Reddit reviews The Garden Primer: Second Edition

I would suggest a general "How to garden" type book like The Garden Primer and a reference for different plants/methods like Rodale's Organic Gardening Encyclopedia. I got both of these used for like $10 from Alibris.com.

Really there's too much info to do gardening justice in a few blurbs. If you're serious you'll spend a few bucks on a lot of knowledge.

Talk to the person at your local garden center. Tell them what effect you're going for, and what the light is like. Also mention that you're not so great with plants, so flora native to your region (i.e. stuff that just grows naturally outside without help) is the best.

Also, in the spirit of the community, this book is a gardeners best friend and a perennial (pun intended) best seller.

My fave is The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch

As a fellow newbie gardener, I can strongly recommend Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch as a useful reference book. It's been hugely informative for me. It has general sections on amending soil, fertilising, correct watering, etc, and then specific sections for Veges, Fruits, Flowers, Shrubs, etc. Just a stack of good, easy-to-read information.

After following some of the advice from Damrosch (and, of course, /r/gardening) my tomatoes are already twice the height of last year's, and it's only early spring in Australia :)

I've found Barbara Damrosch's book "The Garden Primer" to be very helpful as a new gardener. Very comprehensive - all sorts of plants, tools, layout, seed catalog listings, just great.

https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Primer-Second-Barbara-Damrosch/dp/0761122753/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475111654&sr=8-1&keywords=garden+primer+barbara+damrosch

I planted 2 bushes in the spring here in NY. They get LOTS of sun (8+ day) and I water them deep with a soaker daily for about 20-30 min. I planted mine in deeply dug loamy soil which I mixed with fresh compost. They are growing like weeds and bearing fruit all summer so far. Dark green leaves.

So...I dunno what is going on with yours but maybe you can compare to what I’m doing and see if you’re doing anything different to troubleshoot? I got my tips from The Garden primer which I picked up years ago. Pretty good reference book, I’ve had success with her tips.

I recommend starting out with The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch.

Otherwise, there are literally thousands of books that will walk you through every step of the process, both simply and in exhaustive personalized detail. Hit up the library.

My Bible is [The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch)(https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Primer-Second-Barbara-Damrosch/dp/0761122753/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483907078&sr=8-1&keywords=the+garden+primer+second+edition) What I like about her book is she describes the soil needs for each plant and detailed growing instructions. My copy is covered in dirt from trying to find out how to grow items from Tomatoes to Zinnias. Check it out. It's just the best to have around.

These are some of my favorites:

• Crockett's Victory Garden - There are also versions for flowers and lawns as well as the main garden one. It's organized by month and has lots of special chapters on different skills or tools or general information.
  
  
• Square Foot Gardening - It's written as a persuasive piece, but it's got good information on all different kinds of vegetables and explains the square foot method. Even if you don't use the method itself, the ideas in general can be useful.
  
  
• Backyard Herb Garden - This is an older book, but it's got a lot of helpful specific information on different herbs and ideas for growing them.
  
  
• Kitchen Garden for Beginners - It's not a perfect book, but I think it did a great job giving an overview of different gardening methods, plants and issues you might face.
  
  
• Vertical Gardening - This one is more specific, but all the trellis designs were fun and very helpful.
  
  
• Storey Country Wisdom Bulletins - These are nice little pamphlets ($4 on Amazon) on different plants (ie. tomatoes, peppers, strawberries) or topics (ie. fixing your soil or building a fence) that are pretty useful for gardening. Also they had some ideas that were new to me.
  
  
• Garden Primer - This one is also a good overview. And seems to be popular it covers general garden topics and has information about specific vegetables.
  
  
• The New Self Sufficient Gardener - It's got a lot of good general information, awesome illustrations, background explanation and information on specific vegetables.
  
  In terms of location specific information, as someone who recently moved half way across the country, your best off looking up the Extension website for where your living to find information on suggested varieties, new pests you might encounter, soil types and things like that.