A Way to Garden

Starred review from March 4, 2019
Roach (The Backyard Parables), former gardening editor for Martha Stewart Living magazine, thoughtfully and thoroughly updates her 1998 guide to organic, year-round gardening. As Roach notes, it is “still titled A Way to Garden because it is not the only way, just my way.” She moves through the year in two-month increments, each identified with different phases of life, from conception to death, and opens every section on a personal note, such as about her changing relationship with her sister or memories of “the first gardener I ever knew,” her grandmother. These snippets of memoir are followed by lists of seasonal chores (including learning all the proper Latin plant names), practical advice (“Always go inside and look out the window before digging a single hole”), and best practices (for lawns, Roach keeps grass long and leaves the clippings). Throughout, she reflects on her evolving understanding of the impact of seed genetics, importance of native plants, and increasingly unpredictable weather, among other topics. Filled with expert and sometimes highly specialized information—such as about water gardens—this book is less a “how to” for novices than a meditation on “why to” for veterans. Those with dirt already under their fingernails will treasure Roach’s in-depth knowledge, wry humor, and reflective look at how seasons in gardening mirror the passage of time. With color photos.

Starred review from April 1, 2019
Readers may know Roach (The Backyard Parables, 2013) from her previous books, her work as garden editor for Martha Stewart Living, and her podcast and website that share this book's title. This new edition of Roach's classic 1998 guide to home gardening is updated throughout and reflects a philosophy informed by what she's learned through the years about the value of native plants and the harm caused by invasives as well as current information in the realms of pests, diseases, the seed industry, and climate change. Following the calendar year interpreted as a life cycle, this book starts with plant conception and moves through birth, youth, adulthood, and senescence to death and afterlife. Roach's conversational tone showcases her personal experiences while highlighting important horticultural information, making it a compelling book to read straight through that is also useful as a reference for particular details. Her book's title affirms that Roach sees her work as one of many possible methodologies and that even the experts are always learning. Readers will appreciate Roach's focus on gardening as a way anyone can help make the world a better place and her approach, combining horticultural how-to and woo-hoo (her term), which balances precise learned information with one's own intuition.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)