Gardening

Science in the Garden

	Anne Rockwell’s One Bean (Walker Children’s Books, 1999) is a simple science book in which a kid sprouts a bean on a wet paper towel, plants it in a cup, and raises a bean plant. Pair this one with a packet of bean seeds. For ages 3-7.
	Gail Gibbons’s From Seed to Plant (Holiday House, 1993) is a straightforward explanation of how seeds grow, variously covering pollination, seed dispersal, germination, development, and growth. Included are instructions for growing your own bean plant. The text is somewhat dry, but the illustrations are bright and appealing. For ages 4-8.
	Helene J. Jordan’s How a Seed Grows (HarperCollins, 1992) in the popular Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out science series covers all the basics with great comparative pictures of (small) seed and (sometimes enormous) grown plant. For ages 4-8.
	Kate Messner’s Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt (Chronicle Books, 2017) is a lovely exploration of the hidden life of a garden, from leaves and sprouts up on top to burrowing earthworms and insects down below. For ages 4-8.
	Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld’s Secrets of the Garden (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2012) traces a family garden from start to harvest, showing its many connections to the food web, all with the informative help of Daisy and Maisy, a pair of knowledgeable chickens. My favorites: the wonderful picture maps variously showing each family member’s plot, the compost bin, the chicken run, and the treehouse. For ages 4-9.
	Renata Brown’s Gardening Lab for Kids (Quarry Books, 2014) has 52 plant-related activities grouped in weekly lessons. Sections include Garden Basics, Theme Gardening, and Garden Art. For ages 6-12.
	Botanist Jim Conrad’s Discover Nature in the Garden (Stackpole Books, 1996) is divided into three major sections, on plants, animals, and backyard ecology, all packed with clear reader-friendly science, helpful black-and-white diagrams, and activities. Topics covered include plant structure and behavior, insect behavior and classification, garden interrelationships, soil chemistry, plant diseases, and garden philosophy. Also included is an informational A to Z list of common vegetables. A good pick for science-minded gardeners ages 10 and up.
	From the San Francisco Exploratorium, The Science of Gardening has informative videos and interactive features on all aspects of gardening, from compost and dirt to hydroponics, pumpkin competitions, and the history of vegetables.
	From the 4-H, Afterschool Agriculture has a large collection of downloadable activities on agriculture and plants.
	TOPS Learning Systems publishes excellent science activity units in which kids build scientific equipment from simple (really) household materials, conduct substantive experiments, record data, and maintain lab journals. In the Life Science series, “Green Thumbs: Corn and Beans” (recommended for grades 4-12) and “Green Thumbs: Radishes” (recommended for grades 3-8) cover plant growth, tropisms, photosynthesis, and more.
	The Wisconsin Fast Plants Program centers around rapidly growing Brassicas – cabbage relatives – that go from seed to plant to seed again in a mere 30 days. Visit the website for more information, activities and educational resources (for elementary- to college-level students), and seeds and supplies. Various Fast Plants projects cover everything from plant life cycles to genetics.
	Can a rooftop garden keep a building cool? Science Buddies has background information, resources, and complete instructions for a cool and interesting experiment.
	Grow a mold garden! Science Project Lab has instructions, information, and dramatic photographs.
	How to Grow a Charcoal Crystal Garden has instructions for growing a crystal garden (on charcoal briquettes).

History and the Garden

	Kate Lied’s Potato: A Tale of the Great Depression (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2002) is a family story about the young narrator’s grandparents, Clarence and Agnes. In Iowa during the days of the Great Depression, Clarence loses his job and the bank takes the family house – so they all head to Idaho for a temporary job picking potatoes. There they live in tents, dig potatoes by day, and at night dig potatoes to feed themselves – and at the end of the harvest season, return home with a car crammed with potatoes to tide them over the winter. For ages 4-8.
	Kathi Appelt’s Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers (HarperCollins, 2005) is a picture-book biography of Lady Bird Johnson, with an emphasis on her passion for botany and her national wildflower-planting campaign. The pictures are gorgeous riots of bluebells, bluebonnets, and black-eyed Susans. Included is a wildflower identification chart. For ages 6-10.
	Robbin Gourley’s First Garden: The White House Garden and How It Grew (Clarion Books, 2011) is the story of First Lady Michelle Obama’s organic garden and her campaign to promote healthy eating – along with a brief history of the White House and the kids who have lived there, and an account of historical White House gardens. Included are a resource list and recipes. For ages 6-12.
	Lily’s Victory Garden by Helen Wilbur (Sleeping Bear Press, 2010) in the Tale of Young Americans Series is a story of life on the home front during World War II. Lily dreams of having a Victory garden, but has no space at home, where her family lives in an apartment. So she asks Mr. Bishop – who has lost a son in the war – for the loan of some land. He agrees, on the condition that Lily does not disturb his broken-hearted wife – but, as it turns out, Lily and the garden ultimately help Mrs. Bishop come to terms with loss and begin to heal. A photo-essay at the end of the book discusses everyday life during World War II. For ages 6-12.
	In Susan Grigsby’s In the Garden with Dr. Carver (Albert Whitman & Company, 2010), Sally and her schoolmates in rural Alabama learn about gardening from the famous plant scientist George Washington Carver, who arrives in a mule-pulled wagon, his “movable school.” Later they share a picnic of Carver recipes, including bread made with sweet-potato flour, “chicken” made from peanuts, and wild weed salad. For ages 5-9.
	Cheryl Bardoe’s Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas (Harry N. Abrams, 2015) is the picture-book story of how a pea garden led to the science of genetics. For ages 5-9.
	Andrea Wulf’s Founding Gardeners (Vintage, 2012) is the story of how Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison all contributed to the growth of the new American nation through agriculture and gardening. For teens and adults.