To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas from now through Epiphany and to advocate for the idea of reading books to support New Year projects, resolutions, and goals, I’m writing a series of posts with themed book lists for various popular resolutions. So far…

Day 1: Be More Fit
Day 2: Be Happier
Day 3: Be a Better Cook
Day 4: Be Smarter about Money
Day 5: Be More Purposeful and Get Things Done
Day 6: Be More Creative
Day 7: Be a Better Reader
Day 8: Be a Better Writer

The temperature is below freezing and there’s snow on the ground. An odd moment to be thinking about gardening, right? Actually, this is the most delightful time of year in the garden — seed catalog season, when each day’s post brims with possibilities of color, texture, and flavor for the summer.

Snowball of Come, Sit by the Hearth is reading gardening books for the New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge, so I’m borrowing from her list and adding a book that helped me in my garden.

I just put The Healing Garden by Sue Minter on my To Be Read list because I would like to start thinking of my garden like that, the way Snowball does, as therapy for dealing with the stresses in life. Snowball is coping with some physical challenges, right now, and wants to learn how to garden in spite of them, so she’s identified these two books to help:

• Accessible Gardening for People With Physical Disabilities: A Guide to Methods, Tools, and Plants by Janeen R. Adil
• Accessible Gardening by Joann Woy

I had almost the opposite problem with gardening. I never experienced it as healing because I was always injuring myself. A book, and a winter workout regime, fixed the problem. I wrote a post a couple of years ago about Garden Your Way to Health and Fitness by Bunny Guinness and Jacqueline Knox and included Joy’s Rule for Gardening without Pain.

What books have helped you in the garden?

If you’re reading books to improve your gardening in the new year (or for other goals, projects, and resolutions), join us at The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge!