Odd Lots: Seasonal Notes of a City Gardener

by Thomas C. Cooper

The author gives a month-by-month account of working in his small garden, and shares his observations on plants, gardening techniques, and the changing seasons

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Essays

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Leesgoodfood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd Lots: Seasonal Notes of a City Gardner, is a lovely book. He has what I would call a large garden for a city – enough to have beds and lawn and trees and compost and a garage, firmly situated in New England. And it’s actually organized by the months of the year rather than by season. And so we get to visit the various pieces of the garden in the different months. The trees, which are structural in winter months, shade in summer months, and glorious colors in the fall. He talks about the chores and the glories of each month, as you would talk to a friend or family member. Except that he is interested in knowing the names of his plants, and he mostly knows and uses the official Latin names. I had to look some up…and eventually I just gave up. And read through them. It’s a slow easy book to read – not demanding thought or knowledge about gardens, although it did cause to think about my own yard and garden whenever I put it down, and things that I could do this month. And next month. And next spring, as well.
I would recommend it highly for anyone interesting in gardening, whether they are currently gardeners or not.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if it's watching the news--Colorado and Syria--or if it's my frustration with my low-energy pregnancy and my love of leaving my garden be to see what results, small trips outside with my daughter to pull away the most persistent of weeds--but this book really did not connect with me. Was I exasperated with the author, the gardener-protagonist who obsesses over seed catalogs, the man so obsessed he has no room for much else? I understand obsession though. Maybe this book has taught me a lesson for my own writing, about the ways in which one can handle relentlessness and monotony and simple repetition.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd Lots: Seasonal Notes of a City Gardener by Thomas C. Cooper (Henry Holt & Co. 1995)(635) is a series of gardening essays arranged by month of the year. This offers up some odd juxtapositions (e.g., the fragrance of peonies discussed in October or November), but the volume is appealing nonetheless. My rating: 6/10, finished 5/30/12.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is broken down into chapters for each month of the year. I had read it before but decided to reread it doing a chapter a month to follow through the year.
It's December! Finally finished!

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably a better book for dipping in and out of. I wish it had been a little better edited. It felt a little smooshed together.