RVA truly had winter this year! Spring has come, trees are blooming and the ground is warming. It’s the perfect time to start seeds inside in containers or outside in the ground. How do you know which to start now and what conditions they need to sprout? With the Richmond Public Library you have access to many resources that will assist you in your gardening, from planting to harvest.

If you don’t have a library card, stop by your local branch and sign up! It takes only a few minutes to create a library card that’s ready to use immediately. Can’t wait? Go to rvalibrary.org and create an eCard. This electronic card gives you access to our online resources, including eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies and more. Many titles are readily available on your tablet, phone or desktop.

Are you stumped? Do you have an invasive plant taking over your garden and you want an ecologically sound way to get rid of it? Can you not figure out why your carrots look like golf balls? One-on-one, in person sessions with Richmond Master Gardeners are available this spring at the following RPL locations:

• Belmont Branch
• Ginter Park Branch
• West End Branch
• Westover Hills Branch

Scroll through the titles below for a sample of what is available with your Richmond Public Library card. Is the book you want not on the shelf at your local branch? Place a hold on the title and it will be sent to the location you choose. Bountiful gardens to all!

Urban Gardening

• Backyard Farming: from Raising Chickens to Growing Veggies, the Beginner’s Guide to Running a Self-Sustaining Farm (2021) One in a series titled Self-Sufficient Living. The subtitle says it all. Just because you have a small space, even an apartment, it doesn’t mean you can’t raise fresh food.
• Hellstrip Gardening: Create a paradise between the sidewalk and the curb by Evelyn J. Hadden. (2014) Do you have a spot of rough ground, maybe between the sidewalk and the curb, that seems incapable of growing anything? This book will inspire you to transform that bed into a beautiful, productive mini-garden. With ideas on challenges, plant selection and sustainability.
• The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-sufficiency in Any Size Backyard by Gary Pilarchik. (2021) This title is perfect for a first-time gardener or anyone looking for ideas to grow in your backyard. Covers first gardens, seed starting, building beds, containers and more. Available in print and as a Hoopla eBook.
• The New Gardeners Handbook: Grow a Beautiful & Bountiful Garden; Everything You Need to Know by Daryl Beyers. (2020) Beyers is a gardening instructor at the New York Botanical Garden. His approach would be useful for the first time gardener or the experienced professional. Starting with the soil and moving through plant placement, starting seeds, pruning and more. This truly is an excellent, illustrated guide for any gardener. Available in print and as an eBook through Hoopla.
• Urban Flowers: Creating abundance in a small city garden by Carolyn Dunster. (2017) Would you like to grow flowers in your space? Is a “cutting garden” something that you would like to try? Fresh flowers brighten any space and make great gifts. This London florist and gardener shares her tips on city gardens, container gardening, plant selection and color plus harvesting and preserving your favorite blossoms. Available in print and as an eBook through Hoopla.
• Urban Farmers: the Now (and How) of Growing Food in the City. (2021) This title is an encyclopedia of successful urban food production. From Brooklyn to Brazil, Paris to Indonesia and all around the world, individuals are hatching ideas on growing in non-traditional settings. Rooftop vineyards, urban cut-flower market, chefs supporting farm-to-fork and beekeeping in the city are just a few of the remarkable projects included in this book. Also includes practical tips, i.e. natural dyes. Read this title for inspiration and connection to the world-wide garden community.
• Urban Gardening for Beginners: Simple Hacks + Easy Projects for Growing Your Own Food in Small Spaces by Marc Thoma. (2020) Concise instructions and practical ideas for growing outdoors and indoors. Check out the author’s website Healthy Fresh Homegrown for additional links and ideas to get your garden going. Available in print and as a Hoopla eBook.

• Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting by R. J. Ruppenthal. (2008) It’s amazing what you can grow in a small space. With a bit of planning and careful plant selection a small garden can produce a wealth of delicious produce. This guide includes ideas on fruit and berry growing. Also included are ways to preserve your harvest, ideas on fermenting, cultivating mushrooms, urban chickens and beekeeping.
• One Magic Square: Vegetable Gardening – The Easy, Organic Way to Grow Your Own Food on a 3-Foot Square by Lolo Houbein. (2016) Square-foot gardening is not a new concept. This title shares new insight into the practice of growing more in smaller spaces, even in containers. Through succession planting you can have a new crop in almost every season. Check out Part 3 on Magic Square Plots.
• Herbs in Every Season: 48 Edible and Medicinal Herbs for the Kitchen, Garden and Apothecary by Bevin Cohen. (2025) Here in RVA we are fortunate to have many great farmers markets to pick up fresh produce year-round. If you would rather plant an herb garden than a veggie plot, this title is a great starting point. Cohen groups the herbs by season and includes a variety of ways to use the herbs from teas and mocktails to tinctures and soaps.
• Honey and Venom: Confessions of an Urban Beekeeper by Andrew Coté. (2020) Bees are one of the unspoken heroes of the garden. Read through this chronological year with a fourth generation beekeeper. As an expert on urban bees the author travels annually to many parts of the world, teaching communities to support beekeeping. For more information visit Andrew’s Honey.
• The Regenerative Gardener’s Handbook: Essential Techniques for Growing a Garden that Leaves the Land Healthier Thank You Found It by Briana Selstad Bosch. (2026) Soil is the foundation of a healthy garden plot. Often an urban backyard is depleted of important nutrients or may be hard-packed clay. This new title provides practical solutions for “growing” healthy soil and as a result, abundant plants. The author focuses on gardens as ecosystems and shares ways to keep them healthy year to year. Beautiful illustrations and ideas on avoiding invasives are also included. Visit the author’s website at Blossom and Branch Farm for more ideas on sustainable growing.
• Growing a Life: Teen Gardeners Harvest Food, Health, and Joy by Illène Pevec, PhD. (2016) Gardening is more than just growing food or flowers. It’s meditation, stress relief, joy for the senses and a community builder. Pevec illustrates how gardening can also build positive youth development. The book covers youth gardening programs across the country, with much of the text in the words of the young gardeners. In February 2025 the author was named Climate Hero of the Month by 350 Colorado.
• The book of Gardening Projects for kids: 101 ways to get KIDS outside, DIRTY, and having FUN by Whitney Cohen and John Fisher. (2012) Starting off with “Making Gardens Fun for Kids” and going through designs, theme gardens, animals in the garden to art projects, this title shares garden ideas for all ages. Gardening is a project that the whole family can enjoy while providing hands-on learning for the young gardeners that they may take into adulthood. Visit LifeLab for more ideas.

Speaking of kids…a sample of new titles with a gardening theme.

• City Farm by Julie Koon. (2025) Willadeen’s farm survives the growth of the city that surrounds it. As she ages the thought of selling is a difficult idea. Then, a solution comes from unexpected places.
• Growing Green: a First Book of Gardening by Danielle Sosa. (2025) “15 fun gardening projects to grow and eat” Yes, there are fifteen simple ideas using what you may have at home.
• Growing Together by Ruth Spiro; Paola Escobar, Illustrator. (2026) A beautifully illustrated story of a community garden where all are welcome.
• Planting Hope by Frederick Joseph; Paul Kellam, Illustrator. (2026) Henry is discouraged. He doesn’t seem to have the “green thumb” that his family has with plants and gardening. When his mom becomes ill, Henry gathers all his energy into raising his plant, and his hopes.
• Mara Plants a Seed by Robert Furrow and Donna Jo Napoli; Melissa Bailey, Illustrator. (2025) Where others see a trashy, abandoned lot, Mara sees promise. First cleanup, then planting, and lots of patience and care. A beautiful story of community and transformation.