I found a few free gardening books that you can read on your computer, tablet, or smart phone using free software that is able to read books for the Kindle from Amazon.  If you already own a Kindle then you'll love these free books.  It's very easy to use and install.  Some of the books are great and some not so good but, hey, they're free!  Just click the image next to each book description and add it to you're cart and start reading!

Here is the link to download the FREE Kindle app/software so you can read on your tablet, smartphone, or computer: CLICK HERE

The Field and Garden Vegetables of America Containing Full Descriptions of Nearly Eleven Hundred Species and Varieties; With Directions for Propagation,Culture and Use.

This book was written long ago before the use of modern fertilizers and is a must have for any gardener who is into organic gardening.  The book is a little boring but the information in it is timeless and very valuable.

Every Step in Canning The Cold-Pack Method

This is an excellent book on many of the lost and forgotten ways of canning food. While some people may frown on older methods due to modern day health issues, I really wanted this valuable knowledge for use when it might not be practical or have modern equipment available to put up my harvest. This is a rare and really valuable book,that with a bit of common sense and following the warnings in the book,one can almost anything. This book was a mainstay in its time and well respected by housewives as a handy reference guide.

Small Gardens and How to Make the Most of Them

This little book is a pleasant contrast for us to learn about food science and food preparation. It was written 91 years ago. The formal language of the author makes it read much as a textbook.

The rationales for keeping foods free from bacteria still apply today. We just have so many other ways to preserve what we grow and eat. She thoroughly explains the various methods of canning, timing of cooking and sterilizing, how and why to sterilize, and how to prepare each type of food for canning.

The term, canning, was more apt in the past, as canning in metal cans was done in homes. Today we think of tins as products for purchase.

The author included how-toos for canning everything from your own home-made head cheese to the hens you slaughtered yourself. It's a great reality check for just how conveniently we can access virtually anything we want to store and eat. Her dry prose aside, reading this could launch you into canning for your own family.

Mushrooms: how to grow them a practical treatise on mushroom culture for profit and pleasure

The low tech blast from the past on how it was done and ideas and information on how it can still be done. With modern common knowledge and past know how this one is worthwhile.

Our Farm of Four Acres and the Money we Made by it

Farm Gardening with Hints on Cheap Manuring Quick Cash Crops and How to Grow Them

This book is for the beginner hobby farmer, as well as educational about cost effectively generating cash crops.

Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway

This book has the basics of dry farming. what crops are better to use with little or no water.  Mulch is a great way to retain moisture, right? Well, we might want to think about that a bit. Once mulch gets wet it tends to stay wet, at least in comparison to your dry, dusty dirt. But why does it stay wet? Is it because mulch has great water-retaining abilities, or is it actually sucking water out of the ground, water that could be coming up through your plant's roots? In his typical style, Solomon has his opinion, and he is not afraid of sharing it. If you were to combine his theories about wide-planted spacing and 'dust mulch' (ideas he drew from the Navajo and other desert peoples) with hugelkultur, you would probably end up with some very pleasing results.

Home Vegetable Gardening - A Complete and Practical Guide to the Planting and Care of All Vegetables, Fruits and Berries Worth Growing for Home Use

From the Publisher

For those who understand the significance of home-grown foods to surviving and thriving in difficult times, F. F. Rockwell's no-nonsense Home Vegetable Gardening: A Complete And Practical Guide To The Planting And Care Of All Vegetables, Fruits And Berries Worth Growing For Home Use, may be the best single volume, practical manual of family-feeding, high-yield home gardening ever compiled.

Organic Gardener's Composting

This book has provided me with enough details on soil nutrient processes and how vegetables interact with the soil organisms for me to understand my soil(s) enough to ask the right questions about how to improve my vegetable garden, as well as decide on approaches that might have a chance of being effective without spending a lot of money or taking a chance on an approach that might produce unusable soil. I was especially impressed with the discussion on the current understanding of the both compost and organic fertilizers (though his comments are not limited to organic fertilizers).

JeBouffe Home Canning Step by Step Guide (second edition) Revised and Expanded

This guide is intended to provide you with the essential information to make your first small jars in a safe and enjoyable way. It will guide you through all stages from preparation to storage of your products.
You will discover the principles of conservation for different types of food, the benefits of home canning, the recommended methods as well as the ones to avoid.
Then you will learn the two proper methods of treatment: the boiling water bath and the pressure canning methods. You will find a list of essential equipment and the detailed steps for a successful canning experience.
Finally you will gain some hands on experience with our easy and delicious recipes.
This guide do not claim to be scientific or complete. We simply wants to give you the tools you need to get into the fun activity of preparing your home preserves.

Culinary Herbs: Their Cultivation Harvesting Curing and Uses

This little book, written over 100 years ago in 1912, is still just what the doctor ordered to help both beginning and professional gardeners grow better herbs. The slightly stilted, old-fashioned language is a very comfortable match to the subject matter. Be prepared to discover the histories of herbs, how to cultivate and harvest them, how to use them to add flavor to soups, stews, salads, and meats. The author's perspective is surprisingly modern, being very accepting of historical uses (and misuses) of herbs, but also allowing for the world's present wisdom to change, for new and improved uses and applications for herbs. Great care and affection is shown throughout this book for the disappearing art of herb gardening. In the author's own words, "It is not to late to learn the good old ways all over again."

Indoor Gardening for Every Week in the Year Showing the Most Successful Treatment for all Plants Cultivated in the Greenhouse, Conservatory, Stove, Pit, Orchid, and Forcing-house

Very good and basic information to teach you essential skills towards self sufficiency. Shows you capabilities in gardening, even when you don't have a yard or land.

Gardening Indoors and Under Glass A Practical Guide to the Planting, Care and Propagation of House Plants, and to the Construction and Management of Hotbed, Coldframe and Small Greenhouse

This book predates Genetically modified seeds by about 100 years. The tips are extremely practical.  All you need to help get started and places to look to get the best supplies. A must read.

Gardening for the Million

This is a very large 'encyclopedia' of plants. It gives a description and some details of the plant. Also it lists necessary growing conditions, the type of soil that best suits the plant and whether or not they can be grown from seed. It is listed in alphabetical order. There are hundreds of plants in this book. All types of plants are listed including trees.

The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming.

The author actually describes in detail four garden beds with paths in between that he has made including measurements. A lot of people consider an old book out of date and not practical for today. That is true many times today with so many electronics constantly being updated. However, this does not apply to gardening. The same plants and herbs have been around for hundreds of years. The biggest change in the way we garden today is that far less people grow their own food nowadays.

The gardening information in this book is still good today. It explains in detail what condition each plant needs to grow in for optimal growth. There is even a germination table in there that is useful. There are charts for seed planting depth and spacing that is also accurate. It also contains detailed instructions on how to build a cold frame as well as a hot bed. There is even simple instructions to make a plant stool.

The setting of the book is at a school. They are taught to improve their school grounds and how to garden. The girls also participated by making supplies such as seed envelopes, plant labels, a garden basket as well as other supplies. Also the girls were mostly responsible for making the flower gardens while the boys did more on the vegetable gardening. They also made a strawberry bed and so much more.

This is a very well written and entertaining read. The garden knowledge is elegantly woven into this fascinating story of these school children diligently working to beautify their school with edible plants.