ISBN: 0-88739-281-4
208 pp.
Size: 6 x 9
Pub Date: 12/2000
Paperback Original
Price: $13.95
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Expectant Gardener, The
Simone Martel
Read this finely observed, thorough, and humorous little book and you will never look at gardens the same way again-especially the backyard variety. In a horticultural journey that spans a decade-and ends with the birth of her son, Leo-Simone Martel describes in colorful, richly textured detail her own growth as an organic gardener and the growth of her garden.
Tracing her love of gardens back to her childhood, Martel recounts how she educates herself about the design and history of gardens, and how she learns to create one without the use of chemicals, fancy machinery, or the latest fashionable garden tool. Through her journal-like style, she invites us into her garden in the Berkeley flatlands as she creates it, taking us along on her weed-pulling or snail-hunting forays or when she fashions a pond or "womb chamber."
Most of all, she shares with us how gardening can enrich one's life, connecting gardeners not just to the soil of their particular gardens, but to the larger natural world of which any garden, any gardener, and all of life is a part.
Review: "Martel writes with ease and grace.... Her account of the evolution of her own personal landscape, accompanied by its appealing design and overall planting plan, is highly readable and thoroughly engaging. As is the story of this budding gardener's journey-a progression from novice to avid horticulturist to mother!"
-Booklist
"She's a graceful writer who will teach you how to garden without fancy, trendy machinery or tools and without using chemicals. Most of all, she demonstrates how gardening can enrich your life by introducing you to the natural world. All in all, fun and adventure in your own back yard."
-G. William Gray, Tampa Tribune
Bio: SIMONE MARTEL was born in Berkeley and grew up in a house in the Berkeley hills with a large garden. She and her husband used to supply Bay Area restaurants with organically grown vegetables. Now she writes and gardens at home, and spends time with her husband and young son.
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