- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (Mar 5 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312287674
- ISBN-13: 978-0312287672
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 12.7 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#821,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #36 in Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Regional > West
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Library Journal
How-to gardening books abound; how-not-to gardening memoirs are rarer. When Stewart and her husband bought their first home in California, she was eager to grow the bountiful, colorful garden she had so long envisioned. With much enthusiasm and little knowledge, she began her weekly trek to the local nursery to stock up on all varieties of seedlings. Why, she wondered, did they not flourish after being planted in the bare backyard? Only after many mistakes, much expense, and worrisome encounters with weeds and bugs was she able to transform her little plot into "a garden with soul," jumbled and luxuriant. Along with a witty description of her mistakes, the author shares her solutions. She gives other beginning gardeners tips on making earthworm manure, improving the soil by sheet composting, encouraging beneficial insects, and sharing excess produce with neighbors. Written in a humorous, conversational style, this book is recommended for public libraries.DIlse Heidmann, San Marcos, TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Stewart, a young Texan, creates her first garden from scratch in the beach town of Santa Cruz, California. Although the rental bungalow she shares with her husband, Scott, is close enough to the town's boardwalk for its amusement-park aromas and roller-coaster cries to infiltrate the not-so-private space of their house and yard, she rolls up her sleeves anyway and sets about beautifying the neighborhood. Accompanied by her feline pals, Stewart pursues a commendable path, one taken by a flourishing society of green thumbs bent on eradicating weeds and cultivating the soil so that flowers will grow and vegetables will prosper. In an episodic style, she writes of her progress from a novice with little know-how to a developing and altogether enthusiastic gardener intent on enriching a small plot of land. At the close of each chapter, Stewart offers recipes and tips to help ease the way for readers unfamiliar with garden basics. In a first book filled with promise, Stewart tellingly recounts the making of a garden and the essential life lessons the act of gardening so often teaches. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
The garden didn't look like much at first: bare dirt, a couple of fruit trees, and a few shrubs. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The garden didn't look like much at first: bare dirt, a couple of fruit trees, and a few shrubs. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Adventures in a First Garden,
By Eugene Knapik-CPC (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden (Hardcover)
In this collection of short friendly essays, Amy Stewart combines her experiences stumbling head-long into the world of gardening with recipes and tid-bits of advice, introducing the reader to her cats, her dirt, her composting worms and her first harvest. She even declares a holiday, August 8, as "National Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Night".My copy of From the Ground Up, a gift from my wife during a dreary Toronto January, came into my life while I was dreaming of my own first garden. Already loaded up with instructional guides on herbs, vegetables and flowers, I found myself quickly charmed by Amy Stewart's approach. She wasn't an expert. She made lots of mistakes along the way, the kind of mistakes I was apt to make as well, and she overcame them with determination and good humour. It doesn't matter that Amy Stewart's coastal garden supports a much different array of plant (and insect) life than my zone 6 garden does. Her book remains less about how to grow stuff than about how to find a good way to live through gardening. She shares a compelling personal adventure with the ultimate message that the adventure you create in your own garden is just as important, just as valuable as hers. The best time to read this book is when the weather doesn't allow you time in the garden. Curl up in your most comfortable chair, with some hot tea and your cat if you have one, and enjoy.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting, beautiful, fascinating book!,
By
This review is from: From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden (Paperback)
I read Amy Stewart's fine book, From the Ground Up, last week on a very long plane ride home to California from Indianapolis, Indiana. I'd been to Indianapolis to speak to the Indiana Arborists' Association convention, as I am a garden writer myself (Allergy-free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden, etc.). My flight was delayed due to a snowstorm in Detroit but the extra long trip was made more than okay because I had this delightful book to read.I'd received From the Ground Up as a present from my Mom. It is the story of one lady's first attempt at gardening, and as one who taught horticulture for 20 years, and who has gardened for almost 50 years, it was remarkable fun for me to see all the little mistakes she made, the discoveries she uncovered, the personal disasters and achievements that accompanied her quest to create a wonderful garden. Really great gardens don't just happen, not at all. They are created with huge effort, smarts, learning, help and advice from other gardeners, with tips from garden books, and most of all by the vision of the gardener in charge. There exists within the wide range of garden writing a host of some rather fabulously good writing. These are the books that combine solid garden advice with a large dose of very personal observance and experience. Although From the Ground Up is a first book, it reads as though written by someone who had been writing for many years, someone who had honed and polished her writing so that every line sparkled. I would expect that this book would appeal most to those who love to garden, but because the level of writing is so unusually excellent, I'd guess almost anyone who appreciates literate writing would enjoy it. If you're one who is new to gardening you'll find a wealth of useful tips here, interspersed with some darn good recipes too for making gourmet meals of all that extra fresh produce you'll eventually have. I really can't say enough about this marvelous book. Reading it was pure pleasure.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiration for a garden,
By Catherine Kanen (Long Valley, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden (Paperback)
This lovely book is a definate "must-read" for anyone starting out on the daunting task of a first garden or if you find yourself needing a reminder as to why you dug up all that ground in the first place! Tips and helpful info at the end of each chapter will give even the most experienced gardener a bit of a hand, and the writing style is at once elegant and funny.
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