Recommended Reading/Reference: The Garden Primer

The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch is a book that I bought last year towards the end of the gardening season. This book is of biblical proportions --820 pages, and is an encyclopedia of garden care. It has been super helpful already this Spring and I expect that I will continue to refer to it. It is the kind of information that I read and think, "yes, right, sweet potatoes need x,y,z fertilizer and potatoes need c,d,e, but then by the time I get to that step I forget and have to go back and read that section again.
It is organized by veggies, fruits, shrubs, lawn care, common pest problems, etc. and it has an excellent index. The book contains 2-3 page entries on most common veggies, herbs, and fruits: how to grow them, common pests, soil preferences, etc. The only problem that I have been having with it is that I have decided to grow some "unusual" things this year, like huckleberries and honeyberries, which are not found in the index. Also lemon balm is not mentioned. I guess even 820 pages can only cover so many plants!