Its chirpy title may seem to place it squarely in the middle of the self-help shelf, but "You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening" (Fireside, $15) is chock-full of sensible advice for budding as well as mature bloom tenders (and just in time for Earth Day, no less). Author Gayla Trail covers everything from reading plant tags to monitoring soil pH to grasping companion planting.

Suggestions abound for budget-conscious urbanites: Repurpose your mom's Tupperware container as a window box, or trade seeds at the end of the growing season with your buddies. Crafty hipsters will dig the handmade projects, including a mod gardening apron and foot scrub made from home-grown peppermint. At times, Trail's enthusiasm gets a little loopy: Brewing up a batch of garden-nourishing "rank tea" by steeping aged manure for two to three weeks sounds, well, gross. But putting carnivorous plants such as Venus' flytraps in an old crockpot? Now that's inspired.

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