Home Life Style My bumper crop of Christmas books: Our expert picks the best reads of 2024 to give to the gardener in your life

My bumper crop of Christmas books: Our expert picks the best reads of 2024 to give to the gardener in your life

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RHS The Garden Almanac 2025 by Zia Allaway and Guy Barter (£14.99, Frances Lincoln)

RHS THE GARDEN ALMANAC 2025

Zia Allaway and Guy Barter

RHS The Garden Almanac 2025 by Zia Allaway and Guy Barter (£14.99, Frances Lincoln)

Beautifully illustrated by Angie Lewin, it offers detailed to-do lists and tips for each month to help you achieve your best gardening year yet (£14.99, Frances Lincoln).

HORTOBIOGRAPHY

Carol Klein

This story of a life spent gardening follows one of our best-loved gardening TV presenters from her childhood in Manchester and her beginnings as an art teacher to setting up her plant nursery at Glebe Cottage in Devon, and explores how The natural world brings joy and creativity into our lives (£22, Witness Books).

A FLOWER GARDEN FOR POLLINATORS

Rachel of Thame

A Flower Garden for Pollinators by Rachel de Thame (£25, Greenfinch)

A Flower Garden for Pollinators by Rachel de Thame (£25, Greenfinch)

Rachel de Thame, a familiar face on our TV screens, offers a personal insight into the flowers she grows in her own garden to encourage much-needed pollinating insects, with hand-painted illustrations by her daughter Lauren Lusk (£25, Greenfinch) .

ATTRACTION TO THE GARDEN

Carolina Quintin

In recent years, actress Caroline Quentin has gained a following for her @CQgardens Instagram posts.

This book summarizes her philosophy that gardening should be fun and tells the story of her life in the garden with her own fun illustrations (£20, Frances Lincoln).

A YEAR IN A SMALL GARDEN

Frances Tophill

A Year in a Small Garden by Frances Tophill (£26, BBC Books)

A Year in a Small Garden by Frances Tophill (£26, BBC Books)

Follow the Gardeners’ World presenter as she creates a new garden at her terraced house in Devon, using Frances’ diary, notebooks and photographs from throughout the year.

There are projects to try at home, with an emphasis on sustainability, and tips and tricks on how to make the most of a small outdoor space (£26, BBC Books).

COMPOST

Carlos Dowding

The no-dig guru explains the importance of soil health and explores the alchemy of turning household waste into compost, creating a valuable free resource.

It dispels some myths about composting and offers practical tips for doing it yourself (£14.99, DK).

THE YEAR OF THE GARDEN TO SAVE MONEY

Anya Lautenbach

The Year of the Money-Saving Garden by Anya Lautenbach ((£16.99, DK)

The Year of the Money-Saving Garden by Anya Lautenbach ((£16.99, DK)

In this handy guide, Lautenbach, also known as @anya_the garden_fairy, has done all the planning so you don’t have to.

It provides monthly lists of garden jobs to do on a budget, encouraging you to get outdoors and improve your health and wellbeing, especially in the colder season (£16.99, DK).

LOST GARDENS OF THE WORLD

Sandra Lorenzo

There is a certain romance in a once beautiful garden that is now in ruins.

Journalist Sandra Lawrence explores 40 of these lost horticultural paradises, from the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall to the Villa d’Este near Rome, which have now been restored to their former glory (£19.99, Frances Lincoln) .

A YEAR IN BLOOM

Lucy Bellamy and Jason Ingram

A Year in Bloom by Lucy Bellamy and Jason Ingram (£29.95, Phaidon)

A Year in Bloom by Lucy Bellamy and Jason Ingram (£29.95, Phaidon)

A former Gardens Illustrated editor takes us through a year of bulbs, from tulips and daffodils to lesser-known dogtooth violets and autumn snowflakes.

Featuring photographs by award-winning photographer Jason Ingram, it features bulbs for containers, edging and naturalizing in lawns (£29.95, Phaidon).

WHAT IS THAT GRASS?

barter boy

This handy guide from the RHS Head Horticulturist helps gardeners identify weeds, understand their life cycles and how they will affect the garden.

Covers 40 common garden weeds including nettles, docks, dandelions and bindweed, as well as hawk’s beard, speedwell and watercress (£12.99, DK).

SPANISH GARDENS

Monty Don and Derry Moore

Spanish Gardens by Monty Don and Derry Moore (£39.99, BBC Books)

Spanish Gardens by Monty Don and Derry Moore (£39.99, BBC Books)

For fans of the BBC television series, this book follows Monty as he explores the gardens of Spain, from verdant Galicia to Barcelona, ​​and to the more rugged subtropical gardens of Mallorca, Malaga, Andalusia and Seville. .

Accompanied by Derry Moore’s stunning photography (£39.99, BBC Books).

THE GARDEN OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Huw Richards and Sam Cooper

A guide to homegrown food all year round and saves money, too.

It offers a simple plan for a 10×12.5m plot and a realistic formula to provide five portions of vegetables for four people every day of the year (£16.99, DK).

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