Diary of a Keen Gardener

Over her long career, Mary Keen has created some of the finest gardens in England. But rather than tell the story of those paradises, this is the diary about everyday watchfulness in the places Mary loves best – her own back garden and allotment nearby. Beginning at the lowest ebb of the grower’s year – when November leaves are falling and flowers in retreat – Mary shows us how one’s perspective of time changes in the pleasure of nurturing plants. Time can slide to a standstill as you stop to stare at a flower, or flash to the past when another triggers a memory. As the diary records the ordinary, the ephemeral and the horticulturally useful, in a patchwork of life and tasks, we also witness the little dramas in the village where she lives and meet her family and friends who are an integral part of her gardening community.