I have been hooked on gardening for years and find it therapeutic. I live in an area where the outdoor gardening season is quite short, so I also keep a lot of houseplants - a kind of indoor gardening IMO - and that helps sustain me through the long off-season, along with seed catalogs and gardening books.

I enjoyed the illustrations in this one more so than the text, which I find sort of states in that kind of New Age-y way what is fairly obvious to most gardeners about the pleasures and benefits of the activity. That said, it might make a nice little gift book for the right gardener.

I love gardening and i was delighted to read this book.........

Oh, how I wanted to like this book! I loved the cover and I loved the premise -- meditations for gardeners about life gleaned through digging in the dirt and growing, which is what all gardeners love to do.

I was able to preview the book through NetGalley, whose description read: "Embracing gardening as a spiritually enriching activity lovingly reconnects us to nature everyday—this beautifully illustrated little book reminds us how to do it. Rooting each blossoming thought in deep ecology and conscious living, we unearth the power inherent in mindfully lifting the soil; it lifts our souls as well" and "Beautifully illustrated for daily inspiration." I was sold, and read it all in one sitting.

This is a small book, and even though it's over 100 pages, it is a very quick read. There are sweet, simple illustrations that accompany the text, and one or two dozen chapters on subjects like bees, permaculture, worms, garden problems and so on. Each short chapter has the author's musings on life meanings that you can gather from these topics. Winter hoop gardens reminds her that we humans are like plants and are tougher than we think sometimes and need a period of rest, for instance (said in far more words, of course).

I think my problem is that I just misunderstood the point of the book. I expected it to be more along the lines of assignments for mindful thoughts for the reader, I guess (Something along the lines of a daily task to meditate about regarding ways to improve our own gardens/lives or even something like "Think of a plant that has surprised you in the garden this year. What did you learn from it? How is it like you?" perhaps? LOL). I expected some questions to ask myself as a gardener and questioner, or gardening thoughts to meditate on (a short quote about gardens to repeat instead of om?), or something to encourage ME to think and be mindful. Instead, these are the author's rambling thoughts on each topic and I felt as if I were just listening to her wax poetic on soil and hugulkultur (which I do love, too, and I did appreciate her thoughts on being patient with that process). These thoughts are somewhat poetic and philosophical -- and sometimes helpful for the novice gardener -- but nothing particularly deep or insightful for "daily inspiration."

This is also a small, rather irrelevant point, but I didn't really relate to the author as a mother and I think that interfered with my ability to really relate to her musings. At the very start of the book, she writes about misplacing her 10 month old daughter in the house one day and finding that she'd gone out the open back door and crawled a long ways into the garden, where she was picking green tomatoes, taking bites and tossing them. Apparently this happened a lot in the months to come, as the author wrote that she ended up having to toss a lot of bitten green tomatoes into the compost that year. As a very hands-on mother of five, I was a little taken aback by the fact that a 10 month old baby was able to just crawl out of the house and into the back yard, that she was missing long enough to crawl a distance that the author says was a considerable ways, and that the author's only reaction in the book was, "It sort of annoyed me, but at the same time I celebrated her determination and curiosity." If my infant was able to completely leave our home unnoticed, crawl off and start eating plants (or anything) outside, I'd have a small heart attack and seriously up my baby proofing. :) (Note: This didn't influence my rating, it was just something that stuck with me.)

That said, I'm sure this book will really strike a pleasant chord with some readers and it would make a nice inexpensive gift for a gardening friend who leans towards this sort of book.

An interesting book that combines the idea of mindfulness and gardening. Those two go hand in hand as far as I'm concerned as gardening is a very mindful thing to do, it's relaxing and gives you time to assess and think.The book gives a breakdown of each perceived step of gardening and gives you a way of looking at it in a more mindful manner.
I'm finding it a nice and different way to look at gardening.

This is a wonderful collection of short meditations and thoughtful insights into keeping the earth green and healthy through gardening. Easy to read it is also beautifully illustrated. Perfect book for anyone who loves getting their hands into the soil and bringing forth a plant or flower.

Gardening as a form of meditation and spirituality. Deep in its own special way, this book has not to be read only by gardeners, but as I am not a gardener myself, I think I missed something.

Il giardinaggio come forma di meditazione e di spiritualitá. Profondo in un suo modo speciale, questo libro non deve essere letto per forza ed unicamente da giardinieri, ma siccome io non lo sono, ho avuto la netta sensazione di perdermi qualcosa.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!