Faber Book of Gardens

Arranged in chronological chunks, this is a delightful collection of poems, stories, songs and essays about the many different aspects of gardens.

The editor breaks the turf with a thoughtful and personal introduction, reflecting on the nature of gardens and on the consequences of his back injury, which prevents him from gardening and which has presumably given him the time to gather this collection.

He starts with the first garden, the Garden of Eden, and ends with a modern tale of a bee-eating fox in an urban allotment. In between, all the entries are at least interesting and show just why gardens have fascinated us for so long. My highlights include: some Roman instructions on how to plant asparagus (interesting to compare those with the recent Gardeners’ World version); Louis XIV’s instructions on ‘How to Show the Gardens of Versailles’; a lovely piece by Gertrude Jekyll which seems to encapsulate her philosophy; another by my favourite gardening writer, Christopher Lloyd, on composting and mulching; and Margery Fish on how she learns from others’ gardens and scrounges from them, too.

In a sense, this book is like a good garden: it is full of variety and interest; it will never be finished, because it is a book to dip into from time to time; and many of the pieces, particularly the poems, will reward repeated visits.