And it became a birthday cake too…
Charles Dowding says:
“A humorous questioning of the jobs we are told to do, and don’t need to, though rather than sitting in a deckchair, you will be having fun doing jobs that make your garden shine.”
Julieanne Porter says:
“At the beginning of the book Anne says that it isn’t for ‘proper gardeners’. I disagree. I think proper gardeners could learn a thing or two from Anne’s wisdom. I’d add that this is a really useful book for those who would like to garden, but who have limitations such as a chronic illness. It helps you focus on what is essential, so you use your limited energy wisely.” – see full review here.
Katherine Crouch says:
Karen Gimson says
Nicole Marillier says
and the cherry on the cake is found in the “Deckchair wisdom” comments , sort of very (very) short (very !) sum of what had been said before.
As Anne says, get the book before starting any job …. !”
Alexandra Campbell says:
Best present for the new gardener
If you have a friend who has just moved, thus acquiring a larger garden, then your housewarming present must be The Deckchair Gardener, An Improper Gardening Manual by Anne Wareham.
When we moved here thirteen years ago, we came from a London house with a tiny courtyard garden. This house had one fifth of an acre of immaculately planted and cared-for garden. I was way out of my depth.
A book like this would have been very helpful, although Helen Yemm’s Gardening in Pyjamas got me started.
Back to The Deckchair Gardener, however. Anne Wareham de-bunks most of the monthly ‘jobs to do in the garden.’ The basic message is that you can go a long way towards creating a beautiful garden just by mulching and occasionally getting out your hedge trimmer.
Everything else should be added in because you enjoy doing it, not because you ‘have to do it.’
Stay in bed with a coffee on Sunday morning and read…
Anne herself is a very knowledgeable gardener, and has created an outstanding garden Veddw, from a field. She and her photographer husband did it on a tight budget, although Alan Titchmarsh rates it as one of his ’10 best British gardens.’
The Deckchair Gardener would also be an excellent present for anyone who threatens to move house ‘because the garden is getting too much for them.’ Or buy it for yourself if you feel like lazing in bed with a cup of coffee rather than going out and gardening. It’s a fun read.
Alison Levey says
“…. Anne’s point, as I see it, is don’t listen to the gardening magazines and tv programmes giving you lists of things to do, they are just enjoying themselves making lists. Don’t do what you do not think looks right for your garden and don’t just put up with things because that is the way the garden looked when you moved in. Anne gives one very important piece of advice, no two gardens are the same and what works in one will not always work in another. Anne both cites expert advice and tells you why expert advice might not work for you…” read on here
Get yours here…
