Margaret Roach

Margaret Roach, who, until 2007, had a high level career with Martha Steward Corporation, chucked it all to live in her cabin in upstate New York. She went on to have an amazing garden and write about it in a blog – thus this memoir.

I wanted to like this book, but the meandering, diary-like-free-form writing was too difficult to get through. I now know more about frogs 🐸 that I ever intended, and it did nothing to help me understand her transition.

I persevered because there was much that was “quirky” and relatable (I suspect it’s relatable only due to my age and current situation) and I wanted to see it through to the end.

When asked why she left everything behind and if she was afraid, she answered: “Yes, but not as afraid as I was of drying up and blowing away.”

I enjoyed her humility and her courage: “You have to be a little brave to make changes, to try something, but you don’t have to be fearless”

I also enjoyed the reference to lessons learned through the principle of “Be Grateful to Everyone” (11th cent sage Atisha).

Would I recommend? Not sure...obviously I got something from it (and finished it!lol), but that middle section was grueling in its disorganization (of mind)...yet...I, too, long for that “small cabin” where “I shall have some peace there.”

My favorite quote: “Humbled or no, ‘gardener’ was the label imprinted on me when the souls were handed out, and so be it.” What a beautiful way to describe who she is/was at the core!

The title comes from my favorite Yeats’ poem: “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.… (mere)

How often does a person remember someone’s name from a magazine article or masthead? Well, I remember Margaret Roach from years of issues of Martha Stewart Living and was thrilled to read her book here. It seems to be a 21st-anniversary revision of a prior book, and it’s a good update of practices, pests and plants.

It’s coffee-table sized, with smooth pages and beautiful, full-color (often, full-page) photos that are very well-captioned. The organization is by life cycle/annual calendar, dedicating two months each to Conception, Birth, Youth, Adulthood, Senescence, and Death and Afterlife. I started dutifully at the beginning and it was informative and pleasurable, but then jumped to the current time of year (May/June), which immersed me in early summer tasks and plants before I went back and then went on to finish the rest.

Roach’s voice is practical and encouraging, reminding the reader to design a landscape that is beautiful when viewed from inside the house (where one mostly will see it). Overall, it’s less a reference or how-to, and more so a lush, inspirational volume about one New York/zone 5B garden, perfect for armchair gardeners and for active gardeners when the day’s tasks are complete.… (mere)

This was an excellent gardening book with gorgeous photos as well as practical and inspirational gardening essays. The author has recently updated the book which was first published 20 years ago and she now includes such recent topics as gardening more with native plants, gardening for birds and pollinators and learning how to live with pesky critters in the garden. I like her idea of separating gardening seasons in 2 month chunks which she corresponds to the life cycle of Conception, Birth, Youth, Adulthood, Senescence, and Death and Afterlife. This is a book oriented towards gardening in the northeastern United States so although it contains entertaining ideas about gardening which anyone can use and enjoy it is not suitable information about her plant choices which may or may not do well if you live in a different zone and climate in the U.S. I enjoyed reading this book but will pass it on to my library as it does not reflect my reality of gardening in arid southern Colorado.… (mere)

I love this book. The author's essays are thoughtful and a joy to read. I picked up so many odd and useful bits of information in the process of reading the book that I'm very grateful for the excellent index which will help me find them again.

Somebody dropped the ball badly on the subtitle. This book is in no way a hands-on primer, despite its very helpful section on saving tomato seeds and a few other detours into the extremely practical. "A gardener's companion" comes closer to the mark. Margaret Roach in cheerful humility shares all-too-relatable stories of gardening mistakes that made me cringe along with her, and feel better about my own mishaps. Those "easy to grow" plants that turn out to be invasive, oh my! She also shares joys of the garden. She's more of a landscape gardener, grower of ornamentals, and I'm all about edible perennials and food forests, but after her praise of the beauty of large-leafed plants in general and rhubarb in particular, I'll never see my rhubarb patch as mere pies-in-process again.

Rather than the typical through-the-year arrangement of garden books by seasons, Roach has chosen to divide the gardening cycle into six stages of life. It works so much better. I look forward to rereading this book at the appropriate moments of many years to come.… (mere)