For a keen gardener's birthday, retirement or leaving present, The Gardener's Almanac by Alan Titchmarsh is a month-by-month book of seasonal advice, garden projects and nature notes, illustrated by the author. For someone who grows vegetables, No Dig by Charles Dowding sets out his method of growing crops without digging over the soil, and the RHS Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers describes more than 8,000 plants.
This guide is for anyone choosing a present for someone who loves their garden or allotment, whether for a birthday, a retirement or a colleague's leaving do. It includes large reference books, month-by-month guides, books on growing vegetables, and lighter reading about gardens and gardeners.
For a gardener who likes to choose plants carefully. This 744-page hardback has a photographic catalogue of 4,000 plants grouped by type, size and colour, a plant dictionary of more than 8,000 species and varieties, and a plant selector for conditions such as coastal gardens, shade and different soils.
For someone new to gardening, or starting a new garden. Monty Don covers the basics of growing more than 100 popular flowers, food crops, shrubs and houseplants, each on one spread with what you need, timing, method and step-by-step photos.
For a vegetable grower or allotment holder. Charles Dowding explains the no-dig system he has used for growing vegetables, which avoids digging over the soil to preserve its structure, with calendars for sowing, growing and harvesting and a section on making your own compost.
For someone who wants something to harvest through the year. Sarah Raven's month-by-month guide covers reliable varieties, her favourite crops, and unusual vegetables, herbs and salads, from January to December, whatever the size of the outdoor space.
For a gardener who likes to dip in through the year. Arranged month by month, it has seasonal advice on what to grow and sow, projects, wildlife to spot, gardens to visit, weather notes, and poems, music and books, with illustrations by Alan Titchmarsh.
For a gardener who likes a to-do list. BBC Gardeners' World writer Ian Spence organises each month into things to do, last-chance reminders and get-ahead tasks, recommends seasonal plants, and ends with a directory of 350 plants.
For someone who wants to garden sustainably, whatever the size of their space, from a large garden to a windowsill. Nancy Birtwhistle gives over 100 tips, from composting and basic equipment to seasonal recipes and how to freeze, store and preserve what you grow.
For a gardener curious about plant names. It lists more than 3,000 botanical Latin names, each with a definition and a pronunciation guide, shows what a name can reveal about a plant's origin, shape, colour and scent, and includes feature spreads on plant hunters such as Sir Joseph Banks.
For a gardener who also loves Beatrix Potter's books. Marta McDowell traces Potter's love of gardening and plants and how it shows in her work, follows a year in her garden season by season, and ends with a guide to visiting Potter's gardens today.
For a Gardeners' World viewer who would enjoy a memoir. Monty and Sarah Don tell how they made their garden at Longmeadow from the muddy fields around their Tudor farmhouse after a business failure in the late 1980s, and Monty writes about the garden's part in helping him through depression.
One option is a book arranged around the gardening year. The Gardener's Almanac by Alan Titchmarsh is arranged month by month, with advice, projects and nature notes. For a gardener who likes reference books, there is the RHS Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers, or RHS Latin for Gardeners, which explains more than 3,000 plant names.
No Dig by Charles Dowding and A Year Full of Veg by Sarah Raven are both about growing vegetables. No Dig includes calendars for sowing, growing and harvesting, and A Year Full of Veg is arranged month by month from January to December.
The Gardening Book by Monty Don is written for people who are new to gardening and covers more than 100 plants, one per spread. RHS Gardening Through the Year breaks each month into tasks and reminders.
The Jewel Garden is Monty and Sarah Don's memoir of making their garden at Longmeadow. Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life is a gardener's biography of Potter, with a guide to visiting her gardens.
Selected by Fox & Fable from books in stock. Last updated 30 September 2026.
