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Starting out in the garden, whether it’s big or small, can be a daunting experience. And without an expert on hand to ask, the best Australian gardening books are the next best thing. Australia has some amazing minds that you can lean into when it comes to gardening, be it a veggie garden, or just a garden to hide an unsightly part of the home. Names such as Costa Georgiades, Paul Bangay, Michael Morrison, as well as the ABC all have great gardening books for you to learn from.
So, from beginners to experts, these are the best Australian gardening books you can buy right now.
The Little Veggie Patch Co: An A-Z guide to growing food in small spaces
By Fabian Capomolla & Matt Pember
The Little Veggie Patch Co are old hands at creating gardens, especially those that produce food, in any space. ‘An A-Z guide to growing food in small spaces’ is a great place to start if you’re looking at growing your own vegetables at home.
Buy The Little Veggie Patch Co’s book here.
Gardening Through the Year in Australia
By Ian Spence
If you’re in need of step-by-step instructions on what to do at every stage of the year, Gardening Through the Year in Australia is absolutely the book for you. Easily one of the best Australian gardening books around, the book has a photographic appendix of close to 350 plants along with detailed information on how to grow and care for the plants.
Buy Gardening Through the Year in Australia here.
Homegrown: A Year of Growing, Cooking and Eating
By Paul West
Paul West is a well-known chef, and farmer who spent time on River Cottage Australia. Homegrown is a book that gives you planting guides for popular vegetables, and fruit trees no matter whether you’re planting them on a balcony, in your backyard, or on a larger property. There are also projects in the book such as how to build a mini greenhouse, or how to grow fruit trees from cuttings.
Buy Homegrown: A Year of Growing, Cooking and Eating here.
Costa’s World: Gardening for the soil, the soul and the suburbs
By Costa Georgiades
There would be no best Australian gardening books list without Costa’s World: Gardening for the soil, the soul, and the suburbs. The book covers a range of subjects such as housing chickens, how to get kids involved in the home gardening process, how to make the most of small spaces and much more. Costa also shows you his favourite plants, and how to grow the right plants for your conditions.
The City Gardener: Contemporary Urban Gardens
By Richard Unsworth
The City Gardener showcases a range of twenty private gardens that have been created by Richard Unsworth’s design practice, Garden Life. The gardens range in size from 38 square metres, all the way to 1,385 square metres, so there are plenty of opportunities to learn about what works in different spaces. The book shows garden plans along with full planting lists, and everything else you need to create the perfect garden in the city.
Buy The City Gardener: Contemporary Urban Gardens here.
Small Garden Design
By Paul Bangay
Renowned garden designer Paul Bangay reveals how to design and structure your small garden, and choose the right plants. Small Garden Design’s chapters cover balconies, terraces, rooftops, inner-city, lightwells, and courtyards with photos by Simon Griffiths.
Cruden Farm Garden Diaries
By Michael Morrison
If you’ve ever visited Cruden Farm in Langwarrin, Victoria and marvelled at its extensive gardens, this book can help you understand how it all came together. Gardener Michael Morrison has built up and cared for the Cruden Farm gardens alongside Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and continues to do so today. The book shows Morrison’s garden diaries, which have been kept since 1984 show when plants were planted, when storms rained down, and even when cows escaped.
Buy Cruden Farm Garden Diaries here.
Fungipedia: A Brief Compendium of Mushroom Lore
By Lawrence Millman
A mini-encyclopedia of mushroom lore, Fungipedia features more than 180 entries that cover topics such as Alice in Wonderland, chestnut blight, medicinal mushrooms, poisonings, Santa Claus, waxy caps, and much, much more. Find out all you need to know about mushrooms, accompanied by illustrations from Amy Jean Porter.
Buy Fungipedia: A Brief Compendium of Mushroom Lore here.
The Weed Forager’s Handbook: A Guide to Edible and Medicinal Weeds in Australia
By Adam Grubb & Annie Raser-Rowland
Discover the finer side of the plants that we call weeds and you’ll find that a large amount of them are either edible, or medicinal. Grubb and Rowland have written chapters on appreciating weeds, the top edible and medicinal weeds, recipes, and more.
Buy The Weed Forager’s Handbook here.
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