Key Takeaways
- Closest thing to a planting guide: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner is ranked #3 in bestsellers and is organized by what to do and when.
- Deepest discount of the week: Skyhorse’s 1,001 Country Home Tips & Tricks is 57% off, though its list price looks inflated.
- Garden and kitchen in one book: Cool Springs Press’s Simple Country Living is 48% off and covers both.
- Rizzoli gift pick at half off: The Art of Outdoor Living sits at #15 in bestseller rank.
- No WV-specific calendar this week: None of these books is written for West Virginia, so adjust the timing to your county’s last frost date.
Mid-November in West Virginia is when the garden finally gets put to bed. The tomato cages are stacked behind the shed and, if you got to it, the garlic is in the ground. Now attention swings to buck season and a long winter of planning.
Reviewing this week’s WV Finds, what stood out was how many homestead and country garden books dropped at the same time, with discounts running from 30% to 57%. The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner is sitting at #3 in bestseller rank, which tells me plenty of folks had the same idea. One honest note: none of these books is a West Virginia vegetable planting guide written for our state, so you’ll still be adjusting the timing to your own frost dates.
The practical planning books come first below, then a couple of herb and country know-how titles, then the garden design books that make better gifts than manuals. Prices verified November 14, 2026.
Which book works best as a West Virginia vegetable planting guide?
The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner is the closest thing in this batch to a planting guide, because it’s organized by what to do and when. Simple Country Living is the runner-up for anyone who wants garden techniques sitting next to kitchen recipes.
If you’re still thinking about fall crops, our post on when to plant garlic in West Virginia covers the one job that can’t wait for spring.
Workman Publishing Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner
The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner: What to Do & When to Do It in the Garden, Orchard, Barn, Pasture & Equipment Shed
The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner walks through the year by task, covering the garden along with the orchard, barn, pasture, and equipment shed. That wider scope is what makes it useful for people working a few acres instead of a couple of raised beds. Its schedule isn’t keyed to West Virginia, so pencil in your own frost dates, since a high county like Tucker runs weeks behind the Ohio Valley.
- Organized by what to do and when
- Covers garden, orchard, barn, pasture, and equipment shed
- Bestseller rank #3
Cool Springs Press Simple Country Living
Simple Country Living: Techniques, Recipes, and Wisdom for the Garden, Kitchen, and Beyond
Simple Country Living from Cool Springs Press mixes garden techniques with recipes and country wisdom. It’s the better pick if you want the garden and the kitchen covered in one book. It won’t hand you a planting calendar, so pair it with the planner above if timing is your main question.
- Garden techniques and recipes
- Covers the garden and kitchen
- Bestseller rank #329
Which books cover herbs and old-fashioned country know-how?
Wild Witchcraft is the herb and foraging pick, and 1,001 Country Home Tips & Tricks is the broad household reference. They fill different gaps, so it comes down to what’s missing from your shelf.
If foraging is the draw, pair any herbal book with a real identification book from our West Virginia field guide roundup. For self-reliance topics beyond the garden, the homestead skills books that earn shelf space go deeper.
S&S/Simon Element Wild Witchcraft
Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies
Wild Witchcraft is the freshest addition this week and already sits at #19 in bestseller rank. The folk herbalism and foraging material is what a gardener will get out of it, while the spells and rituals side comes down to personal taste. If that framing isn’t for you, skip it, but if you grow herbs and like the old remedies angle, it fits.
- Folk herbalism and foraging
- Garden magic, spells, and remedies
- Bestseller rank #19
Skyhorse 1,001 Country Home Tips & Tricks
1,001 Country Home Tips & Tricks from Skyhorse covers cleaning and gardening along with cooking and sewing, all in hint-sized entries. It’s a flip-it-open book, not a read-it-cover-to-cover book. I’d take the list price with a grain of salt, but it still carries the deepest markdown of the week.
- Household hints for cleaning and gardening
- Also covers cooking and sewing
- Bestseller rank #1,586
Which garden design books make the best gifts?
The Art of Outdoor Living from Rizzoli is the gift pick here, and the two Country Living titles are the friendlier option for farmhouse and cottage style. None of them will tell you when to plant beans, and that’s fine for what they are.
If a good-looking shelf is the real goal, our roundup of Country Living books for a rustic home shelf and the coffee table books that get picked up at the cabin are good next stops.
Rizzoli The Art of Outdoor Living
The Art of Outdoor Living is about gardens built for entertaining family and friends, which means patios and gathering spaces more than vegetable rows. It’s at #15 in bestseller rank, which is a strong showing for a design title. Rizzoli books usually lean on photography, so this is a gift for someone dreaming up a back porch, not a how-to manual.
- Gardens for entertaining family and friends
- Outdoor living design
- Bestseller rank #15
William Morrow Country Living Country Gardens
Country Living Country Gardens from William Morrow has the weakest bestseller rank in this group. That doesn’t make it a bad book, just a quieter one. It’s the pick for someone who already likes the Country Living look and wants garden ideas in that style.
- Country Living garden style
- Garden ideas
- Bestseller rank #2,550
Hearst Country Living 750 Style & Design Ideas
Country Living: 750 Style & Design Ideas for Home & Garden splits its attention between the house and the yard. It has the smallest discount of the seven, so it’s the one I’d worry least about missing. Still, for someone redoing a farmhouse porch or a front flower bed, 750 ideas is a lot to page through on a cold evening.
- 750 style and design ideas
- Covers home and garden
- Bestseller rank #2,044
Frequently asked questions
Is there a West Virginia vegetable planting guide in this list?
No book here is written specifically for West Virginia. The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner comes closest because it’s organized by season and task. Adjust its timing to your local last frost date, which varies a lot between the mountain counties and the river valleys. WVU Extension also publishes gardening resources for the state.
When should West Virginians start planning next year’s vegetable garden?
Winter is the time to plan. Seed catalogs start showing up after the holidays, and indoor seed starting for tomatoes and peppers usually begins about six to eight weeks before your last frost. Having a planner on hand before then makes those decisions easier.
Which of these books makes the best gift for a gardener?
For a working vegetable gardener, the Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner is the practical gift. For someone who cares more about how the yard looks, The Art of Outdoor Living from Rizzoli is the better choice.
Will these books be cheaper on Black Friday?
There’s no guarantee. Book prices tend to bounce around during the holidays rather than drop in one big step, and most of these are already near half off. If a book is meant as a gift, buying now is reasonable.
Discounts on this week’s books ran from 30% to 57%, and six of the seven landed at 43% or better. The deepest cut is Skyhorse’s 1,001 Country Home Tips & Tricks at 57%, though its list price looks high for a tips book, so I’d treat that number with some suspicion. The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner at 53% off is the more believable markdown.
Honest take: this was a solid week for planning books and a so-so one for design books. The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner is the one I’d point a neighbor to first, and Simple Country Living is my second grab. The two Country Living titles are fine, but I’d only buy them for someone who already loves that look.
Holiday book pricing rarely falls off a cliff, so if one of these is headed under the tree, now is a fair time to buy. You can browse all deals for the rest of this week’s markdowns. Plan the rows this winter, and then we’ll all ignore the plan on the first warm day in March and set the tomatoes out too early anyway.
