I feel like I've come across more first time gardeners this year than ever. While I'll gladly answer any questions thrown my way, I can only answer so many questions in the context of a brief conversation.

With that in mind a common question becomes what book can I use to get started. I actually gardened a few years without a book (or books). I just kind of winged it and occasionally looked up things on the internet.

When I became more interested in having a real veggie garden with decent size crops, I purchased John Jeavon's "How to Grow More Vegetables." I was actually turned on to this book by my friend Jules. She was following this method to a T and was having amazing results. As soon as I saw her garden, there was no doubt that this was the book I needed.

I must admit I was a little skeptical before purchasing this book. With it covering topics like gardening with the moon, I was afraid it was going to be kind of fluffy and not helpful. Although once I got the book in my hot little hands (I ordered it off of amazon) I was impressed. The information, garden plans, companion planting charts,  and statistical information on the growing conditions of different plants blew me away. It quickly became apparent that the author does have a very methodical and tested approach to gardening.

Completely inspired by this book, I bought one for my neighbors who were new to gardening. Although I'm not sure that it was the book for them. I never talked to them about it directly but I have a feeling his methods may be intimidating to the new gardener. Even though this book may be fairly technical, I still think its a must have. I encourage any new gardener picking up this book, not to expect to be a master biointensive gardener overnight but to apply his methods as you learn them.

To compliment this book I would also recommend getting something thats like an encyclopedia of plants. While John Jeavon's book is good for developing a gardening method, his plants charts don't always include all the plants I'm interested in growing. For a plant reference I would recommend the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening or the Seed Starters Handbook.

Or if you happen to be browsing books in a bookstore, you might just start with whatever inspires you. Keeping up with a large garden requires a lot of time and work and any resource that drives your passion for gardening will do good for you and your garden. :)

And my final tid bit of advice to new gardeners. Don't be afraid to try. You'll be surprised at how often you can end up with a bountiful plant with little effort and no experience.