The 10 Best gardening books

Early autumn is the ideal time to both rethink and replant your garden. We choose guides, old and new, that will inform and inspire you now and in the future

1. The Well-Tempered Garden by Christopher Lloyd

£12.99, amazon.co.uk

Reading the late Christopher Lloyd is like walking round the garden with the great man himself. Out of print but available secondhand.

2. Small Garden by John Brookes

£16.99, dk.co.uk

Brookes was writing about the concept of the garden as an outside room before TV makeover programmes were thought of.

3. RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

£65, dk.co.uk

With more than 15,000 plants, and 6,000 photographs, no serious gardener should be without this.

4. The Education of a Gardener by Russell Page

£8.54, amazon.co.uk, kindle

First published in 1962, this is a mixture of anecdote, advice and opinion that is still relevant today.

5. Colour in the Winter Garden by Graham Stuart Thomas

£5, amazon.co.uk

An inspiring book aimed at brightening the backyard during the darkest weeks of the year.

6. A Gentle Plea for Chaos by Mirabel Osler

£7.19, bloomsbury.com

This will transport you through meadows and woodlands to the author's garden in Shropshire.

7. Grow Your Own Vegetables by Joy Larkcom

£9.99, franceslincoln.com

As any allotmenteer will tell you, this is the GYO bible, by the Delia Smith of the vegetable garden.

8. A Taste of the Unexpected by Mark Diacono

£20, quadrille.co.uk

Mark Diacono investigates the more exotic fruits and vegetables we can now grow in the UK.

9. The Complete Garden Expert by D G Hessayon

£11.99, randomhouse.co.uk

Dr David Hessayon has been giving straightforward advice to gardeners for more than 50 years.

10. Bulb by Anna Pavord

£30, octopusbooks.co.uk

Pavord's personal guide to her favourite flowers, with 600 bulbs described in our gardening writer's discursive, entertaining style.