A gardening bible for novices.

[NippyNinjaCrab]

I was hoping someone could recommend a gardening bible with basic, easy to follow instructions, how to create a flower and shrub garden from scratch.

I have a border under a front window I want to make a project just for me. It already has iris tubers at one side ( see previous post)

I'd love climbers, scented flowers and things to enjoy each season. I love greenery too. I dont mind things growing around the window.
I can add some photos tomorrow if anyone can advise?
X

The 'Expert' series of books by DG Hessayon. There's one on practically every gardening topic: flowers, shrubs & trees, lawns, containers, roses, vegetable growing, the lot. You can get them cheap on Ebay or similar and they are great for new gardeners. I've had my copies for decades and still refer to them regularly.

The Flower Expert and The Tree & Shrub Expert would be ideal to start with.

My absolute favourite gardening book is Small Garden by John Brooks.
Lots of photos of how you put plants together in a small space to achieve different garden looks.
In all fairness, there's not much on cramped new builds but it did inspire me and there's lots of advice on plants, as well as georgous ( small) gardens.

Thank you so much, I will invest in these recommendations, xx

Geoff Hamilton, Ornamental Kitchen Garden.
Old but all about seasonality and angles.

Also an old copy of the Hillier Encyclopedia of Gardening (they are in Charity shops)

I've got that book, he's one of the best garden designers in the world, but probably not that straightforward a book for basic advice.

Check out YouTube. Start with The Middle Sized Garden and go on from there. I know you are only talking about one bed but she has lots of useful advice about odd spaces and corners.

I also think every newish gardener should get hold of a copy of Helen Yemm's Gardening in your Nightie, but it's not particularly helpful for your specific OP.

If I was starting from scratch the book I would want is Alan Titchmarsh's The Complete How to be a Gardener. It's in most libraries.

The trouble with most gardening books aimed at beginners is that they have too much information on planting but not enough on design.

ie you know you like roses, you buy a book that’s got lots about growing roses and you plant a beautiful David Austen rose as your focus .
And yes it’s fab for 5 months but you have bear branches or worse chopped spikes for the rest of it. So you plant something evergreen next to it which then grows too big and some winter crocus’s that are too small etc etc

His book worked really well for me. Simple ideas about what looks good.

I had a David Austen rose and killed it, @Marchintospring and your post is exactly the things I do, random planting 😂
I've ordered some of the expert books and will invest in John Brooks book along with Alan Titchmarsh. I will then have too many books 📚

My plan is to deal with the soil and do whatever I need to get it good first. X

I get your point, but really what most new gardeners need is to learn how to do the basic stuff first. Growing plants and keeping the things alive. You need to learn to walk before you can run.

Get the horticulture right first, then move on to planning hard landscaping and designing with plants. It's no good people following a lovely planting plan if they aren't experienced enough to know that some of the suggested plants are not going to do well in their particular garden, soil type, aspect, prevailing wind etc.

Ooh following. I long for a basic gardening book - a bit like the Delia Smith How to Cook book that literally tells you how to boil an egg- we bought it for my dad when he ended up living on his own. Covered all the basics. That’s what I would like in a gardening book

@Yamadori
I honestly don't think gardening is that tricky though. Plants generally stay alive if you put them in the ground and water them. Most people know to do that.

I agree the bit that does you in as a novice is choosing the wrong plants not keeping them alive and healthy.
Thinking about what you want the garden for, comes before horticulture.

I know you said a book but as well I find watching Beechgrove Garden on the BBC very useful. It’s better than those garden makeover programmes as it really talks about stuff like watering (much more often than you might think for newly planted stuff especially in a border by a house) and improving soil.

the rhs website is also good.

The Alan Titchmarsh How to be book I mentioned is just like Delia Smith.
Step by step, plans, simple instructions all in bite sized chunks.

Perfect. Thank you!

Believe it or not, the best gardening ‘book’ I’ve ever come across is the little catalogue that comes with any order from Rocket Gardens! It has so much gardening advice and cost saving hints (and hand drawn illustrations!) that I’ve said to them that they should release a book! Highly recommended and it’s free

@ArcticGrass Agree about the 'garden makeover' tv programmes. Avoid those at all costs. You can't really treat a garden like you would an indoor space, doing all the decorating, changing the furniture, pictures, ornaments, the whole lot all in one hit. Real gardens develop and mature over a long period, and look completely different through the seasons.

Gardeners World used to be great at one time, in the Geoff Hamilton & Alan Titchmarsh eras.

Also agree about watering. Not watering newly planted stuff often enough is the surest way to kill things, not just within days, but sometimes within hours!

I would agree with this.
'The Easy-care Gardening Expert' by DG Hessayon was my first gardening book.
It starts with the 4 cornerstones of easy-care gardening, beginning with different design types (and how much effort they will take to maintain); types of soils and how to improve them; plants to choose for your design; the pros and cons of having a lawn or other surfacing materials and what type; which basic equipment to buy.
It moves onto simple pruning methods, weeding and weed control, watering, feeding, how to compost; vegetable gardening, digging methods, greenhouse gardening, rock gardening, herb gardening and so on.
It's a great overview to start you off and an easy read with some 'golden rules' for each chapter.

I agree. I think that design comes before horticulture. Otherwise it's like buying a new sitting room sofa first and then deciding, afterwards, that actually you need to knock down that wall so that the space is now the dining part of the kitchen/diner. And that sofa no longer suits, it's now an expensive mistake.

-Start with assessing what you have (sun. soil, etc)
-Decide what you would like. To quote, the "what is the garden for" question. This is purely personal preference; there is no 'right' answer.
-Plan accordingly, taking into account your assessment. Do hard-landscaping first because it's a long-term decision. Then comes the fun bit. If your preference is for pink plastic flamingo then go for it! However if you want plants, then traditionally this will be: a few big/tall things, a larger number of medium-sized things and lots of small things (groundcover, annuals, bulbs). Mix things up so you have different leaf-shapes (for contrast), plant-shapes (vertical, horizontal, round), flowering seasons, etc. There are various websites where you can plug in something like "I want a 5 foot, evergreen shrub that likes clay" and it will give suggestions. For example RHS

It is easier to design a blank canvas than to try to tweak an existing, wrong border because you have to try to take account of what is already there. It's another reason for doing design before horticulture.