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The Accidental Garden: Gardens, Wilderness, and the Space In Between
One of Britain’s greatest nature writers blends horticulture with philosophy in this intimate memoir about gardening, rewilding, and a path forward amid climate change.
What is a garden? Is it an arena for the display of human mastery or might it be something less determined, more generous? These are questions that Richard Mabey, arguably England's greatest nature writer, considers in his new book, The Accidental Garden. From the pressing surrounds of the inventive, half-wild garden that Mabey, an instinctive rewilder, and his partner Polly, a determined grower, have shared for two decades, Mabey weighs past hopes and visions against the environmental emergency of the present. In beeches and bush crickets he sees proof of adaptation and survival; in commons and meadows he finds natural processes still at work. A wise and witty stylist, Mabey locates in his small patch of the planet a place to test assumptions and to observe how myriad species establish common ground.
What is a garden? Is it an arena for the display of human mastery or might it be something less determined, more generous? These are questions that Richard Mabey, arguably England's greatest nature writer, considers in his new book, The Accidental Garden. From the pressing surrounds of the inventive, half-wild garden that Mabey, an instinctive rewilder, and his partner Polly, a determined grower, have shared for two decades, Mabey weighs past hopes and visions against the environmental emergency of the present. In beeches and bush crickets he sees proof of adaptation and survival; in commons and meadows he finds natural processes still at work. A wise and witty stylist, Mabey locates in his small patch of the planet a place to test assumptions and to observe how myriad species establish common ground.
147 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2024
About the author
Richard Mabey
118 books179 followersRichard Mabey is one of England's greatest nature writers. He is author of some thirty books including Nature Cure which was shortlisted for the Whitbread, Ondaatje and Ackerley Awards.
A regular commentator on the radio and in the national press, he is also a Director of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground and Vice-President of the Open Spaces Society. He lives in Norfolk.
A regular commentator on the radio and in the national press, he is also a Director of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground and Vice-President of the Open Spaces Society. He lives in Norfolk.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
January 21, 2025
This is a fascinating and thought provoking read. Richard Mabey has written a gardening book unlike the usual and challenges the reader / gardener to view themselves as equals to plants and the natural world instead of the controlling force.
Over twenty years he has “ created “ a garden in Norfolk where he has observed the changes that have occurred where the plant world, seed dispersal and non human forces have created a unique space..
This is also a book that questions what climate change will do to gardens and landscapes in the future - adaptation and survival of familiar and new plants.
A few photographs showing the changes in the garden over the years would have added a further depth to a great read
Over twenty years he has “ created “ a garden in Norfolk where he has observed the changes that have occurred where the plant world, seed dispersal and non human forces have created a unique space..
This is also a book that questions what climate change will do to gardens and landscapes in the future - adaptation and survival of familiar and new plants.
A few photographs showing the changes in the garden over the years would have added a further depth to a great read
January 10, 2025
I'm reviewing the hardback edition (which I can't find on GR), NOT the kindle edition.
Although I love me a bit of Mabey and his nature writing, I found this one not up to his usual standards. I felt like everything written here was rehashed and pasted from earlier books with a bit of narrative joinery thrown in. I kept thinking, hmm this sounds familiar, I'm sure I've read about this before in another book of his. Thankfully it was a short book and a library loan so no great loss here but yeah, felt like a bit of a "cashing in" exercise if I'm honest.
2.5 stars.
Although I love me a bit of Mabey and his nature writing, I found this one not up to his usual standards. I felt like everything written here was rehashed and pasted from earlier books with a bit of narrative joinery thrown in. I kept thinking, hmm this sounds familiar, I'm sure I've read about this before in another book of his. Thankfully it was a short book and a library loan so no great loss here but yeah, felt like a bit of a "cashing in" exercise if I'm honest.
2.5 stars.
July 13, 2024
In this small, but powerful book, Mabey stands back and looks at the decisions made over their two acre garden in Norfolk for the last twenty years.
Amongst the many comments about his back aching and his eye sight fading, we find closely observed changes to his garden brought about by nature but also with a helping hand from he and his wife and sometimes completely created by him as in the mediterranean bed. Not a lot native in that area of the garden.
The title is interesting because I think his garden is anything but accidental. To me, accidental has the connotations of it all happening without thought or decision making and that is definitely not the case. A LOT of thought went into who and how the garden develped and whilst it might have been a partnership between the Mabeys and nature, there are definite ideas about how it would happen.
We can play other roles beyond the planning and planting and pruning, roles that are also special to our human identity. Be interpreters, scribes, witnesses, neighbours. The welcomers at the gate.
p156
The subtitle is more accurate: Gardens, Wilderness and the space in between.
A daily perambulation around your garden is a wonderful way of seeing all those small changes including the creatures that move in to help with that change. The secret is to allow these changes to occur. No, a large branch falling off a tree is not planned, but the decision to leave it where it fell and observe what happens is. It was at this point that Mabey realised he didn't have the native oak tree but the Turkey oak which leads into a discussion about native trees and plant introductions. He talks about the red valerian which has settled into a patch of gravel near his boiler outlet, its many names suggesting a history of establishing itself wherever it lands because the big question is where does a plant properly belong?
Beyond their transportation by humans, plants have always been autonomous wanderers, carried by ocean currents and migrating birds, their ranges pushed this way and that by changes in the climate. But underneath this slow nomadic drift there is a compelling sense of the kind of environment into which an individual species 'fits'. This is not just an ecological fit (type of soil, shade, humidity, etc) but a cultural one, based on long associations. Plants aren't passive objects in a landscape; they help comprise and shape landscapes, and our experience of place.
p98
Because the book looks back over twenty years, Mabey is able to see changes in this thinking and this is powerful.
In a time of great environmental instability, maybe we need to adopt a more generous and inclusive idea of nativeness, a more welcoming attitude to newcomers. Our long-term inhabitants are being shifted by climate change and sometimes destroyed by the diseases proliferating in its wake. Unless we allow - even enable - new colonists in old places we could end up with impoverished ecosystems and landscapes. They are, at the very least, an insurance policy.
p106
A wonderful book, a memoir through the eyes of a garden, that is going on the gardening book club list.
Amongst the many comments about his back aching and his eye sight fading, we find closely observed changes to his garden brought about by nature but also with a helping hand from he and his wife and sometimes completely created by him as in the mediterranean bed. Not a lot native in that area of the garden.
The title is interesting because I think his garden is anything but accidental. To me, accidental has the connotations of it all happening without thought or decision making and that is definitely not the case. A LOT of thought went into who and how the garden develped and whilst it might have been a partnership between the Mabeys and nature, there are definite ideas about how it would happen.
We can play other roles beyond the planning and planting and pruning, roles that are also special to our human identity. Be interpreters, scribes, witnesses, neighbours. The welcomers at the gate.
p156
The subtitle is more accurate: Gardens, Wilderness and the space in between.
A daily perambulation around your garden is a wonderful way of seeing all those small changes including the creatures that move in to help with that change. The secret is to allow these changes to occur. No, a large branch falling off a tree is not planned, but the decision to leave it where it fell and observe what happens is. It was at this point that Mabey realised he didn't have the native oak tree but the Turkey oak which leads into a discussion about native trees and plant introductions. He talks about the red valerian which has settled into a patch of gravel near his boiler outlet, its many names suggesting a history of establishing itself wherever it lands because the big question is where does a plant properly belong?
Beyond their transportation by humans, plants have always been autonomous wanderers, carried by ocean currents and migrating birds, their ranges pushed this way and that by changes in the climate. But underneath this slow nomadic drift there is a compelling sense of the kind of environment into which an individual species 'fits'. This is not just an ecological fit (type of soil, shade, humidity, etc) but a cultural one, based on long associations. Plants aren't passive objects in a landscape; they help comprise and shape landscapes, and our experience of place.
p98
Because the book looks back over twenty years, Mabey is able to see changes in this thinking and this is powerful.
In a time of great environmental instability, maybe we need to adopt a more generous and inclusive idea of nativeness, a more welcoming attitude to newcomers. Our long-term inhabitants are being shifted by climate change and sometimes destroyed by the diseases proliferating in its wake. Unless we allow - even enable - new colonists in old places we could end up with impoverished ecosystems and landscapes. They are, at the very least, an insurance policy.
p106
A wonderful book, a memoir through the eyes of a garden, that is going on the gardening book club list.
September 29, 2026
‘We are all having to come to terms with the uncomfortable fact that the provision of sustainable energy and affordable housing are themselves the causes of damaging habitat loss and pollution. A garden, with its complex interactions between humans and nature, is often seen as a metaphor for the wider world. But if so, is our plot a microcosm of this troubled arena or a refuge from it? I ponder these conundrums—I’m reminded that this whole business of close literary attention to the natural world began with a cricket.’
Decent quick/short read (rounded off/up to more stars rather than otherwise). Not as ‘mind-blowing’, ‘moving’ and/or (deeply, thoroughly) ‘fascinating’ as (for instance) Baker’s The Peregrine , but still worth a read (if not then, a browse at least). In any case, filled with some interesting and timely/relevant observations (albeit a somewhat ‘shallow’/not-deep-enough one(s)).
‘—environmental destruction began to be seen as linked forces in our disrespect for life. What consoles me is that there are postcards—of the gingko trees that remarkably survived just a few hundred metres from the epicentre of the explosion. Gingkos are ancient trees, native to the Far East, and have evolved through many climate shocks in their 200 million years on the planet. The heat flash from the bomb—global heating concentrated into a millisecond—incinerated their foliage and torched off the outer layers of bark. But the following spring the leaves returned and the trees flowered again—I think I see survivors—the gingkos, the arching beeches, the indomitable bush cricket—as biological anthems (from the Greek root antiphon, meaning response), songs of defiance against the forces of entropy. I don’t believe that rejoicing in them implies complacency or denial. They are arousers, both in themselves and of our spirits.’
‘There is something paternalistic in the process of embedding the sapling, the cosseting and watering, the privileging over competitors. The young tree is treated like a dependent child. Maybe this is a productive relationship, generating a sense of responsibility and what is often called ‘stewardship,’ but it can shade all too easily into a belief that trees are intrinsically feeble and reliant on us for their very existence. This is part of that ancient arrogance— which put the planet into its long fulminating state of crisis.’
‘The trees that were put in half a century ago—luckily a tad haphazardly—are beginning to look magnificently shaggy, and have already formed a closed canopy. The trees I planted myself twenty years ago—more uniformly than I realised—are growing well, though with a rather dull uprightness. But I don’t see them as ‘my’ trees—I admire their resilience, and am grateful to be a witness of their autonomous lives. I don’t so much look after them as look out for them.’
‘Seeing nature as a commodity whose purpose is to make us feel better seems to me to diminish it. We’re centre stage again—‘Calm’ is an uncommon state in nature—I have watched a swallow showing all the body language of grief over its mate, killed by flying into a plate glass window. I have grieved myself over one of our moorhen chicks, entangled to death in a burdock, and convinced that it was in some way my fault for tolerating the plant.’
‘More than 150 of Crete’s native species—some 10 per cent—are endemic, and grow nowhere else on Earth. We saw endemic tulips up on the Omalos plateau, and an endemic ‘weed’ tulip in the arable fields below. Tulipa doerfleri seems to have evolved uniquely on the island since agriculture arrived here seven thousand years ago. It has fierce scarlet flowers with black beauty spots at the base of the petals, and I watched a woman gathering these wild, ornate bouquets for market. High up in the mountains there were bleached cypress trees, some over a thousand years old, their roots flowing down cliffs and the lips of gorges like lava streams. And hills everywhere were cloaked with the lemon-yellow of euphorbias and asphodel.’
‘And I began to learn a little about the grammar of the Mediterranean flora. How it is adapted to heat and drought. How the volatile aromatics in the leaves act as a protective layer, cooling the leaves and helping to slow down water loss, just as their grey and silver colouration reflects the sun’s heat. And how it is dynamic. The low growing community—thymes, lavenders, rock roses—is called garrigue. It’s gradually infiltrated by taller evergreen shrubs— juniper, bay, broom, arbutus, mastic. When this community reaches more than a couple of metres high it’s described as maquis. Eventually forest trees may move in, but often the maquis is cut back by fires, and the whole process of succession starts again.’
‘We are rightly told to see these newcomers as warning signs of the dramatic ecological changes underway. But it’s wrong to compare them, as they have been, to ‘miners’ canaries.’ The point about the canaries was that they were gassed in their cages, mortal victims of a polluted environment. These migrant species have used their mobility to escape to more clement conditions, and we have a duty to welcome them. They are like—survivors, emblems of hope. ‘
‘Looking at our two acres now, twenty years after we moved in, I see something that might be called a fusion garden. Native plants and animals form new communities with benign immigrant species. Turkey oaks grow through the English cherries, the Painted Lady sits on the Drunken Sailor, the south-east Asian deer browses a wilding rose whose ancestors may stretch across two continents. The minor victories in a garden aren’t any answer to our global crises. The worldwide collapse of biodiversity is as great a threat to the planet as climate change, and much less addressed. And beyond the self-interest and inertia of governments and big business there are wider cultural blocks to this. We still, as a species, are largely wedded to two ingrained ideas: human privilege and nature’s dependency.’
‘I like to think that in our accidental garden we’ve had a glimpse of the fallacy—and I’d suggest, the dubious ethics—of these dogmas. Even small refuges and enclaves where natural processes are encouraged seem able to make a stand, however brief, against the tides of loss and degradation. Maybe a willingness to learn from the adaptations and solutions of life systems that have been coping with adversity for 3.7 billion years should be added to our coping strategies.’
‘I try my best to stay in my earthworm mode: low profile, minimum intervention. But I’m human—meddlers, makers, experimenters—But I keep in mind the frankly absurd privilege—and try to pay my dues. We can play other roles beyond the planning and planting and pruning, roles that are also special to our human identity. Be interpreters, scribes, witnesses, neighbours.’
January 1, 2025
I read this book in my need to read about gardens and England prompted by my love of Derek Jarman and his garden at Dungeness. I simply loved it. It is a gentle read with a powerful message but not in the slightest preachy. And reminded me that we all share this planet and ‘our’ gardens are occupied too by myriads of other organisms, all with their own lives to lead. This book left me with a feeling of wonder.
Bought in Hatchards with CR in July 24
Bought in Hatchards with CR in July 24
June 18, 2026
Disappointing after the enthusiastic reviews and beautiful cover. I found it very bitty with no coherent narrative to pull you along. It just seemed like random thoughts sparked off by the subject of the garden. Some anecdotes were interesting some were frankly pretty boring. There were definitely some very interesting thoughts around man's manipulation of nature but the book lacked structure and form. I couldn't help feeling that he been commissioned to write a book, rather than ideas and story forming that then merited publishing.
A few of the diamond observations tempted me to give this book a 3* but judging it as a book rather than a column or blog I decided to stick with the 2*. But he does write well and the are some good descriptions in there.
I loved one section were he is describing the process of identifying plants - "This never seems like scientific commodification, more a process of genuine acquaintanceship. Who are you? Where do you live? When did we first become aware of you?" There is an interesting examination of our division of plants into garden-worthy plants and "weeds". Maybe 2.5* would be more accurate.
A few of the diamond observations tempted me to give this book a 3* but judging it as a book rather than a column or blog I decided to stick with the 2*. But he does write well and the are some good descriptions in there.
I loved one section were he is describing the process of identifying plants - "This never seems like scientific commodification, more a process of genuine acquaintanceship. Who are you? Where do you live? When did we first become aware of you?" There is an interesting examination of our division of plants into garden-worthy plants and "weeds". Maybe 2.5* would be more accurate.
July 21, 2024
Like many reviewers here, I’ve been reading Richard Mabey for a long, long time, starting rather surprisingly with his 1972 Pelican publication entitled ‘Children in Primary School’ - which was on my reading list at library school when studying school librarianship. Then a relative gave me ‘Food for Free’, and I’ve been enjoying his books ever since.
‘The Accidental Garden’ reminded me just what a good writer he is, referencing all sorts of literary sources in a quiet way, using his personal experience and observations to extrapolate on wider issues, with glints of humour and just excellent prose. There was an elegiac tone to the book, and as someone eight years Mabey’s junior observing the ‘nature crisis’ I can appreciate this.
Frequent passages leap out as relevant and timely; here is one, made very topical by the recent change of U.K. government:
‘We are all having to come to terms with the uncomfortable fact that the provision of sustainable energy and affordable housing are themselves the causes of damaging habitat loss and pollution.’ Discuss, with reference to the article in today’s paper about pylons in East Anglia, and housebuilding just about everywhere...
I hope the rather subdued cover does not put off prospective readers; it is well worth reading.
‘The Accidental Garden’ reminded me just what a good writer he is, referencing all sorts of literary sources in a quiet way, using his personal experience and observations to extrapolate on wider issues, with glints of humour and just excellent prose. There was an elegiac tone to the book, and as someone eight years Mabey’s junior observing the ‘nature crisis’ I can appreciate this.
Frequent passages leap out as relevant and timely; here is one, made very topical by the recent change of U.K. government:
‘We are all having to come to terms with the uncomfortable fact that the provision of sustainable energy and affordable housing are themselves the causes of damaging habitat loss and pollution.’ Discuss, with reference to the article in today’s paper about pylons in East Anglia, and housebuilding just about everywhere...
I hope the rather subdued cover does not put off prospective readers; it is well worth reading.
July 11, 2024
I’ve grown old along with Richard Mabey. I read his first book “Food for Free” just after I left home and moved to Wales and have been reading them and enjoying them, as they are published, ever since. There’s a gentleness and humility to everything he writes, that frankly, knocks spots off the ‘new’ and fashionable nature writers (though I enjoy many of their books too!)
This is his latest book, about his 2 acre ‘garden’ in Norfolk, and what he has done with it and why. Rewilding in the gentlest way possible..it filled me with hope and joy and love!
For all those of you that have ‘Food for Free’ and/or Flora Brittanica, but none of Mabey’s others, give this lovely book a try.
This is his latest book, about his 2 acre ‘garden’ in Norfolk, and what he has done with it and why. Rewilding in the gentlest way possible..it filled me with hope and joy and love!
For all those of you that have ‘Food for Free’ and/or Flora Brittanica, but none of Mabey’s others, give this lovely book a try.
June 14, 2024
I agree with Isabella tree who says it's 'absolutely enchanting'
July 18, 2024
"I keep in mind the frankly absurd privilege of owning a patch of planet Earth and try to pay my dues."
As always a joy to read Mabey.
As always a joy to read Mabey.
Read
October 22, 2024This reading thing is like Sudoku keeping me guessing on what is going to be on the next page. Devoured this book.
January 21, 2025
One of the best writers and thinkers on the natural world.
January 7, 2025
I enjoyed this book, however I did find the author went on a bit of a tangent at times which lost me. I am, however a huge advocate for wild gardens and verge sides, allowing nature to survive in a world so devoid of it.
September 18, 2025
I'm not a gardener, but I enjoy visiting them, both small local operations and world-famous grand estates. I don't know the names of plants or flowers or birds, but I enjoy the colors, smells, landscape views, and so on. I have family members who are excellent gardeners, so I have some feel for the effort undertaken to shape a plot of land and see through a set of ideas for years and years.
SO that's my background for this wonderful book. I thought I'd get a few comments on the making of a British garden and maybe some ideas about gardens to see if I'm lucky enough to make a visit. But this book is so much more. It's one of the smartest, most perceptive books I've read on any subject, any. I kept shaking my head at the ideas that Richard Mabey presented and the eloquence with which he wrote.
I think Mabey is a renowned gardener-horticulturist-nature lover. He references books and documentaries he's worked on. This book, perhaps, is a culmination of his knowledge because it's coming near the end of his career and maybe his life. And he concludes that some of his prior ideas were wrong, that he didn't appreciate a "natural" garden and landscape quite enough, even though he was far more appreciative of it than his famous gardening peers. He quotes himself ashamedly a couple of times, saying that he had fallen into the trap that a garden needs to be a carefully tended space with eye-pleasing contrasts of light and dark, closed and open, etc. In this book, he tells us of a change in attitude and practice, as he and his wife cultivate a 2-acre plot for 20 years and look at the littlest aspects with joy and wonder.
Mabey believes in gardening with a light touch. Let nature take its course, especially allowing some plants overwhelming others in a continuous give-and-take that is the natural world. He says that a garden isn't a state of being, a look at a certain date, but rather a process that is always undergoing change. Man should not try to hold that change at bay, but instead let it happen and marvel at the adaptability that is demonstrated. In his case, he finds both long-lost native plants sprouting from seeds buried for decades and also non-natives that have encroached because the climate where he lives is drier and hotter than before, and because our world of travel brings all types of seeds and bacteria everywhere, whether we intend to do it or not. So his wife has a small part of their plot carefully tended with flowers and vegetables, but he has the rest to grow in a general plan that allows for the unexpected to happen. I can't do justice to his descriptions, so I'll just say read the book.
I can't eloquently sum up his philosophy, either. But he makes a series of fascinating observations. He starts with the well-known concept that through the Middle Ages, nature (forests especially) were feared. Man wanted to avoid or control them. Gardens were a taming device, and that's why they were so artificial in their geometric arrangements of limited types of foliage. At some point, like in the 18th century, people began to like the view of the natural world, as they realized urbanization was starting to ruin it. Landscape painters pushed this idea forward, and eventually gardens began to copy the idealized looks of paintings. So there were then two models: formal gardens somewhat considered out of date, and natural gardens. But he points out those natural gardens were anything but, and that misconception has remained to this day. In fact, those gardens were at least as modified by man as the other type. In his garden, Mabey sets out to avoid this, and he just lets things be and watches them.
He also makes the point -- sort of the opposite of above -- that there really isn't a divided between "natural" and "man-made". Every breath we take is an interaction with nature, he points out, a gathering of oxygen that has been processed by a plant and an exhalation of CO2 that the plant will take up. We are never far from the natural world, even if we don't realize it. His mission is to make us realize.
In addition to these "big" thoughts, he gives us amazing descriptions of sections of his garden and fascinating historical tidbits about hedges, roses, and other plants. There's so much to chew on in this book, it's remarkable. I'd love to walk his garden with the book in hand, or better yet, with him as my guide. He has a brief section on visits from his step-grandchildren and gathering berries for juice and warming dough over a fire. I wish I was invited to that party.
SO that's my background for this wonderful book. I thought I'd get a few comments on the making of a British garden and maybe some ideas about gardens to see if I'm lucky enough to make a visit. But this book is so much more. It's one of the smartest, most perceptive books I've read on any subject, any. I kept shaking my head at the ideas that Richard Mabey presented and the eloquence with which he wrote.
I think Mabey is a renowned gardener-horticulturist-nature lover. He references books and documentaries he's worked on. This book, perhaps, is a culmination of his knowledge because it's coming near the end of his career and maybe his life. And he concludes that some of his prior ideas were wrong, that he didn't appreciate a "natural" garden and landscape quite enough, even though he was far more appreciative of it than his famous gardening peers. He quotes himself ashamedly a couple of times, saying that he had fallen into the trap that a garden needs to be a carefully tended space with eye-pleasing contrasts of light and dark, closed and open, etc. In this book, he tells us of a change in attitude and practice, as he and his wife cultivate a 2-acre plot for 20 years and look at the littlest aspects with joy and wonder.
Mabey believes in gardening with a light touch. Let nature take its course, especially allowing some plants overwhelming others in a continuous give-and-take that is the natural world. He says that a garden isn't a state of being, a look at a certain date, but rather a process that is always undergoing change. Man should not try to hold that change at bay, but instead let it happen and marvel at the adaptability that is demonstrated. In his case, he finds both long-lost native plants sprouting from seeds buried for decades and also non-natives that have encroached because the climate where he lives is drier and hotter than before, and because our world of travel brings all types of seeds and bacteria everywhere, whether we intend to do it or not. So his wife has a small part of their plot carefully tended with flowers and vegetables, but he has the rest to grow in a general plan that allows for the unexpected to happen. I can't do justice to his descriptions, so I'll just say read the book.
I can't eloquently sum up his philosophy, either. But he makes a series of fascinating observations. He starts with the well-known concept that through the Middle Ages, nature (forests especially) were feared. Man wanted to avoid or control them. Gardens were a taming device, and that's why they were so artificial in their geometric arrangements of limited types of foliage. At some point, like in the 18th century, people began to like the view of the natural world, as they realized urbanization was starting to ruin it. Landscape painters pushed this idea forward, and eventually gardens began to copy the idealized looks of paintings. So there were then two models: formal gardens somewhat considered out of date, and natural gardens. But he points out those natural gardens were anything but, and that misconception has remained to this day. In fact, those gardens were at least as modified by man as the other type. In his garden, Mabey sets out to avoid this, and he just lets things be and watches them.
He also makes the point -- sort of the opposite of above -- that there really isn't a divided between "natural" and "man-made". Every breath we take is an interaction with nature, he points out, a gathering of oxygen that has been processed by a plant and an exhalation of CO2 that the plant will take up. We are never far from the natural world, even if we don't realize it. His mission is to make us realize.
In addition to these "big" thoughts, he gives us amazing descriptions of sections of his garden and fascinating historical tidbits about hedges, roses, and other plants. There's so much to chew on in this book, it's remarkable. I'd love to walk his garden with the book in hand, or better yet, with him as my guide. He has a brief section on visits from his step-grandchildren and gathering berries for juice and warming dough over a fire. I wish I was invited to that party.
March 23, 2026
This book is a gardening book written by a botanist and naturalist so it looks at the garden in a very different way to (say) someone who has responsibility for a municipal garden. I found Richard Mabey's approach very interesting as I have tried to make my own garden more appealing to wildlife, doing away with pesticides and allowing some wild flowers to seed themselves. The question in my mind as I read this book (and I think is up to everyone to answer it for themselves) is how much control do you exert over your patch of land, and how much do you allow nature to just take control?
Mabey must have a relatively large garden, because he can allow tree saplings to grow, but I enjoyed his delight in discovering wild flowers coming up in his garden which he had not seen there before, trying to work out where they had originated.
It's not a long read, and I would recommend it as a breath of fresh air.
Mabey must have a relatively large garden, because he can allow tree saplings to grow, but I enjoyed his delight in discovering wild flowers coming up in his garden which he had not seen there before, trying to work out where they had originated.
It's not a long read, and I would recommend it as a breath of fresh air.
May 22, 2025
I am caught between a 3 and 4 for this book. I wish I could give it 3.5 but alas, nothing doing there.
I checked this out from the library a long time ago, and a major detractor in reading the book for me is how impossible it was for the book to really snatch my attention. I enjoy the book organization of distinct chapters with a guiding underlying principle (a la Braiding Sweetgrass), but it is not as conducive (for me) to an enthralling read.
I love the subject matter, and Mabey did a great job in making a place completely unknown to me relatable and beautiful.
This is the first book by Mabey I’ve ever touched. I like the way he writes, but the books organization makes it hard for me to enjoy the book as fully as one with a stronger guiding story. 3.5
I checked this out from the library a long time ago, and a major detractor in reading the book for me is how impossible it was for the book to really snatch my attention. I enjoy the book organization of distinct chapters with a guiding underlying principle (a la Braiding Sweetgrass), but it is not as conducive (for me) to an enthralling read.
I love the subject matter, and Mabey did a great job in making a place completely unknown to me relatable and beautiful.
This is the first book by Mabey I’ve ever touched. I like the way he writes, but the books organization makes it hard for me to enjoy the book as fully as one with a stronger guiding story. 3.5
November 22, 2024
This was an enjoyable read, as the author shared his thoughts on gardening and how gardens have changed over the years. He speaks from his experience of being a gardener himself and how he has watched over his own gardens, and the emotions and conclusions he's come to over many years.
I loved how he accepted nature doing its' own thing at times in his garden, instead of him trying to be too controlled and how there is no right and wrong way of gardening if you're enjoying it! A good read for all gardeners
I loved how he accepted nature doing its' own thing at times in his garden, instead of him trying to be too controlled and how there is no right and wrong way of gardening if you're enjoying it! A good read for all gardeners
November 4, 2025
Marvelous metaphor of how our life as a human species is more like the nature we live in than we often consider. We may seek to have control and spend much effort is order, design and dominion yet we are but members of a community that is unpredictable and adaptive. I especially appreciated this eminent botanist spending such loving attention on his rural garden that continues to surprise and delight him by its in predictable and yet glorious diversity.
January 11, 2025
Quite an interesting read. A bit rambling at times but aren't we all when we are talking about something that is a passion and important to us. Not my usual book but I do occasionally like a change. A very nice book that kept me occupied while North Essex was frozen and constantly misty from the hovering minus temperatures.
June 7, 2025
As beautifully written he describes the natural world, I just don’t see the point for this book. It just feels like a book for the sake of churning out a book. It’s only 150 pages with large text, so it’s a very short read, I’m glad I borrowed from the library rather than pay for it. Some quite random tangents and lots of referring back to his previous books.
September 22, 2025
3.5 A pleasant ramble among the author's wilderness garden and his ideas for letting nature have control of it's own destiny. I have known of and wanted to read this author for decades and this is the first one I have picked up. I fell across it 'accidentally' in between books funnily enough and the cover sold it to me.
and wanted to read him
and wanted to read him
December 27, 2025
Beautifully written thoughts and observations. I wish (as a non-UK person), that there were photographs to accompany the many descriptions because I am not familiar with all these species and usually several new ones pop up on each page. So I got the broad strokes of what Mabey was writing about but couldn't picture it.
July 18, 2026
A nice read for anyone interested in gardening for nature rather than simply for oursleves with some interesting insights into that whole idea and lots of info on wild plants, native and new-comer. Some disturbing misogyny on page 129 that should never have got past an editor that would have had me closing the book had it been in an earlier chapter but so close to the end I determined to finish.
March 9, 2026
This is quite hard to rate, because the reason I didn't particularly enjoy it is because it wasn't what I had thought it was. I was expecting more of a 'how to make your garden good for wildlife', and this was more about the garden itself. Unfortunately for me, I don't think I care about gardening.
November 8, 2024
I enjoyed this little book, it's interesting and well expressed. It would make a lovely gift for anyone interested in conservation or gardening.
April 5, 2025
Lovely little book. Yes, much of this is ground covered by the author in his other books. Does not it make any less relevant today.
August 9, 2025
With ecology and biodyversity at its heart. This is a wonderfly poetic and life affirming telling of a garden and its cycles.
September 16, 2025
A beautiful, well researched and lyrical exploration of how gardens can be whatever we like, and are the better for it - particularly for the wildlife around us. Read this book, it's wonderful
November 1, 2025
I found this a joy to read and we should all endeavour to be the welcomers at the gate.
January 6, 2026
This was a gentle contemplative book. I loved how Mabey welcomed and nourished "immigrants" to his garden. I do too, and I embrace his sentiment.
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