I like to read…though sometimes it’s hard for me to get into serious how-to gardening book. But I will read them straight through (not out of necessity just because I like it), even if it takes me a while. The most recent one was The Well-Tended Perennial Garden. I should have read it eons ago. The main complaint was it was a library copy so I had to return it after I had maxed out my renewals.

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden is the bible on maintaining perennial plants. If you are taking care of perennials, you should have a copy of this box. I don’t necessarily agree with or follow everything she recommends…but the book is an excellent place to start and then experiment on your own. I read straight through the first half, which is a how-to on installing and maintaining perennials. Even after maintaining perennials professionally, I learned a bunch from this guide. The second half is an encyclopedia with specific maintenance instructions for individual species, and that is why I want to own the book.

Because I’m currently nursing a lot, and I read when I nurse, I’ve read a lot. The next book I read was Four Tenths of an Acre by Laurie Lisle. Not a bad garden memoir about the author’s garden in New England, though nothing stood out to me that much either.

I’ve also read The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels–a Love Story and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (Aladdin Fantasy) to polish off the week. Niether are gardening books, but both are good reads and at least have gardens in them. I read them faster and probably enjoyed them more than the gardening books too.