The Bad Tempered Gardener
Seeing gardening as a serious and even outrageous art form has placed Anne Wareham well outside of what usually passes for discussion of gardens. Impatient with received ideas, eager to provoke, The Bad-Tempered Gardener is the story of her development as a thinking gardener and the creation with her husband, Charles Hawes, of their acclaimed garden in the Welsh borders, the Veddw.
From the strange (plant obsessives, a bizarre debut as a television presenter) to the everyday (deadheading, sharing a garden), with frequent paeans to favourite plants and thoughtful pieces on show gardens and status, this is an intelligent, pugnacious and engaging book. It also unflinchingly conveys the challenges, the hard work, triumphs and failures behind the creation and development of a substantial contemporary garden.
Outwitting Squirrels: And Other Garden Pests and Nuisances
If you have ever waged war against the local squirrels to prevent them from ransacking your garden, you will know that they are wily beasts who can find loopholes in the most cunning of defences. Capable of remarkable feats of tightrope walking and problem-solving, they are formidable enemies indeed – and that’s not to mention the many other pests who can torment the optimistic gardener, from slugs and snails to moles and deer and from bugs and weevils to fungus and blight . . .
Anne Wareham has compiled a brisk, but comprehensive guide to recommended anti-pest strategems, including ingenious tricks to keep squirrels from eating all the seed when the feeders fail, and when to tie your sunflowers on to the shed roof. Always a realist, Anne is willing to admit that some pests simply can’t be beaten and to advise when you should grow a different plant rather than prolonging the fight. And her range of garden foes extends beyond the natural world, with advice on how to resist fatuous horticultural trends and ignore ‘people of unlike mind’. This is an honest, humorous book of advice which will be appreciated by amateur and professional gardeners alike.
The Deckchair Gardener: An Improper Gardening Manual
Gardening is widely regarded as one of life’s great joys. However, you might not feel that way if you pay too much attention to the experts: every garden magazine and newspaper relentlessly publishes hectoring instructions telling you what you must do in your garden this week or this month, to the point where your garden can become a source of constant stress or wasted energy.
Rather than add to the pile of suggested drudgery, this book is instead dedicated to relieving you of pointless and unnecessary garden work, and suggesting easy and pleasant ways to look after your little patch of paradise.