‘Gardening, then, is a practice of sustained noticing . . .’

Outdoor space is something everyone should have access to. But you don’t need a garden to become a gardener.

Growing plants and vegetables forces us to pause, pay attention and look more closely. From the vantage point of even the smallest windowsill garden we can observe the passing of time through the shifting of the seasons, as well as the environmental changes the planet is undergoing.

In this collection of essays, fourteen writers go beyond simply considering a plot of soil to explore how gardening is a shared language, an opportunity for connection, something that is always evolving. Penelope Lively trains her gardening eye on her gardens past and present; Paul Mendez reflects on the image of the paradisal garden; Jon Day asks whether an urban community garden can be a radical place; and Victoria Adukwei Bulley considers the power of herbs and why there is no such thing as a weed.

A collection about gardening unlike any other, In the Garden brings together fourteen brilliant writers to interrogate what is most important and pressing about growing today.