440-Fall Reading List: Nature, Garden & Ecology Books for Cozy Evenings

Hi everybody, this is Joe Lample, the Joe Behind Joe Gardener, and welcome to the Joe Gardener Show. This is episode number 440. Man, we're getting up there. And this one is thanks to Amy Prentice, the name you hear every single week as my colleague and basically producer of this podcast along with our team Christine and Brendan. But we were talking not too long ago about what we were going to do for upcoming episodes. And when we got to this week's podcast slot, she said, you know, one that you haven't done in a long time is a book review on some of the books that you've read and you really liked the ones that stood out. And maybe that would be a good one to talk about coming into the kind of the holiday season where we have a little more time to sit back and read. And I thought that was a brilliant idea. So I said, yeah, let's do that. So I went through, boy, I have so many books. Just to set the background of kind of how this works for me, I get sent books all the time. People are pitching podcast topics. Many of them are authors. I love getting books. But we don't say yes to everyone. It's the ones that seem to have promise that we say yes to. And then I look at all the books and the ones that continue to show promise, I will read the book. So on average, I read about three, I'll call it work related, but they're pleasure books for me too. Three books a month. Two of them generally will make it into a podcast episode. So all that to say, for any podcast that you listen to or watch involves a author, I have read the book. No shortcuts there. I read the book. And I've accumulated a lot of books in the process and some really stand out. So I started my list before I went back to the previous episode that I did, which was, I think it was seven years ago that I lasted this kind of episode. And I made my list not referring back to that because there are certain books that really stick with you. And for me, that's been the case. So I made my list for this episode. And I think seven of the 17 books on my list were ones that I had already talked about in the previous episodes. So the point is they still stuck with me and really have a place that has etched its place in my brain and my heart. But for this episode, I decided to not reiterate those because you can go back and listen to that episode. We'll have a link in the podcast on listening to that. But that is a great foundation for books that have really been life changing for me, real aha books, foundational books, really to how I think about gardening and ecological responsibility, et cetera. So those are already there. So what you're going to hear today is the culling of that bigger list into, I think it's 17 new topics, new books, new titles, plus the three books that are next on my reading list on my nightstand that I will be getting to over the next few weeks. So with that, thanks to Amy Princess mainly for inspiring this episode and for allowing me to share with you my new favorite books that I've read. And I guess there's been hundreds. I'm sure there's been hundreds since that last episode, but I've culled it down to the 17 I want to share with you today. Now last thing before we get into this, this is not a complete list. It was really hard for me to cull it down to just, you know, the 17 that I want to talk to you about today, because there are many books that I love and really appreciate the information in them, but I just can't do that many and fit them into one episode. So these are the ones I'm going with and you'll see why when I get to each one. So let's get into it. And as we do, thanks to our sponsors for today's episode, that's Territorial Seed and the Ultimate Gardening Sheet. If you still need to order your garlic, now's the time. And Territorial Seed has you covered. 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For years, I needed a simple way to comfortably and securely carry my three essential tools, pruners, soil knife, and micro snips. And nothing out there worked. Nothing was even available. So I created the solution myself. And what a difference it makes. Now those tools are always by my side, safe and secure, no fumbling around, no trips back to the shed. It streamlined the way I work, and honestly, it's made my gardening more enjoyable. Handcrafted by a skilled North Carolina leather artisan, this sheath is built to last season after season. It's practical, it's beautiful, and it's a product born from real gardening experience. You can find it exclusively at JoeGardner.com slash UGS. That's JoeGardner.com slash UGS. The first category, and I've divided this into, I think, three categories, pleasure reading, and then I've made some notes here for myself, two, foundational and ecologically focused. That's another topic. And then another one is books that will wow you. Actually, there's four topics. And the other one is gardening resources with topic-specific information. So some educational ones, some kind of pleasure reading books, but really more geeky. So that's why I call them books that will wow you. People in ecologically focused, those are really good for everybody. And then we'll start off with pleasure reading, though, just for fun. We'll get this off, started lightly. Margaret Rinkle, New York Times best-selling author, opinion columnist, also with the New York Times with the weekly column. She is a great writer and an incredible human being. I think she's one of us, because I think of us all that way, too. But I just love the way she writes, and so do many others. She came out with a book, not this year, maybe last year. It might be one year prior to that, called The Comfort of Crows. I know many of you have read it. It's a best-seller, and it's such a good book. I did a podcast with her about this book, and many of the books I'll talk about today I did podcast on. And I'll refer to those, and we'll have them all in the show notes. So if you want to go and dive deeper into the conversation around the book I'm going to talk about today, all of those that are podcast episodes, you'll know about those from the show notes, and I'll call them out as ones I did podcast on also. But this is one. We had a great podcast on it. This book, The Comfort of Crows, is kind of like a weekly journal that Margaret did all through the year. And it's seasonal, but it goes week to week. And I love it because we can see ourselves in her shoes. She cares about nature. She's observant. She's really got a keen eye for focusing on the little things that we often miss because we're not paying quite that close attention as Margaret is. But she finds a way every week in her small urban setting, her yard and her home, to find these incredible things and then write about them. And it's just such a joy to turn the pages on these short essays. Really consumable. You can read as many as you want at one sitting or one at a time. In my case, this is a book that sits on my nightstand also. And it's the last thing I read before I go to bed, and I'll read one or two essays, maybe three. It's a great way to end the day. It just gives you a good sense that there are people that care like we do, and Margaret is a great ambassador for writing about those in the way that we can relate to and feel. So that's kind of the overview of it. But I made some notes because I want to make sure I capture the thoughts that I had when I was writing about what I wanted to tell you. Some examples of some of the things she writes about. And this is just a tip of the iceberg, but she notices the smallest things most of us might miss like fledging birds, learning to fly. She'll look out our window and she'll just take it all in and she has a great way of writing about anything she observes. Wildflowers pushing through the soil, the rhythms of the season. She tends to write poetically, but grounded. Margaret is basically writing about nature in a way that feels both intimate and universal. And you feel like you're reading a book that your friend wrote. I love books like this where I can see myself in the author's shoes. And this is certainly one of those. And what really makes this book special and why I think it's so relevant is that she weaves together the personal and the ecological and showing just how deeply connected our lives are to the natural world right outside our door. Great reminders of the things that really matter. The next pleasure reading book that I want to call out this time. I read this summer as my beach read, one of my beach reading books. And it's from Kate Bradbury. It's called One Garden Against the World. And this too is a recurring theme for me when I'm reading a pleasure book. I love to read gardening related pleasure books, but I really love the ones where I can see myself in their shoes. And it just draws me in. I just want to read more and more about it because I just feel connected to the author. And in this one, Kate just wrote such an inspiring and heartfelt book. She lives in the UK and she lives on a small urban house, very small. She talks about that a lot in her book. It's so small she only has three trees, a tiny little pond, kind of a postage lot. But she has done everything she can to get the most out of it. But she just has created this sanctuary on a space that you wouldn't think there's enough room to do that. She has, but she has such a caring heart for nature and wants to do everything that she can to support wildlife and pollinators and hedgehogs, especially she has a real heart for hedgehogs. And you are right there with her and she writes about all the effort that she's doing to rescue the caterpillars that are on the native flowers that are in the right of way that the landscape crew for the city is about to mow down in their maintenance. And she goes out there and talks them into just pausing long enough for her to go out and take a bunch of these plants that have the caterpillars on them so she can bring them home and then allow them to pupate and produce butterflies or moths. And you're right there with the trials and tribulations of all of these kind of rescues and again with her hedgehogs. The efforts that she goes to, she becomes the resident hedgehog rescuer in the area. That's a big thing over there with the drought and the lack of habitat. Many of them are threatened and they're just the really cute little critters. There's a real effort now to try to do what they can to rescue as many as they can, but they're very much in peril and Kate has taken upon herself to be that guardian in her area. And so she gets calls all the time about it. Overall, it's a heartwarming book and you can clearly see yourself in this book, I think. I sure certainly did. And I think the takeaway here, whether you have a small lot or a large lot or no lot at all, you can relate to this. But I think she really gives all of us hope that no matter the size of the land under our stewardship, we can make a difference. And she is proof of that over and over throughout her book. So it's inspiring, it's encouraging and pure pleasure to read that book. The next one is from our friend, Dr. Doug Tallamy, probably best known for nature's best hope. If you haven't read that one, start there. It's required reading and many of us have read that book, but it's just such a foundationally important book for us to understand how we can play a role in really helping give wildlife a chance based on all the many threats through pesticides and habitat decline and climate change. You know, what can we do? And that book, I talked about it in the first episode like this. So again, the link will be in the show notes, but do make that high up on your list of reading if you haven't read it yet. And he's written several books since then, but his most recent book is the one I want to talk about today. And that is the title, How Can I Help? Well, what he had done was through all his years of writing and through his many appearances, through public speaking, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear his name. And so he's just everywhere in a good way. And he's a great ambassador for ecological gardening and environmental stewardship. And he is our blueprint for the things that we can do to be better stewards when it comes to gardening and ecological behaviors. But over all of this time, he's amassed thousands of questions. And many of those questions tend to be very similar in their nature. So he finally decided that he had saved all these questions so he would categorize them and then consolidate them. And he ultimately came out with this most recent book, How Can I Help? And I remember him telling me in the last podcast episode I did with him before this book came out. And so, in a way, there's a podcast on this book. Every book he does, I talk to him about it. But the book prior to the one that I'm talking about now, I asked him. I said, so is what's the next book about? Not really knowing whether he was going to write a next book, but I guessed that he was. And he said, well, as a matter of fact, I think I'm going to do a book on really compiling all the questions I get and putting it into one reference book. So that's what he did. And that's what this book is all about. How can I help? And oh my gosh, it is fantastic. It's a page turner in a weird way because you don't think about a book just that's a bunch of questions and his answers is a page turner. But he picked the best of the best as far as the questions. And of course, every answer that he provides is spot on. And every answer that you read is making you smarter as you read it. And so it's so good for that. And I can see this being a book, if you have it, that you would refer to frequently as I do. I would just say that if you really want to get your head around a source that you can thoroughly trust, if you don't know Doug Tallamy, he is a professor of entomology at the University of Delaware. He has been at this forever and he is just widely respected around the world. Unfortunately, he's one of ours here in the US. He's very generous with his information and time and he is brilliant in these categories. So this is a fantastic book and you can scan the index of questions and find the ones that are relevant to you for the time and look them up and be prepared to be wowed. And I think you'll really enjoy this book. Okay, the next book is in the sort of the same category as foundational and ecologically focused. Sarah F. Jane is the author of a book called Nature's Action Guide and she self-published it. It's so impressive that she took on a project like this. Ironically, she lives very close, like within a stone's throwaway of Doug Tallamy. And so eventually they connected and she pitched this book idea and he said, I think you ought to write it. And then he did the forward to it. But this book, and I did a podcast on this one, Nature's Action Guide, Sarah does a phenomenal job of being that gardener that has thought about all the questions we have on things that we should be concerned about or things that we are concerned about and steps that we can take at every level, whether we are a beginning gardener, an intermediate gardener, or an advanced gardener. She provides in every topic levels of participation that we can do that are all consumable, tangible, doable steps that all are significant in their action. And as I read through each one in this book, I continued to be more and more impressed because this is a long-term gardener that had thoughtfully put this book together in a really impactful way. And I consider myself an advanced gardener. And yet with every section that I was reading through, I was reading new things that I could do that I wasn't doing or didn't know to do. I told her, I said, I just think this is a must-have book. I was very impressed with it. And I just made a point of letting her know how much I thought that this book was such a great resource and something that didn't exist like this to this point. I was very thankful that she put this out there and had the energy. I think she said it took her about four years to write this book, but it shows that a lot of thought and attention went into this. And then she provides great links to go deeper on every topic that she talks about. Not only does everything she writes about stand on its own, it's self-sufficient, but there's opportunities to go deeper on everything she wrote. There's definitely links for more information that's really useful. So this is a book you cannot go wrong in having, and again, one that you would refer to often if you care about ecological gardening at any level. This book will fill your cup with information on what you can do no matter where you are in your gardening experience to be a better environmental steward as you garden. So I hope you will check it out. In the same category, again, about stewardship and environmental care as gardeners. Basil Kimu, if you listen to the podcast regularly, you know that I have interviewed him a couple of times for his wonderful book from Wasteland of Wonder and his experience as a master certified arborist. He's out of Raleigh, North Carolina. And the irony of what he does now, which is giving freely of this information on how we can think about tree care rather than cutting them down. He and his father originally started a company where they were in the tree cutting business, basically. And years ago, Basil and his dad had an aha moment where they realized, I think we need to change our approach here and really help people understand the consequences of cutting down trees that may not need to be cut down and instead advising them on how they could care for their trees. So they became a tree care company. And since then, Basil has really taken this on exponentially in his desire to help people do all they can to protect their trees, prolong their life and not cut them down if it could be avoided. This book from Wasteland of Wonder that Basil wrote a few years ago is such a great resource. Yes, it's about tree care for sure. And it provides such good information on things that we can do or information on when it's probably beyond what we should be doing ourselves and when we need to hire somebody. But it is rich in information about, I keep using the word stewardship, but that's the way he's writing these days and that's what he's thinking about and that's what his company is about. But what makes this book so powerful is the way it connects with restoration work with everyday choices from where we prune, how we prune and how we think about our urban or suburban landscapes and the wildness that still exists there and what we should probably be doing to steward that. But here's what's really cool about Basil in this book. He gives it away. So if you want a hard copy of this book and it is a beautiful, well-written, highly illustrated book, it's free with the cost of shipping. If you'll cover the cost of shipping, you can have a physical copy of this incredible book. If you want a online version of it, a PDF, it's free and instant and we'll have information in there on how you can get either. But he's so generous in that way because he really cares and he wants people to have this resource so that they can implement one or all of the many of the things that he talks about in this book. And lastly, this is a book where there are many QR codes throughout the book. So rather than making a book larger just because he'd write about it, what he did was he wrote about it, but he gave you a QR code so that if you care about that topic rather than it taking up extra paper, you can get to the QR code and it'll open up an online resource that you can learn more about that particular topic, which I just love that about it. And there are really many good ones that you'll want to click on for the QR code too. So kudos to Basil for this incredible book. I'm changing categories on you now. And these are books that will wow you. And I have two. Since seven years ago that I really want to call out and I've done podcast on both of these and the first one I did several years ago. It's called Monarchs and Milkweed. Now who doesn't love our Monarchs and we are well aware by now or we should be that they're highly threatened in their populations of taking a drastic decline. So from 20 years ago, we're down to about 8% of what we used to have and that number is dwindling sadly. So this book Monarchs and Milkweed, it really gives you in this by the way, it's by Anurag Agirall. Such a fascinating book just goes into some of the science and a lot of the things that we don't inherently know when we are admiring these Monarchs flittering around and then what they do when they are migrating from Mexico up to the Canada and back every year through five generations I think and then how they lay their eggs on Milkweed and only Milkweed because that is their sole food source for their caterpillars. But all that goes on between the dance between the toxicity of the fluids in Milkweed and the fact that the Monarch caterpillars have to eat those leaves and take in that milky substance that is lethal to most wildlife that consumes it. The Monarchs have been able to work around that. So it's very interesting to get more into the science of how that all plays out but it's a fine balance but a fascinating read. Ironically, this is a book that it's kind of a page turner because it is one you don't want to stop reading because it's so interesting throughout the whole book from cover to cover. I think the key takeaway here is the incredible job in conveying the fact that these two species, the Milkweed and the Monarch, evolved over millions of years and locked into this ongoing battle of survival and adaptation. And that's really the essence of the miraculous nature of their sole food source and their survival. And I think the bottom line is that you'll have a whole new appreciation and a deeper knowledge of this interaction between the Milkweed and the Monarchs. That's an interesting book. I found it fascinating and I think you will too. Speaking of fascinating, the book that came out probably by now it was last year and I did a podcast on this one too of course called The Light Eaters, The New York Times best seller by Zoe Schlinger. Zoe took time off of her writing job. She's a staff writer at The Atlantic where she covers climate change. She traveled the world in a quest to really understand the sophistication of how plants communicate and how they do what they do. Nobody to my knowledge has gone to the level that Zoe has to share with us some of the complexities and intricacies of plant life in the way that they can be deemed to have intelligence, maybe not in the human term, but clearly some of the things that they are doing scream intelligence to me. And there were many examples that will just have you shaking your head, not disbelief but hard to believe but true information on what we've learned about how these plants interact and function and survive and adapt and all of these things. And so I'll leave it there in hopes that you will be curious enough to read this book. But if you do, I think you will consider this one a page turn or two and probably be shaking your head in awe many times as you go from page to page and chapter to chapter. And Zoe is also a great writer. And if you are into the audible version of these books, Zoe read this book for the audible version and if I really like a book, oftentimes I'll listen to it and read it. And this is one of those, but I really enjoyed her narration of this book as well. So really a good one. Now I want to transition into gardening resources that are topic specific. Okay. And recently I did a webinar on seed saving and here I am recording this in the fall. It happens to be middle of October, which is a classic time to be thinking about saving seeds from many of the native preneals and maybe some of your edibles from summer that are wrapping up before frost kills them back and they've done their fruiting and now they've, you know, it's time to harvest some of them for the seeds if you're a seed saver for the vegetables. But for me, I love saving all kinds of seeds and especially now the native preneals is they've gone to flower and now the seeds are coming forward and I'm saving those. And for this webinar, I wanted to put that on in a way that was timely enough so you had time to respond to it. But as I was preparing for that, I pulled some of my resources that I have books on seed saving that I find myself turning to all the time because it's so fascinating for me. I love seed starting, but to take it full circle, when you save the seeds that you in the fall that you then start in the wintertime, it's extra fun. But there's a lot of science to seed saving, maybe more than you imagined. It's not as simple. I mean, it could be as simple as just tapping the seeds off and putting them in a bag or something and just sprinkling them onto the soil. I mean, gosh, in nature, a lot of the seedlings that germinate are from the seeds that fell in the fall and they overwintered, subjected to some cold weather, which actually prevented them from germinating early, which is amazing. And so, yeah, I guess you could look at it as a very simple thing too. But when you understand the science behind how all of that happens, it's fascinating. And it's helpful for you to know how these seeds do what they do and what plants need, another variety of the same species in order to make the seeds fertile versus ones that can't even know they have the male and female parts in the same flower. They're incompatible and they can't fertilize themselves. That happens. And so, when you get into seed saving, it's really fascinating to learn all of these things. And so, there are three books that talk about this as well as how to save seeds from all the different types of plants that you may want to save seed from, whether it's just vegetables or vegetables and perennials and grasses and the sky's the limit. But I have three books that really cover the gamut here. But what's interesting and not surprising with each of these books is that no matter how thick the book is, probably about at least a third to a half is dedicated to the science of seed saving first. Because clearly, anyone that writes about this deems that to be essential. If you're going to be a good seed saver, you need to have a fundamental understanding of when and how to harvest these seeds. Here are three books on that subject that I wanted to share with you. And the first one is called The Seed Garden, and it's by Seed Savers Exchange. Now, this is a gorgeous book. At Seed Savers Exchange, it makes sense that they would write such a book. And so, back when Seed Savers Exchange was founded, Diane and Kent Whaley started a company because they wanted to provide a resource for protecting the genetic diversity of seeds that many were becoming extinct just because of the consolidation of the seed industry. Many of these had been passed down through generations, but it would hit a next generation who wasn't saving the seeds, and therefore seeds that were deemed very worthy of passing on to next generations, somehow they hit a speed bump and it was no longer happening. So they're the brilliant idea of creating a resource for people to send in and preserve these seeds and protect the genetic diversity so we would have a continuation and access to these critical seeds. That's how Seed Savers Exchange came about. It was only recently that they wrote this incredible book. And again, it dedicates a good portion of the beginning of it to the science of seed saving, and then they get into all the different types of ways to protect the variety without it being cross-pollinated, so isolation tactics, and just all the things you really should know as a successful seed saver. And I made a note here specifically just to call out the fact that it's not just a how-to manual. It's also a deep dive into the art and science of preserving our food heritage. And that's really what Seed Savers is all about. They really focus on the edible plants. And I think the biggest call out here is the fact that their mission behind this book was to protect the genetic diversity by keeping heirloom varieties alive for future generations. And that's really what it's all about. Now the classic seed saving book that came out in 2002 and was edited by the co-founder of Seed Savers Exchange, Kent Whealy, was called seed to seed, or is called seed to seed, written by Suzanne Ashworth. And this is a no-nonsense book. It is everything you need to know about many of the seeds that you would like to save from a lot of different types of plants. But in this case, it's vegetables, herbs, and some flowers. And it breaks down exactly how to grow them. So all the information that is relevant to that particular type of seed that you want to save, that information is there. So it's concise, but thorough. The information doesn't change, even though it was written almost 25 years ago. It's a go-to book for anybody that wants to have a great resource for seed saving. I call it an essential handbook. And then the third book is called the Complete Guide to Seed Saving. And this one is written by Robert Goff and Cheryl Moore Goff. And I would call this really a comprehensive guide to seed saving, because it does cover a lot of different types of plants. If you really want to take control of your seed saving and feel like you understand the biology and the science, and have a book that's comprehensive and yet approachable and equipping you with, I can't think of anything they left out, covering all the aspects, such as isolation to protect, varietal purity and self-compatibility, self-incompatibility. All these terms may not resonate with you now, but they will once you understand why it's important to know those things. And so how do you differentiate between any one of the three? If you're only going to get one, how do you make that decision? Well, I would say that you can't go wrong with any of them as your sole source for a great seed saving book. There are many others, but these are the three for me that are top of the heap for the book. The books I would recommend, but I've also found that in each one, it has enough unique information that it's worthwhile, in my case, to have all three. So I guess the best way to make that determination for yourself is to look at the information we'll provide on how to learn more about each book online, and then you can make that assessment on which or which one not to get of the three. My vote is for all three, because they're all that good. Okay, so let's talk about another aspect of food gardening, and that is fruit tree pruning. Susan Poisner is someone I've interviewed several times, and I just find that she is such a good resource for fruit tree anything. And she's written several books on fruit tree care and pruning, and she has online courses, and she's a wealth of information, and she is a great well-spoken communicator, and I've really enjoyed getting to know her and consume her content. And the book that I'm recommending that you consider too, if you have fruit trees or want to have fruit trees or the fruit trees that you have, you're just not quite sure how to prune them properly or when to prune them, this book is what you need. It's very consumable, well illustrated with simple diagrams that just cut out the fluff and don't add the extra stuff that just makes it clunky, and it's lean and mean and really a good resource. For me, I have fruit trees, and I love pruning, I think I'm good at it, but when it comes to fruit tree pruning, even though the science is really the same, I don't know why there's a kind of a wall for a lot of us that thinks maybe it's different and we don't want to mess up, and Susan does a great job of helping us doing what we need to do whenever that time comes, even if we don't do it in the early years, which is really the ideal time to do it, but she equips us with the information that will help us get those trees turned around and shaped up properly and healthier, more productive. Now, a classic book on market farming and vegetable gardening organically is The New Organic Grower by Elliot Coleman. Now, you probably know that name, if you've been growing food for any length of time. Elliot Coleman is what I would call a rock star marketer. He's a big fan of the New Organic Grower, and he's a big fan of the New Organic Grower. Elliot Coleman is what I would call a rock star market farmer, gardener, extraordinaire. He is internationally known and respected. He's been around for a very long time. He lives in Maine. Barbara Damarash is also his wife, and she's a well-known author and an expert gardener as well, and she's written some incredible books. Elliot loves his work, and I know that for sure, even if I hadn't had the opportunity and privilege to go spend time with him over several days filming an episode for growing a greener world on his farm, hanging out with him, sitting in his greenhouse as he was soil blocking up thousands of tomato seedlings into three-quarter inch cubes that he would bump up to two inch cubes and then larger ones, as long as he's been doing it. Loves what he does so much. It doesn't ever seem like work, and yet he tirelessly does what he does, writes about it, speaks around the world, and as I mentioned, he's just highly regarded for his knowledge and his generosity in sharing that information. So anyway, back to his book, The New Organic Grower. Elliot is an organic gardener. He's all about soil health, crop rotation, season extension, all the nuts and bolts of everything you would need to know. The information is timeless. He has been doing this for years. He continues to perfect his craft, and he has developed systems and techniques that have been emulated around the world. So he is the innovator of so many things that we do today that he discovered over decades of doing what he does. So whether you're managing a small market farm or a personal home vegetable garden, anything that Elliot Coleman writes is going to be gold. But this book, The New Market Grower, which was revised in the past few years, it was updated from, I think, maybe several editions over the past few decades. This one is all updated, and it's really good. And every now and then, I'll pick it up and just start reading it because it's just good, solid information, and it's worth rereading many times, but it's a deep, rich resource about everything we need to know to be better organic gardeners. Here's a book that I want to share with you. You may have it already. You may have heard the podcast I did with Meg Cowden on her book called Plant Grow, Harvest, Repeat. Did a podcast on this book, too. I've interviewed Meg on a television show I did for Growing in the Greener World from her garden. She has a great website. She posts a lot from her garden. She is geeky in the most loving way possible. I love her curiosity to go deep on topics and her spread sheetiness with analyzing data and keeping track of everything. She is a gift to gardeners and her knowledge and her willingness to write about it. And when she wrote this first book, Plant Grow, Harvest, Repeat, it was a book really on succession planting. And what's so important about that is that there are very few books that I'm aware of that have really taken a dive into writing an entire book on succession planting. And many of us want to extend the season. We want to start as early as possible and we want to get as much mileage out of whatever we're growing as possible by extending the season on the far end, too. And I don't know anybody that does it better than Meg. And thankfully, she decided that was the book she was going to write about. And the neat thing about Meg is that she lives in a very cold part of the country. She lives in northern Minnesota. It's amazing how much production she can get out of a very short growing season. But she uses low tunnels and she uses lots of techniques that allow her to get a lot of bang for her buck. And she writes about it and shares all of her wisdom in this book. It's about observation, flexibility, building a garden system and keeping everything alive. And then harvesting and making the most of saving the harvest and how she does that. She cans and preserves. I don't know how she does it all, but she does it with passion. And she is a great inspiration and a great role model. And it's one heck of a book. If succession planting is something that you are a little tripped up about or you just would like to improve your skills in that department, it's your book. It's the go-to book on succession planting. I can't say enough good things about it, but I'll stop right there. And I'll move on to the next one. It's on my book, The Vegetable Gardening Book. Just in full disclosure, before I wrote this book, my favorite go-to vegetable gardening book, I listed so that first podcast episode on book recommendations. Edward Smith wrote a book called The Vegetable Gardening Bible. And it's excellent. It really is good. It was written in 2000. All the information is still timely. And it's a great resource. A couple of years ago when I wrote The Vegetable Gardening Book, I was asked to do that. And I had said prior to the many pitches that Jessica Walliser, who I'll mention out loud, because she's got a great book I'm going to mention in a minute. But she works with Cool Springs Press and they are the publisher of my previous two books. But she had been pitching me book titles that I would consider writing for a long time. And my work life is so busy. And I'd already written two books and I thought I would stop there. And I'd said I'd stop there. And I said no many times to the many pitches that came in. Not that they weren't bad titles. I thought they were all good, but I didn't think I'd ever write another book. So I was already predisposed to say no to anything that she pitched. And even when she pitched The Vegetable Gardening Book to me before she told me the topic that she wanted me to write about, she said, I think this is the book for you and you're the only one that we want to write this book. Of course, the natural question was, well, what is it? And it was The Vegetable Gardening Book. When she said it, I instantly knew, although I didn't show my cards at the time, I instantly knew that that was a book I would say yes to. And I did, obviously. And I'm glad I did because I've been growing food for my family, for me, as my passion, and as my profession for three decades or more. And my real pivot point when I went from passionate avid gardener for my avocation, for my hobby, although I also had a consulting business in horticulture. So I was doing it as part of my living already. The my real turning point professionally, which led to everything else was in 2003, when I was asked to host a show on a new show on DIY Network called Fresh from the Garden. And I was picked to be the host in a national search. You've probably heard the story before, but just briefly, the whole series was about teaching people how to grow food from seed to harvest. One crop at a time, every episode featured one particular crop. So tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, eggplant, squash, et cetera. Over 52 crops, 52 episodes, three years in the making, and retired because we ran out of things to teach people how to grow. But through that process, we had no failures. And thank God for that, because my producer, before I started the first episode, she sat down with me and she looked me square in the eye and said, I just want you to know failure is not an option for anything that we were filming on how to grow. And I'm like, no pressure there. But anyway, over three years, we really didn't have any failures. Much of that had to do with the fact that I'd been gardening for all of my life pretty much. And I was always curious about the best practices and the science behind everything, the why do behind the how to, all the things I talk about, and teach you about why I've been practicing those things for a long time before I was ever asked to host that show. But I implemented all that I knew and the science behind everything, and I made everything work. And since then, I've never slowed down. And in fact, it's only gotten busier in regards to food growing and everything about organic gardening. So when it became time to maybe write this book, yeah, I said, I'd do that. In this book, I've incorporated much of that information because if I was going to write this book, I wanted you to have a resource that could walk you through everything about everything that's important to have a successful vegetable garden, from the soil to the management of pests and diseases organically, to best practices along the way, to harvesting and preserving, and everything that goes on in between that. And that was the book that I ended up writing. And so if you're curious about a vegetable gardening book that I think will serve you very well, and it will include about 30 of the top crops, both warm and cool season crops that you can grow and how to do it from seed to harvest, that information is in there for all of those, plus all the chapters that help you take your vegetable gardening from site selection to options for the beds that you build, if you build a bed at all versus in-ground from start to finish, all of those things I already mentioned. Check it out if you want. We'll have the information in the show notes as well. So we're about to wrap up here, but I have three more books on my list that I want to recommend to you. And two of them are by Susan Mulvihill, who is a wonderful gardener, a great human being. She and her husband Bill, both are fabulous gardeners, but Susan is a really good writer and a excellent vegetable gardener. And she has written two books that are on my close by bookshelf on quick references. One is the vegetable garden problem solver handbook. And the other one is the vegetable garden pest handbook. And suffice it to say, Susan has been gardening a very long time. She's an organic gardener. She lives in Spokane, Washington. And she has a great raised bed garden there. But she's a wonderful communicator, but she's a really good gardener. And so she, I know, is a excellent researcher also because she is somebody that I have fact checked things that I write, ebooks or books or articles or posts or courses. She's one of my go to people that I trust implicitly for objective advice and corrections. But when she writes something, I know it's going to be accurate. I know it's going to be good. I know it's going to be well written, resourced, and it's going to be reliable. And so I lump these two books together, although they're separate, they should be companions that you have both books. But if you are looking for something that's just really easy to navigate and cuts right to the chase and helps you basically key out a answer to a challenge that you have related to pastor diseases, these two books would be my recommendation for great resources that you should put into your library. It's like having an experience guarding friend right there saying, here's what's going on and here's how to fix it. I made a note to say that because that's how I feel about it. But the advice always goes back to organic environmentally responsible solutions and I respect that. And that is really what I'm looking for when I need help with solutions to problems. And Susan's books are my go to source for that. And then the last one of the books that I've read and want to recommend to you is Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden by Jessica Walliser. I mentioned her name a minute ago. Not only is she great at pitching book ideas, she's also a great author and she's a knowledgeable gardener. She's a horticulturalist and she is an entomologist at heart. So her real passion is insects. And companion planting is a topic that you've probably heard and many of us try to follow the books to date quite frankly are more anecdotal than they are science-based. That is until Jessica wrote a book called Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden. And for me, this was the first one that I'm aware of and I think it really is maybe the only one that takes that subject of companion planting, which is basically finding plant choices that you can put in your garden that serves a purpose. Oftentimes it's helped with reducing pest pressure, but it may also include plants that you can put next to other plants that produce something through their roots that provides certain compounds or enzymes or nutrients that could benefit the plant next to it. But whatever it is, and usually it ties back to what can I do to disguise, confuse or repel pest insects from coming in and harming my cash crops. Those are the plants we're trying to save or protect. And what can we plant next to it that may be the sacrificial plant or even better just one that maybe draws the pest insects away from the ones we're trying to protect. That's generally what we think of when we talk about companion planting. To Jessica's credit, she took the science approach to combinations that have been tested, improved or show reliable promise in working as ways to provide a companion planting concept in concert to achieve the outcome with certain plants in our garden. And I did a podcast with her, of course, about her book, but that's the one that I refer to if I'm looking for something that may fall into the category of companion planting. That's the book that I trust and rely on for sound information. All right, I'm going to wrap it up, but here's how I'm going to do it. I have three books that are currently on my nightstand, the ones that are going to be read next. And that doesn't mean I only read them at night. That just means that's where I know to go find them because those are the ones I know I'm going to be reading next. With that, let me set them up. And the first one is The Overstory by Richard Powers. And credit goes to Amy Prentice on this one too. This is a book she read last year and loved it and recommended it to me then. And I immediately bought it with the intention of reading it, but got sidetracked and never got a chance to do it. But I'm about to read it. It's the next one on my stack. So it's coming up here in the next week. So let me tell you about it from what I know. And here's one where I've made a note that I want to really read to you because I haven't read the book. I can't speak from personal experience about my takeaways. This book weaves together the lives of several characters, each with their own connection to trees. The book is apparently both heartbreaking and deeply hopeful. But the trees give a voice and presence that feels almost spiritual, reminding us that forests aren't just backdrops to our lives, they're living communities that we're a part of. And after reading it, we will never look at a tree or forest the same way again. It's a beautiful moving reminder of why protecting the natural world isn't just good stewardship, it's a moral calling. And I think this book is going to be an extremely timely topic. This is me talking now to include in our short term reading list. And that's why it's next on my list. Thank you, Amy Prentice, for this great suggestion. And I can't wait to give some feedback after I have a chance to read it. This next one, the title's a little grim. It is a sad story, but it's a true story and it's an important one. And it's called The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov by Peter Pringle. And you may know this story. It is one of the most compelling and heartbreaking true stories in all of agricultural history. It tells the story of Nikolai. He was a brilliant Russian botanist and his life mission was to preserve the world's crop diversity. And long before most people even understood what that meant or why it was important. But he traveled the globe for modern plant breeding and food security. But it was under Stalin's reign that his dedication to science and his genetic diversity clashed with political ideology. So Vavilov was arrested, he was imprisoned. And in a tragic twist of irony, and this is the crazy part, he died of starvation while trying to protect the seeds that could have saved his life and fed millions. For anyone who cares about plant science and the future of our food, this story will stay with you long after you finish the last page. It's already stayed with me. I haven't even started reading it yet. But just from knowing that this really happened and the irony of how he died in the process of trying to save food for millions of people is just incredibly sad. You know, I can't really say I'm looking forward to reading this book, but I feel like it's an important book to read as a mark in history that we should not forget. The last one on a brighter note is one similar to Monarchs and Milkweeds. It's called The Milkweed Lands. It's written by Eric Lee Mater. I had the privilege of meeting him in person and doing a television episode with him for growing a greener world. He is with the Xerces society. He's a biologist. He's super smart. He's really articulate. He has his own nursery and prairie garden, but he's fascinating. He wrote this book. It's part storytelling and part celebration of the wild landscape. This is one that celebrates and supports Milkweed and all the creatures that depend on it, especially Monarchs. And Eric brings the perspective of an ecologist and conservationist. He is both, but he writes with kind of a poet's touch, connecting the dots between the soil, the pollinators, the prairies, and people. And what makes this book stand out is how it ties the small and the grand together, showing that when we restore a patch of Milkweed with native habitat, we're participating in something much bigger. So if you care about pollinators and wild places and the web of life that connects them all, the Milkweed lands will be an inspiring read for you. I have no doubt because I know Eric and I read his writing before. It's going to be a good one. Well, that's going to do it. And all of that under an hour, including this wrap up. I hope you found a book or two or maybe even more in this list that resonated with you. All I can say is I'm glad that I already have all of these books because otherwise, I'd have to take out a loan to snatch them all up. Now, I know you know about the show notes, and this would be an important time to visit them. We have summaries for each book and the link right there for each book as well. If you're interested in buying any of them, but also please keep in mind your independent bookseller. As you source these books, they do a great job and we need to show our appreciation for them by patronizing them whenever we can. And of course, your public library. Same thing goes right there. But you can access these show notes from our website at joegardner.com. Just look for the podcast tab and this is episode number 440. Also, you're probably aware by now, all of our newer episodes as of about two and a half to three months ago, are also on YouTube. That channel is Joe Gardner TV and whenever possible, it's not just a static picture as you listen to the audio. We kind of hate that. So we do our best to make it more interesting than that. And this episode would be a good example of one that is video from start to finish, albeit it's a video of me in my studio recording to the camera as if I'm speaking to you about what you just heard. But it's also a little more informal in that I tend to not be so tight on the editing and I'll leave things in that give a bit more intimacy, such as longer pauses or clearly I'm trying to think of what to say next or stumbling forward or maybe the cat goes by a few too many times. But anyway, it is what is. I think that adds a little bit of extra quirky interest as well. Regarding the videos, other than just seeing me recording to the camera talking to you, we insert lots of pictures that help illustrate whatever it is I'm speaking about in the moment. And that is also true when I'm interviewing somebody, we ask them to send extra pictures and then we're sourcing relevant material as well so that we can keep it dynamic and always relevant for visuals to help tie in the topic that we're talking about. So in the case of this episode, all the book covers for each book I'm referring to will be there. And any other pictures that we're able to get that bring visual life to the current topic. So if you're curious about that or want to revisit this episode again by way of the YouTube version, that might be a lot of fun to see me talking about exactly what you just heard from my chair in my podcast studio where I record every episode that you've ever heard from me. And by the way, like in the show notes, we will list all the books and links to each and the notes below the video there as well. And if you like that format, consider subscribing so you'll know whenever we post the next episode. All right, so I think that's going to do it for today. No new announcements this time other than to say thanks as always to my team, Amy Prentice, especially this time for the recommendation to do this episode and the book recommendation, which I am finally getting to the overstory and all her ongoing help as well as the rest of the podcast team, Brendan O'Reilly and Christine LaFond. And finally, of course, thanks to all of you for joining me today and every week. I love that you do that. And you know by now my goal for every episode is to help you take the guesswork out of gardening by teaching you the all important why do behind the how to so that you can become a better smarter, more educated and informed through books and otherwise and build more confidence in your gardening. I'll be back here again next Thursday for our next episode of the Joe Gardner show and look forward to having you right back here to join me for that. Until then, have a great week, take care, and I'll see you back here really soon. Thanks for listening to the Joe Gardner show, the podcast where it's all about gardening and learning to grow like a pro, no experience required. For more information, podcasts and how to videos, visit us online at JoeGardner.com.