Geoff Hamilton's Year in Your Garden Book

Geoff Hamilton, best known for the BBC's Gardeners' World died in 1996 and this compilation takes the best of his articles offering a calendar guide to tending your garden. Geoff takes us through the year month by month with an introduction to each chapter by his wife and fellow gardening enthusiast, Lynda Hamilton. Her tribute to his skills, love of organic gardening and description of their own garden in Barnsdale gives the book a touching personal edge. The most useful part of each chapter is the key tasks list that details essential action for each particular month. January, for example, is the month for sowing in modules, taking cuttings from dormant perennials and shaping up young trees. Every type of plant is covered, from lawns and hedges to fruit. Visually the book picks up for spring, with photographs of suggested evergreens and flowers, accompanied by practical tips on subjects such as pruning, feeding and mulching. Throughout the book Lynda recounts Geoff's gardening aphorisms, for example: "Gardening is half achievement and half optimism" that lend it a certain nostalgic charm. Trees, shrubs, fruit, vegetables and flowers are all given comprehensive coverage and a wide range of varieties and how best to propagate and care for them, are addressed. Geoff Hamilton's Year in your Gardenis as much a tribute to Hamilton and his personality as it is a gardening care book, but the two complement each other and it succeeds on both levels, offering valuable practical advice and a snapshot into the life of this well-liked character. --Karen HomerRead More