In no particular order, we’re recapping 15 great books from 2010 for the gardener on your holiday shopping list. Any one of them would be a great holiday gift for the green thumb on your list. We’ll feature a book a day starting December 7.

Put ‘em Up! A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide
for the Creative Cook
by Sheri Brooks Vinton

Put ‘em Up! (Storey Publishing, 304 pages, $19.95) offers simple, step-by-step instructions with colorful photos and 175 delicious recipes for home preserving. The author begins with a section on techniques that offers how-to information for every kind of preserving: refrigerating, freezing, air- and oven-drying, cold- and hot-pack canning, and pickling. Equipment lists, process instructions, ingredients, and storage details are provided and highlighted with drawings. There is even a chapter entitled “Things that Will Surely Get You into Trouble,” to help the reader avoid common mishaps.

Recipes using many common fruits and vegetables include tried-and-true favorites like applesauce and apple butter, dried tomatoes, marinara sauce, bread and butter pickles, and classic strawberry jam. Some of the more unique recipes include “Wasabi Beans,” “Cherry and Black Pepper Preserves,” “Pickled Fennel,” “Sweet Pepper Marmalade,” “Berry Bourbon,” and “Salsa Verde.”

Flexible options for each recipe are provided with a color-coded, icon system. Within a single recipe, choices of various methods are listed at the end of each set of instructions so the cook can decide which process they would like to use.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

In no particular order, we’re recapping 15 great books from 2010 for the gardener on your holiday shopping list. Any one of them would be a great holiday gift for the green thumb on your list. We’ll feature a book a day starting December 7

Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web
by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis

Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life—not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. The use of chemical fertilizers injures the microbial life that sustains healthy gardens. Plants then become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial, often toxic, substances. The alternative to this vicious cycle is to strengthen the soil food web, the complex world of soil-dwelling organisms whose interactions create a nurturing environment for plants. 

Teaming with Microbes (Timber Press, 220 pages, $24.95) extols the benefits of cultivating the soil food web. First, it describes the activities and organisms that make up the web. Next, it explains how gardeners can cultivate soil life through the use of compost, mulches, and compost tea. This revised edition updates the original text and includes two completely new chapters. One is about mycorrhizae while the other covers archaea, single-celled organisms once thought to be allied to bacteria. 

This updated resource will help everyone create rich, nurturing, living soil—from organic gardening devotees to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy, vigorous plants without resorting to chemicals.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

In no particular order, we’re recapping 15 great books from 2010 for the gardener on your holiday shopping list. Any one of them would be a great holiday gift for the green thumb on your list. We’ll feature a book a day starting December 7.

Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year-Round Gardens
by Adrian Bloom

There are thousands of perennials and grasses available to gardeners, and that can make it hard to know which plants are right for your own unique garden. Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses (Timber Press, 208 pages, $34.95) features 250 choices that are beautiful and easy-to-maintain, and also provide year-round interest.

Detailed descriptions have information on growth, care, and design tips for use in gardens of all sizes. The author shows how to design and plant well-structured borders that feature perennials and grasses with a mix of other plants playing supporting roles. He also shares his trademark “river of plants” design style that dramatically features a plant’s beauty throughout its life. 

Colorful photos throughout the book highlight unique plant combinations to create beautiful complementary designs, even in the winter season. A directory includes plant details and recommendations that focus on predicting how the plant will perform in your own garden.