The Philosophy of Gardening

A book for philosophizing gardeners, now available in English.

Kitchen gardens, moss gardens, botanical gardens, landscape gardens: there are as many varieties of gardens as there are gardeners, and the way we tend to our gardens is just as vast. Every gardener discovers a new world every year—regardless of whether they cultivate heirloom vegetables, specialize in wild herbs, create a small permaculture garden on the city balcony, or maintain a garden designed for self-sufficiency.

In these informative personal essays, writers, designers and master gardeners explore the philosophical dimension of gardening and tend to the aesthetic, cultural, political and sociological implications of gardens and the people who keep them.

Why garden at all? Is it better to leave nature to its own devices? Can cities reclaim nature through urban gardening? Which garden design, which plants and seeds? In addressing gardening's most deep-rooted questions, this delightful volume highlights the magic of gardens that makes us, year after year, pick up a shovel and a rake and get back to gardening.