17 Inspiring Vegetable Gardening Books For Backyard Gardeners

You’ll love reading these vegetable gardening books that are packed full of inspiration for your patch! Gardening can require a huge amount of dedication and care, especially when you’re trying to grow organically, which is why books are a gardener’s best friend. They can provide hours of enjoyment and save you from making common mistakes.

Here we feature the best 17 vegetable gardening books for beginner gardeners. These books are by backyard and professional gardeners with decades of experience and wisdom to share.

1. The Vegetable Gardeners Bible by Edward C. Smith

Using his ‘WORD’ garden technique, Smith has created a thoroughly research and well loved vegetable gardening book. The vegetable gardeners bible shows you everything from how to plant your seeds to how to make your own compost.

There is also some information about growing herbs and small fruits giving your garden a little more variety. I find myself turning to this book regularly throughout the growing season for inspiration, tips and detailed “how-tos” for a wide range of gardening tasks.

2. The Week-By-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook by Jennifer Kujawski and Ron Kujawski

If you want a week by week guide that tells you everything you need to know then look no further. Growing a vegetable garden has never been easier. This book gives you all the planting and caring tips you need to grow healthy crops.

With weekly schedules filled with easy to manage tasks, vegetable gardening becomes stress free and actually enjoyable! This book gives you a thorough week by week guide to growing backyard vegetables.

3. Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties of All Time by Craig LeHoullier

This is the go-to book for tomato lovers. Full to the brim with gardening tips and methods for growing better tasting tomatoes. It contains information about 200 varieties of tomatoes with details about how to grow and care for each one.

It also has plenty of diagrams and photos making it much easier to understand the methods. All the diseases that affect tomatoes are mentioned in here, as well as ways to prevent or eradicate them.

Epic tomatoes includes a wide variety of tomatoes that will bring bold, new flavors to your dishes. This book has received glowing remarks from backyard gardeners all over the globe, especially tomato enthusiasts.

If you want more tomato growing tips and tricks then read Do These 9 Things To Grow The Best Tomatoes Ever.

4. Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth

The Seed to Seed book is an indepth guide on techniques regarding how to save vegetable seeds so you don’t have to keep buying them year after year. This book is regarded as one of the best guides available on seed planting and storing as it contains comprehensive descriptions on how to plant, save and store your seeds.

It also has guidelines about how to take care of seeds for improved germination and specifics regarding how to get the best yield with high efficiency. This book has received highly positive reviews and is recommended for any vegetable grower interested in saving vegetable seeds.

5. Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte

This vegetable gardening book on companion planting helps you decide which vegetables should be planted near one another to increase yields. By planning your vegetable garden layout with companion planting in mind, you’ll be able to deter pests, and increase yields and crop quality.

Carrots Love Tomatoes is an enjoyable and inspiring read for beginner gardeners and a refreshing reminder for more seasoned green thumbs. You’ll thoroughly enjoy the commentary throughout this book and become a much better gardener with these companion gardening tips.

6. Greenhouse Gardening – A Beginners Guide to Growing Fruits and Vegetables All Year Round by Jason Johns

If you’re interested in growing vegetables inside a greenhouse, this is the best book you could get. Greenhouse gardening for beginners will show you what greenhouse you should buy and how to care for it. You’ll also learn how to plant and grow fruits and vegetables all year round.

Tips regarding how and in what place to plant your vegetables are sprinkled throughout the whole book. If you live in a cold climate or just want to extend your growing season through the winter months, then greenhouse gardening is for you!

7. The Foodscape Revolution by Brie Arthur

The Foodscape Revolution has highlighted a completely new way of approaching gardening. It looks at ways by which edible plants, planted alongside ornamental plants could increase the biodiversity and yields of the garden.

The book contains photographs, diagrams, tips and methods about the what, how and why of this new type of vegetable gardening. It also informs people about how to grow plants in different kinds of landscape.

8. Grow Cook Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening by Willi Galloway

Foodies who enjoy fresh harvest vegetables from their own backyards will love this book. It includes 50 recipes that make use of home-grown vegetables and how to harvest those vegetables for the best flavor and storage.

Grow cook eat informs you about some of the tastiest and flavorful herbs, vegetables and fruits you can grow in your garden. Making it even easier to cook more tasty and healthy meals for your family. More importantly, it contains easy to follow instructions and tips about how to plant and grow your own vegetables.

9. The Chinese Kitchen Garden by Wendy Kiang-Spray

This book makes use of the cultural heritage of the author as she introduces the many Chinese vegetables that you can grow. There are also 25 recipes that are included in this beautiful vegetable gardening book. The book has been organized by season which makes selecting and growing these uncommon vegetables much easier.

Wendy Kiang shares many stories about her family and the many traditional vegetable gardening methods from China. This makes for a very enjoyable vegetable gardening book to read as it is full of colorful stories and anecdotes.

10. High-Yield Vegetable Gardening by Colin McCrate and Brad Halm

High-yield vegetable gardening shows you how to grow the most vegetables and food you can, regardless of the size of your garden. The book shares many tips and tricks to maximize your vegetable garden yields. You’ll learn how to prepare the soil and the secret to efficient garden layouts. Plus it even helps you to prepare schedules for growing a vegetable garden all year round.

The book is tailored toward professional gardeners who make their living growing crops. But backyard gardeners can also take advantage of the tips and advice written in here. A good book for the more experienced vegetable grower to take their gardening skills to the next level.

11. Home Grown Pantry by Barbara Pleasant

Written for more experienced gardeners, this book is a guide to keeping your pantry fully stocked throughout the whole year. You’ll even learn how to calculate the number of crops you need to grow to feed your family.

Barbara is a very experienced gardener so her tips are worth paying attention to. She gives guidelines for every region in North America and which vegetables to grow. If you’re looking to become self sufficient then this is a great book that’ll guide you well.

12. Small Space Vegetable Gardens by Andrea Bellamy]

If you live in an urban area and your backyard is about the size of a thimble then this vegetable gardening book is just what you need. Andrea skillfully shows you how to make the most of tiny spaces to maximize your yields.

There’s information about 60 different edible plants that will thrive in small gardens. With many photos in the book that will keep you inspired and give you plenty of ideas to make the most of your small space.

If you’re looking for more vegetable gardening ideas for small spaces then check out 15 Best Container Gardening Fruit To Grow For Huge Harvests

13. Raised Bed Gardening by Kendra K

There are many parts of the US where the ground is just too hard to dig. In these places growing vegetables in raised beds is a fantastic option, plus raised bed gardens are great for reducing the strain on your back.

Kendra shows you exactly how to build raised beds, prepare the garden soil and even which vegetables are best suited for raised beds. Using the soil preparation and raised bed methods described in this book you’ll be able to grow more vegetables and increase your yields without breaking your back!

14. Veggie Garden Remix by Niki Jabbour

The absolutely humongous variety of vegetables mentioned in this book will leave you in awe. An array of 224 vegetables from around the world are included in this book with detailed instructions on how to grow them. Some of the vegetables are considered rare delicacies whilst others are wonderful old-world varieties of familiar crops like broccoli and tomatoes.

Reading this book will help expand your knowledge about the different types of vegetables that you can grow in your patch. Niki leaves you so excited to go outside and start digging in your vegetable patch to plant these interesting new varieties of vegetables.

15. How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons

John Jeavons demonstrates multiple methods for producing amazing vegetables in your backyard. This book focuses on growing more vegetables while also being conservative with the resources used. Jeavons shows us how to grow more with less land and less water.

This vegetable gardening book is great for gardeners of all skill levels, Jeavons does a good job of breaking down complex gardening ideas into easy to understand steps that anyone can follow. 

If you want to learn more about planning a high yield vegetable garden then read Vegetable Gardening For Beginners: Planning Your First Garden

16. Vegetable Gardening for Dummies by Charlie Nardozzi

If you’ve never started a whole vegetable garden before then this book will take you through every step from start to finish. Vegetable gardening for dummies covers everything you’ll need to know from the very basics to the more advanced methods.

It contains expert advice on planting and caring for your crops and provides you with environmentally friendly ways to combat pests and diseases. It doesn’t matter if this is your first time or you have a little experience, this book is a great way of learning how to create a healthy vegetable garden.

17. 101 Organic Gardening Hacks by Shawna Coronado

Talk to any successful vegetable gardener and they’ll quickly start sharing their gardening tips with you. It seems like every gardener has their own secrets to growing the best crops in the neighborhood.

This vegetable gardening book brings together the knowledge of dozens of very successful vegetable growers into one place. Now you can easily learn the little secrets to get your plants growing.

Everything you’ll learn in this book is environmentally friendly. Helping you grow a creative and unique vegetable garden without relying heavily on fertilizers or products.

This amazing collection of 17 best vegetable gardening books will definitely inspire you to take up gardening as your new hobby. Beginners usually get frustrated and give up gardening halfway through the season. Many of these books will help keep you inspired when gardening gets tough.