Have you utilized the Davenport Library Seed Library yet? Located at our Main Street location, our seed library offers vegetables, herbs, flowers, and microgreens to our patrons for free! There are no costs to take seeds, plus no library card is required to use the Seed Library. There is a limit of five seed packets per month per household.

For more information about our seed library, give us a call or visit our Seed Library Growing Companion LibGuide.

While you’re preparing your garden, we have gathered a list of new gardening books! As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

A friendly guide to the simple and mindful practice of growing and enjoying cut flowers in every month of the year.

Flowers have the power to heal, connect, and bring joy, often when we need it most. And more importantly, the best flowers are those grown with your own two hands. The Beginner’s Cut Flower Garden is the perfect book for gardeners who are dipping a toe into growing cut flowers for the first time. Gardener and therapeutic horticulturalist Elizabeth Brown offers thoughtful, step-by-step, seasonally inspired narratives, information on the flowers to grow, and more, including:

• Focusing on your vision, color palette, and floral style
• Developing a cohesive garden plan, and installing garden beds
• Exploring floral design and creating arrangements with freshly cut flowers
• Inspiring floral art activities and natural dye projects​, and more …

With the poetry of a classic horticultural guide and the accessibility of a contemporary garden club, Brown brings a collaborative, welcoming spirit to the process of growing flowers: we’re all beginners here.

You, too, can grow flowers to enrich and bring brightness and balance to everyone’s daily life! – Timber Press

Do you want a fruitful vegetable garden with less work and less time? Try this revolutionary method for a continuous garden that practically grows itself.

With this method, there’s no buying transplants or starting seeds indoors (plants sow themselves!), no yearly planting (perennial crops return year after year!), no seed buying (you collect your own seeds!), and no “off” season (with protection, some crops yield year-round!). It’s a unique approach to creating a more sustainable, self-perpetuating vegetable garden that returns on its own year after year. Yes, you can grow MORE of your family’s food with significantly LESS work than a traditional vegetable garden.

After detailing the many perks of this method, author and professional gardener Charlie Nardozzi digs into this new approach by sharing:

• The know-how you need to establish your continuous garden in the best soil and location
• Insight on vegetables that sow their own seeds and return to the garden all on their own
• Profiles of permanent perennial vegetables that produce harvests for years to come
• Info on establishing a perpetual fruit patch in your landscape
• Handy lists of seeds to save to continue growing your favorites year after year
• Tips for protecting edible plants from frosts and freezes for a longer harvest
• Planting schemes to plan for a perpetual harvest in yards big and small
• And much more!

By planting the right combination of self-perpetuating plants and caring for them “just enough”, an enduring and abundant harvest awaits. – Cool Spring Press

From the critically acclaimed author of Saving the Season comes an accessible, comprehensive, and inspiring guide to growing your own garden and incorporating homegrown produce into everyday cooking—no matter how much or how little space you have.

For Kevin West, the surest path to a successful garden leads through the kitchen door. And preparing for a fantastic meal of homegrown vegetables—the kind of meal that leaves you not only satisfied, but grateful—is just what he wants to help you learn to do.

In The Cook’s Garden, West gives readers the tools and confidence they need to grow food for their own meals. From gardening basics and advice on harvesting, to delicious recipes showing how to make the best use of produce in any season—including primers on freezing surplus vegetables, making pantry staples such as canned tomatoes, and effectively using stored produce—this book promises to inspire anyone, even if their growing plot is as small as a window box in a city apartment. West’s erudite yet practical guide is interwoven with meditations on the beauty, poetry, and spirituality inherent in growing and preparing one’s own food.

The Cook’s Garden guides readers through jumpstarting their gardens and revolutionizing their kitchens—while also nourishing their minds and souls. – Knopf

An absolute must-read for any gardener who wants to level up their gardening skills, The Essential Guide to Bulbs is a gorgeously photographed, comprehensive, and inviting resource that is destined to become a gardening classic. Bulbs have a universal appeal—they are extremely diverse with many varieties to choose from, and they are great in containers. While many gardeners may be familiar with the early show of spring bulbs like daffodils and tulips, there are many more to choose from that provide three-season color, drama, and spontaneity in the garden. Plus, they’re great for a tighter budget.

Gardeners will discover:

• How to recognize what bulbs you love and personalize your garden to match your vision
• Planting techniques and design ideas for growing bulbs in any size garden
• Incorporating bulbs for pollinators, and the importance of ecological methods
• Tips for creating a brilliant bulb container garden in every season
• A wide array of bulb varieties with in-depth planting information – Timber Press

Learn how to build an enduring, resilient, and biodiverse landscape prized by pollinators and people alike from the foremost authority on gardening in North America.

The second book in the American Horticultural Society’s series of growing guides, Essential Guide to Perennial Gardening is a comprehensive and modern guide to cultivating and caring for perennial plants, including many perennials native to North America. Whether you grow in full sun or a shady corner, in a small space or a large landscape, the insight and guidance offered by the experts at AHS ensure you’ll have a thriving, bloom-filled garden. Included inside:

• Strategies for designing the perennial garden of your dreams or incorporating perennials into an existing garden
• Advice on selecting the best perennials for your climate and design style
• Techniques for fostering a robust and adaptable garden that requires lower maintenance
• Eco-friendly approaches to managing pests and diseases
• Information on routine perennial plant-care tasks such as dividing, pruning, pinching, staking, and fertilizing
• Insight on garden maintenance methods that do not negatively impact pollinators and other wildlife
• Over 150 perennial plant profiles with photographs and specific care advice

This complete and contemporary manual contains all the information you need to grow perennials successfully in the face of today’s many gardening challenges, including weather extremes, invasive pests, water-use restrictions, and other such trials. Its modern approach to perennial gardening focuses on treating the garden as an ecosystem that depends less on human interference and more on natural resiliency. – Cool Springs Press

Yes, you can grow mushrooms from scratch!

Why grow mushrooms?

Mushrooms are a joy to grow—for food, as a garden feature, or just for fun—and it’s easier than you think! Home-Grown Mushrooms from Scratch covers 19 varieties, from button (always versatile) to reishi (a medicinal powerhouse). Plus, here are delicious recipes, preserving methods, and more.

Where can you grow mushrooms?

Mushrooms will thrive in your garden, on your windowsill, and even in your basement. The key is to pick the right growing medium for your mushroom—a log, a bale of hay, or a simple pot of dirt—and give it a little shade.

How to grow mushrooms!

Experts Magdalena and Herbert Wurth explain every step of cultivation—whether starting from a kit, a culture, or a grown mushroom you’d like to propagate. From protecting mushrooms in extreme weather, to troubleshooting pests, here is expert advice for beginners and experienced growers alike! – The Experiment, LLC

Master the art of gardening with Martha Stewart’s Gardening Handbook: an in-depth guide that will teach you the knowledge and skills to cultivate a flourishing garden. From understanding soil composition to learning about different types of plants and gardening methods, you’ll discover the secrets to creating a stunning outdoor oasis.

Martha covers:

• the nuances of careful planning
• soil testing
• drainage
• watering and rainfall
• understanding plant hardiness zones
• the art of choosing the healthiest plants for your specific climate

Plus, all different kinds of plants like:

• annuals, perennials, and bulbs
• succulents and cacti
• vegetable and herb gardens
• trees and shrubs

From designing your garden to selecting the right varieties for your region, this manual has every detail covered. Whether you’re a green thumb or a gardening novice, this gorgeous book, filled with practical tips, stunning images (many from Martha’s personal gardens), and detailed explanations, will arm you with the knowledge to help your garden thrive. As Martha likes to say, gardening is a never-ending opportunity for growth. – Harvest