are well organized and comprehensive. The author also compares information from other farming books, showing you which techniques work and which don’t and why.
What people say about this book...
“The book is fast and succinct, with a bounty of information. I marveled at how he got it all in there!! It reads quickly too.”
“This book is EXACTLY what I was looking for when I first started out. It's a book written by someone else who also admits to doing tons of research -- and trying out lots of different gardening approaches”
Best Organic Gardening Book Recommendations
Well, there you have it, we have tried to base our selection of the best organic gardening books with the most positive reviews by readers. Hopefully, with a few of these in your arsenal; you’ll have your flourishing garden in no time.
Don't forget about our honorable mentions which include Vegetable Gardening for Beginners: A Simple Guide to Growing Vegetables at Home by Jill McSheehy, the The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People by Amy Stross, and Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills by Abigall Gehring.
Let's recap our list of best books about organic gardening — complete with the latest price on Amazon!