GardeningTalking Books
The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.
Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When you return a title, you will then receive another one.
If you would like to read any of these titles then please contact the Customer Services Team on 0303 123 9999 or
Please note the books read by volunteers may vary in quality. Some may be recorded using synthetic speech which is noted on the title entry.
If you would like further information, or help in selecting titles to read, then please contact the Reader Services Team on 01733 37 53 33 or email
You can write to us at RNIB NLS, PO Box 173, PeterboroughPE2 6WS
Books read by Volunteers have an order number starting with 40….
RNIB
Getting on with gardening volume 1. 2007. Price: £7.50.Cassette, Order No: PR12149T.Daisy CD, Order No: PR12149DCD.
A beginners gardening guide for people with sight problems.Cassette, Order No: PR12149T and Daisy CD, Order No: PR12149DCD.
RNIB
Getting on with gardening volume 2. 2007. Price: £7.50.Cassette, Order No: PR12150TDaisy CD, Order No: PR12150DCD
More advanced gardening tips for experienced gardeners with sight problems.Cassette, Order No: PR12150T and Daisy CD, Order No: PR12150DCD.
Getting Started
Don, Montagu
Gardening from Berryfields. 1999. 11 hours 12 minutes, TB 408753.
Gardeners' World series."Gardening from Berryfields" is invaluable to all gardeners and, in particular, to the viewers of BBC2's "Gardeners' World". Using the main projects undertaken at Berryfields (the "Gardeners' World" garden), the book guides the reader through a year of gardening, giving practical advice so that they can use Berryfields as a template for managing their own. The book is divided into 13 chapters covering subjects, such as the kitchen garden, courtyard garden, dry garden, herb garden, mixed borders, pond, orchard, and wildflower meadow.TB 408753.
Gemmell, Alan Robertson
The Penguin book of basic gardening. 1975. Read by Robin Holmes, 10 hours 30 minutes, TB 3237.
Penguin handbooks series. A clear and simple plan for basic gardening, including fruit, flower, shrub and vegetable growing. TB 3237.
Greenwood, Pippa
Pippa Greenwood's gardening year. 2004. 7 hours 45 minutes, TB 407510.
The secret of a gorgeous garden when you've got very little time to attend to it is to know the essential jobs for each month so that you get the maximum benefits from your gardening efforts. With Pippa's expert advice, tips, and ideas for smart ways to time your gardening to perfection you can be sure of twelve months of satisfying and successful gardening.TB 407510.
Hobhouse, Penelope
The story of gardening. 2002. 29 hours 51 minutes. TB 401060.
This illustrated history charts the evolution of gardening over thousands of years, bringing to life the world's most beautiful and magnificent gardens. Penelope Hobhouse shows how an appreciation of style and techniques from all over the world helps us to understand how modern gardens have developed. She also considers how the availability of plant species from around the world has influenced garden design. From the cooling fountains of the Alhambra to the imposing palace grounds of Chinese emperors and the clean lines of the formal French parteer, this text explains the origins of the most influential gardening styles.TB 401060.
Leverett, Brian
The complete book of gardening. 1994. 11 hours 8 minutes, TB 400914.
Great gardens come down to careful planning. So this guide tells you how to create a superb garden from scratch, with your favourite flowers, vegetables and fruit, herbs, and effective landscaping. It lists popular species, gives techniques for sowing and maintaining, and controlling pests.TB 400914.
Lloyd, Christopher
Cuttings: a year in the garden with Christopher Lloyd. 2008. Read by Jon Cartwright, 14 hours 41 minutes. TB 15866.
Preparing the ground, planting for summer scent, choosing a shrub for all-year round pleasure, pruning, going organic, cottage gardens, placing a favourite hellebore, thinking about conifers or growing your own vegetables - are things that Christopher Lloyd wrote in his Guardian column before his death in 2006. These are all included in this book. Contains strong language. TB 15866.
Muck, Lady
Magic muck: the complete guide to compost. 1994. 3 hours 58 minutes, TB 408570.
In this book the author guides the reader through the history of composting and reveals tips on how to create and maintain a compost heap to suit every garden.TB 408570.
Perry, Frances
The Observer book of gardening: the year in the garden. 1982. Read by Andrew Timothy, 10 hours 58 minutes, TB 4898.
Fifty years of personal and professional interest in gardening distilled into a year-round guide to familiar tasks on a monthly basis, together with planning the garden to save labour, some stories of plants with historical associations and weather lore from L.P. Smith. TB 4898.
Preston, George
Climbing and wall plants. 1986. Read by Volunteers, 3 hours 3 minutes. TB 403891. Wisley handbooks.
This book looks at soil preparation; support; feeding; pruning; winterprotection; perennials and annuals; fruit and recommended varieties. Itsuggests plants suitable for particular aspects.TB 403891.
Titchmarsh, Alan
Alan Titchmarsh's avant gardening: a guide to one-upmanship in the garden. 1984. Read by Alan Titchmarsh, 2 hours 6 minutes, TB 5716.
"Your garden can reveal more about you than you think" and the author, a radio and TV gardener, provides the lowdown on what to wear, what names to drop and what to grow (and what not to) as well as the "correct" choice of furniture, ornaments and books to make the serious reader a frontgrubber in the hotly-contested avant-gardening stakes. While gently poking fun at one-upmanship in the garden, he manages to slip in some useful information. TB 5716.
Titchmarsh, Alan
Nobbut a lad: a Yorkshire childhood. 2007. Read by Richard Burnip. 7 hours 26 minutes. TB 15411.
In this warm, wonderfully evocative and often hilarious memoir one of the best-loved men in Britain, Alan Titchmarsh, brilliantly recalls his childhood in 1950s Yorkshire. Alan Titchmarsh grew up, and developed his passion for nature in the wild and beautiful landscape of Yorkshire.Contains strong language. TB 15411.
Toms, M P
Gardening for birdwatchers. 2008. 5 hours 27 minutes, TB 408418.
This book brings together the expertise of garden designers Ian and Barley Wilson (NaturalGardens) with that of the British Trust for Ornithology to produce the definitive guide for improving your garden for birds and other wildlife. The text, complete with planting plans, gets to grips with the techniques that underpin successful wildlife-gardening, highlighting those varieties of plants that have particular wildlife benefits and explaining how best to manage your garden for wildlife. With sections on different garden features (e.g. lawns, ponds, shady corners and sunny borders), this book should enable you to enhance the wildlife value of your own garden.TB 408418.
Get Planting
The Hillier manual of trees and shrubs. 1993. 88 hours 30 minutes. TB 407743.
An alphabetical dictionary of trees and shrubs. Over 9,000 plantsrepresenting more than 650 general are described in detail.TB 407743.
Bonar, Ann
Scented plants. 1988. 2 hours 20 minutes, TB 400285.
Collins aura garden handbooks series. This useful handbook can be referred to both by newcomers to gardening and those more experienced who are, perhaps, interested in more specific plants. It contains details of sixty aromatic and fragrant plants and the best ways to grow them.TB 400285.
Harkness, Jack
How to grow roses: a handbook of the Royal National Rose Society. 1992. 3 hours 10 minutes, TB 401008.
A handbook supplied to new members, which describes the art of growing roses in Britain. It covers safety, sites, soil, plant quality, planting, feeding, pruning, and health.TB 401008.
Hessayon, D G
The flower expert. 1984. 13 hours 36 minutes, TB 408636.
Lloyd, Christopher
The mixed border. 1986. 2 hours 49 minutes, TB 409280.
Wisley handbooks. This book tells you how to plan the border, and discusses the different categories of plants which may be used and how to use them.TB 409280.
Rushforth, Keith D
Shrubs for small gardens. 1991. 2 hours 55 minutes, TB 400588.
The Royal Horticultural Society: A Wisley Handbook.This text provides information on: how to grow shrubs successfully, even in the smallest garden; how to choose, site and plant your shrubs; how to prune and keep your plants healthy. It describes in detail 250 recommended shrubs which include climbers, dwarf and ground cover shrubs.TB 400588.
Smith, Geoffrey
Geoffrey Smith's World of flowers. Part 1. 1983. Read by Ronald Markham,4 hours, TB 8367.
An accurate yet personable account on one man's appreciation of flowering plants which will entertain the fellow enthusiast and the general reader alike. The topics of each chapter are diverse, as the book deals with rare alpine species and more usual rose bushes. The plants are found in locations as widespread as Wharfdale and Australia, yet all are linked in this book by the author's love for them. TB 8367.
Smith, Geoffrey
Geoffrey Smith's world of flowers. Part 2. 1984. Read by Sam Dastor, 3 hours 59 minutes, TB 8603.
Geoffrey Smith has traced for us the history of some more of his favourite plants. Travelling from the west coast of the USA to Europe and South Africa, he has constructed another fascinating account of the origins and development of some of our most popular garden plants. The book is a delightful guide to lilies, fuchsias, narcissi, delphiniums and heathers, amongst others, with much useful advice on their cultivation. TB 8603.
Squire, David
The scented garden. 1988. Read by Gretel Davis, 10 hours 44 minutes, TB 7346.
Ponds, herbaceous borders, rockeries and window boxes, any garden area in fact can be enriched by perfume and a wealth of scented plants can also be grown indoors. The authors write about plants for every season and for all types of gardens and include many anecdotes about fragrant plants, some of which are associated with stories that have been woven into history. TB 7346.
Toms, M P
Gardening for birdwatchers. 2008. 5 hours 27 minutes. TB 408418.
This book brings together the expertise of garden designers Ian and BarleyWilson (NaturalGardens) with that of the British Trust for Ornithology toproduce the definitive guide for improving your garden for birds and otherwildlife. The text, complete with planting plans, gets to grips with thetechniques that underpin successful wildlife-gardening, highlighting thosevarieties of plants that have particular wildlife benefits and explaininghow best to manage your garden for wildlife. With sections on differentgarden features (e.g. lawns, ponds, shady corners and sunny borders), thisbook should enable you to enhance the wildlife value of your own garden.TB 408418.
Verey, Rosemary
The scented garden. 1981. Read by Norma West, 8 hours 48 minutes, TB 7508.
All too often a garden is only a show-piece for colour and shape: without that extra dimension of perfume it loses its soul. In this book the author presents over a thousand plants which she finds best able to provide a framework for a fragrant garden, how to grow them and how to bring their flavours indoors. A bonus is the rediscovery of plants that have been grown and used in the past in Egypt and Rome, through the Middle Ages and Tudor England to the Victorians. TB 7508.
Vegetables, Herbs and Fruits
Boxer, Arabella
The herb book: all about herbs and their uses with over 275 imaginative recipes. 1980. 16 hours 14 minutes. TB 400944.
This text describes the history and traditions of herbs and explains abouttheir uses and cultivation - from home-made cosmetics, herbal teas andsweet-scented pot pourri to the flavour of herbs in cooking. The textpresents over 275 recipes from light soups to health-giving drinks.TB 400944.
Clevely, Andi
The allotment book: a practical guide to creating and enjoying your own perfect plot. 2006. 12 hours 31 minutes, TB 409225.
This text features the key to growing success: choosing a gardening method - organic, biodynamic, rotation beds, companion planting, greenhouse, multi-level, potager, cottage garden, and so on; the hard stuff - constructing sheds, compost bins, cold frames, fruit cages, ponds, seating and play areas; selecting crops - what and how to grow, from parsnips and peas to chilli peppers and lemon grass; cultivation techniques - digging, sowing, feeding, weeding and harvesting, plus troubleshooting pests and diseases; the allotment calendar - extensive, month-by-month look at what's in season, jobs for now and looking ahead; and interviews with current plot-holders.TB 409225.
Grey-Wilson, Christine
Herbs for cooking and health. 1987. 3 hours 41 minutes. Order Number: 408860.
How to grow and use the herbs that for centuries have been used in recipesand medicines.TB 408860.
Guerra, Michael
The edible container garden: fresh food from tiny spaces. 2005. Read by IVO Amy synthetic voice, 6 hours 7 minutes. TB 404317.
You do not need a garden to grow delicious and decorative vegetables,fruit, herbs and edible flowers. A balcony will do, or a rooftop,windowsill, houseboat, or small backyard. All you require is some basicknow-how. From design to harvest, this book provides everything you needto maximise your outdoor space and transform it into a colourful edibleparadise. TB 404317.
Hessayon, D G
The vegetable and herb expert. 1997. Read by Ian Redford, 12 hours 58 minutes. TB 17060.
The book includes: getting started - buying and storing seed; croprotation; digging; manuring; sowing seeds; growing vegetables and herbs;vegetable and herb troubles and looking after the crop. TB 17060.
Search, Gay
Delia's kitchen garden: the beginner's guide to growing and cooking fruit and vegetables. 2004. 9 hours. TB 408116.
This book follows a year in the life of Delia's kitchen garden, with a chapter devoted to each month, containing detailed advice on sowing and planting, fruit and vegetable varieties, and how to harvest. With recipes by Delia that use the produce at its peak, this guide is suitable for first-time horticulturists and cooks of all levels.TB 408116.
Titchmarsh, Alan
Growing and using herbs. 1986. 1 hour 9 minutes, TB 400995.
Gardening personality Alan Titchmarsh has produced a compact guide to growing healthy herbs. He explains how to grow them in the garden and gives an A to Z of culinary and ornamental herbs. Also described are the fragrant delights from those herbs which offer scent rather than flavour.TB 400995.
Titchmarsh, Alan
The kitchen gardener: grow your own fruit and veg. 2008. Read by Volunteers, 23 hours 45 minutes. TB 404366.
Alan's comprehensive guide will tell you everything you could possiblywant or need to know about fruit and veg and how to grow it, includingherbs, baby veg, salads, every-day fruits plus gourmet or unusualvarieties, and how to fit them into today's stylish small gardens. As wellas providing the key facts needed to yield good results and what to dowhen things go wrong, the text is sprinkled with Alan's personalobservations, anecdotes, culinary tips and quirky historical uses. Thebook takes a very practical approach, starting from scratch for thebenefit of anyone who's never grown their own before, but is also idealfor those with some experience who might be growing edibles in a new way -perhaps in a small space that needs to look attractive, or on a newallotment.TB 404366.
Inspiration
By pen and by spade : an anthology of garden writing from Hortus. 1990.Read by Alexander John, 8 hours 30 minutes. TB 9762.
Here, for the first time, are brought together many of the articles fromHortus, the privately published gardening journal which began life only in1987. This rich collection of essays is for the working horticulturalist,the devoted plantsman, historians and compulsive garden visitors, for theweekend pruner and idle weeder, and of course, for armchair gardenerseverywhere! TB 9762.
Bardsley, Barney
A handful of earth: a year of healing and growing. 2008. Read by Ruth Sillers, 9 hours 40 minutes. TB 16089.
When Barney Bardsley's husband died of cancer, she felt anxious, alone andexhausted. But she had to stay strong for their young daughter, Molly, soshe steeled herself to cope by taking one day at a time. During this darktime she took to tending her small, scruffy allotment and she slowly beganto find comfort in nature. This is the diary of her year in the garden,and as the seasons unfold, she charts how here own life is slowly restoredunder the garden's healing influence. TB 16089.
Brown, Jane
Vita's other world: a gardening biography of V Sackville-West. 1985. Read by Arthur Blake, 9 hours 26 minutes, TB 6097.
Gardening is a form of self portraiture and the author believes that the best gardens are made from deep within memories and experience. The reader travels through the past of Knole, Florence, Persia, and stumbling early efforts at gardening in her first home, Long Barn, to the eventual flowering of her talents at Sissinghurst. TB 6097.
Fish, Margery
A flower for every day. 1965. Read by Gwen Cherrell, 8 hours 42 minutes, TB 7645.
The author takes the reader through her own East Lambrook garden, describing the variety of plants that grow there, their problems, and her successes and discoveries. Her observations are aimed at all who need advice and information on gardening. The garden she describes is still open to the public, and maintained in much the same way as it was during her lifetime. TB 7645.