Let’s Get Gardening!
Ready, steady, GROW – because April 14 is National Gardening Day!
Check out these fun and fascinating resources available at your fingertips (or green thumbs) at Western Downs Libraries!
For kids
The Nature Adventure Book by Katie Taylor (2021)
You don’t need to live near a forest or have a huge garden to try these projects – activities and crafts in this book can be done on-the-go, in your neighbourhood, or at your local park! Discover the magic of the outdoors and get hands-on with activities that are perfectly suited for young children. Collect treasure on a nature walk, learn about different types of clouds, create wild art, whittle a magic wand from a stick, and build a secret stick shelter.
There are also mindful games that encourage children to tune into their senses and feel connected to their surroundings. Whether your child loves the great outdoors, or could benefit from spending more time away from screens, research shows playing, learning, and being free in nature boosts children’s development and grows their confidence.
Let’s Get Gardening (2019) edited by Bethany Patch
A wonderful start to building any child’s green thumb and encouraging them to do their bit for the environment. This book includes three simple chapters – kitchen gardening, wildlife gardening, and recycled gardening – each with easy sustainability projects to inspire everyone’s inner eco-kid. Learn how to grow organic vegetables and herbs, how to attract awesome bees, butterflies and birds to your area, and how to make sustainable garden containers from household waste. This book helps children learn about conservation, recycling and sustainability in simple and practical ways, while getting them outdoors learning about plants and wildlife. Whether you have a big garden or a small windowsill, you can do your bit to make the world a greener place.
Duck, Apple, Egg by Glenda Millard (2020)
A beautifully illustrated picture book starring a young child and their pet duck as they play in their garden. Duck on the green, sun in the sky, egg in the nest, apple on the tree, and me.
From multi-award-winning author Glenda Millard comes a delightfully simple story about the joys of playing in a garden. Beautifully illustrated by Martina Heiduczek, this poetic book will be treasured by families everywhere.
Backyard by Ananda Braxton-Smith (2018)
White gum rustle, tawny frog mouths still as wood, dragonflies swoop.
Banjo frog calls the secret watch the world carefully, your backyard is home to animals other than you!
A child stands on her back step at dusk and surveys her backyard.
The backyard is teeming with life – birds, possum, native rat, bats, insects and bugs.
Kindness Grows by Britta Teckentrup (2019)
It all starts with a crack that we can hardly see. It happens when we shout or if we disagree. But with every kindness that we care to show, something good and magical then begins to grow… Angry words and thoughtlessness cause a crack to open up, but find out what happens when kindness begins to blossom, in this thought-provoking book by award-winning illustrator Britta Teckentrup.
For adults
Costa’s World: Gardening for the Soil, the Soul and the Suburbs by Costa Georgiadis (2021)
Bringing together all of Costa’s gardening and sustainability knowledge, this is a book for the whole family that reflects Costa’s philosophy and quirky sense of fun!
The Good Life: How to Grow a Better World by Hannah Maloney (2021)
From growing your own tea, to building a DIY water tank, making yoghurt to co-housing, with The Good Life you?ll gain the skills, self-reliance and confidence needed to engage meaningfully with your space, your food and your community. Whether you have a half-acre, a backyard, a tiny balcony or no balcony at all, there are tips and tricks to suit everyone.
Plantopedia: the Definitive Guide to Houseplants by Lauren Camilleri (2020)
Houseplants have the power to transform any room. With their lush foliage and structural beauty, they help create indoor oases that bring a sense of tranquility to our busy lives. Fostering a connection to plants has many positive implications for us and our environment by strengthening our relationship with the natural world. This book present the definitive guide to keeping happy, healthy houseplants in any space. This book features More than 130 plant profiles including foliage plants, succulents and cacti, as well as rarer gems of the plant world. It detailed care information including troubleshooting tips and tricks to ensure that your houseplants thrive. Plants for all levels of indoor gardeners, from budding novices to green thumbs and beyond.
The Healthy Garden Book: Simple Steps for a Greener World by Kathleen Norris Brenzel (2021)
A gardening book for the times we live in, The Healthy Garden combines practical advice for starting a garden with a rare view into how home gardening builds resilience, personal happiness, and community strength. Filled with savvy tips from dozens of experts, each chapter celebrates the many ways gardening works to build health. These professionals and passionate plant people offer lively insights into landscape design, soil science, nutrition, and plant choices. With its can-do, Victory Garden approach, this is essential resource for anyone seeking to live closer to nature in their own backyards.
The Joy of Gardening by Linda Hallinan (2021)
Gardens teach us to live in the moment. They nourish us, provide solace in grief and offer sanctuary from the stresses of modern life. In a celebration of the healing power of nature, New Zealand gardening guru Lynda Hallinan focuses on the gentle delights that bring joy to our backyards, from birdsong to seasonal beauty. Slowing down, letting go, working in harmony with nature and cherishing the accidental pleasures. From self-sown seedlings to bumblebees sleeping in dahlia blooms, these are the things that make our hearts sing. Lynda also writes about the way memory and tradition connect us to special plants and places, and the thrill of sharing a love of gardening with friends and family.
Special event
Herbal & Floral Tea Workshop with Linda Brennan
Linda Brennan, author and organic specialist from Ecobotanica, will guide you through the fragrant and delicious world of growing native and common culinary herbs and flowers that can be used for teas. Sip and blend your way through a selection of herbal and native-inspired teas, both iced and warming, using fresh and dried herbs from Linda’s own tea garden.
FREE event. Bookings essential:
- Dalby Library – Wednesday 27 April, 1pm-3pm
- Chinchilla Library – Thursday 28 April, 10am-12pm
Check out Linda’s book below!
A Delicious Bunch: Growing and Cooking with Edible Flowers by Linda Brennan (2017) 
A sumptuously beautiful book, replete with glorious mouth-watering images. Sharing her decades of expertise in horticulture, catering and organics, Linda Brennan inspires and educates the gardener and cook, to grow and use edible flowers. With easy to follow plant-based recipes, a selection of garden plans for incorporating edible flowers in large and small spaces, and full growers notes on each of 30 delectable flowers, this book will tempt and delight.