Bathing beauty courtesy of Mercy Breheny.

The Garden Primer
Barbara Damrosch
I've probably spent more time with this book than any other. In fact, this book transitioned me from a half-assed failure of a gardener to one of those gardeners who tends to show off (although I still have a great deal of humility outside of vegetables and herbs). It's an excellent resource for virtually anything that grows, from vegetables and fruit trees to grasses, bulbs, shade trees, even houseplants. The 688 pages include sections on gardening gear, locating suppliers, garden planning, and all the basic procedures that many books take for granted. And it's written in a very casual, anecdotal way that really makes you like and trust the author. You never get the feeling that she's talking down to you or doesn't think you should have a successful garden your first time out, like some snotty garden writers make you feel. There are garden books I like better for specific topics or for my particular region, but I haven't found another that has this depth of information about everything in one volume. You can take it outside with you and plant peaches, dahlias, tomatoes, roses, beans, azaleas, ivy and pansies with equal confidence that you've done it right. -nikol lohr
amazon.com buy The Garden Primer.

House
Tracy Kidder
You’d think that after renovating my own house over the last three years I wouldn’t want to hear another friggin’ word about houses or anything shelter-based. Ever. And, in fact, I didn’t. I only started reading it after a particularly goddawful day of arguing with my foundation guy about the interpretation of “leveling.” This word, he argued, should not imply “even,” or “level,” as one might think, but rather acted as an “industry” word meaning the activity of moving stuff around under the beams. Huh. Well, Tracy knows all about it, and her humor had me mocking, then firing my foundation guy with the unjustified confidence that I could do it myself. Who does that for you? She does. -louisa brinsmade
amazon.com buy House.

Home Wisdom: A Commonsense Guide to Solving Everyday Problems
John Vara, 1997
This is one of those folksy guides to fixing, cleaning, and saving money on everything. For example, in the "What to Do with the Stuff You Usually Throw Away" section: use pureed banana skins to polish silver, cigarette butts soaked in water to kill mealy bugs in houseplants, plastic milk jugs as hotcaps for seedlings you set out. Other choice tidbits: keeping cut flowers longer, makeshift measurers (dollar bill = 6 1/8"; quarter = 1"; penny = 3/4"), stocking a home toolbox or medicine chest, cleaning almost anything with vinegar, lemons & salt, homemade moth repellent. As an added bonus, this is often a choice in book-of-the-month club offers or in bookstore bargain bins. -nikol lohr
amazon.com buy Home Wisdom.

Fine Gardening
Another excellent magazine from Taunton's, Fine Gardening is a feast for the eyes & full of practical information. This one comes on regular magazine stock and has the usual amount of advertising, but the in-depth features, illustrations and inspired ideas make up for the clutter. And frankly, gardeners tend to like to check out the new plant and gadget offerings, so the ads are pretty targeted and interesting. Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that. -nikol lohr
taunton.com preview/subscribe to Fine Gardening .

Martha Stewart Living
Only grudgingly to I support the Omnimediatrix. But the truth is, this magazine is good. Really good. It's the product of a very anal mind, so instructions are precise, photographs are primly lush, recipes are excellent. Were it not for the constant presence of our WASPy uberfrau in the magazine's photos and monologues, you might think it was the product of a very kindly, very genteel matron aunt. The kind who wouldn't snub you if you fucked up a pie. While I concede that no sane person would ever take the time to decorate Marthaesque butterfly or dog cookies, I'm crazy about her good things (if only I could erase the soundtrack of that tense, reprimanding voice accompanied by the thin, angry smile: "It's a good thing"). This month's good things includes chicken-wire-and-coat-hanger bubble wands, doorknob tiebacks (so cute! so clever!), homemade lip balm. Unfortunately, it has more advertising than a fashion magazine. I threw the first issue of my subscription across the room after flipping through twenty pages of ads. Eventually I retrieved it and devised a coping technique. The trick is to read it backwards. -nikol lohr
marthastewart.com get ideas and recipes for free, check out the catalog of things you can't afford, or subscribe.