annieb123
Written on Apr 11, 2021
A Woman's Garden is a tutorial and gardening guide by Tanya Anderson. Due out 27th April 2021 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 192 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook available currently).
This is one of those wonderfully useful garden/DIY hybrids which include a fair bit of good gardening advice alongside a plethora of small tutorials and inspiring crafting projects. I doubt that many of us have time to implement many of the projects in a meaningful fashion (or maybe I'm just the inefficient one) but these are the books I find myself revisiting again and again for inspiration and using over the long haul instead of just reading once and tossing aside.
The information is presented in a straightforward fashion: three edible gardens three ways: kitchen, flower, and herb. The gardening bits are followed by the tutorials: health and beauty and garden related crafts. There are (by my count) 28 complete tutorials including a remarkably useful and complete section on natural plant dyes which could easily take up many volumes on its own. The tutorials are well written and appealing and would provide hours of activity and productivity for maker's groups, scouting, home gardeners (especially with kids!), and similar uses. The tutorial projects are easy enough to do without a great deal of extra tools and supplies and will give readers a good overview of different traditional crafts that they can evaluate for exploration later on a more comprehensive level. There are short gardener profiles (all female) scattered throughout the book. It's interesting to see how they thrive in their own climate/soil/garden locations.
The photography is superb; Quarto's art department rocks. The illustrations are clear, colorful, and easy to understand. Tutorial recipes contain a general description and overview. Ingredients are listed bullet style in a sidebar with measurements given in both American standard and metric (yay!), followed by step by step instructions. Special tips and alternative preparations are presented in highlighted text boxes in the footers.
This is a lovely book. It would make a good selection for library acquisition, gardening & makers' groups, allotments, community gardens, home gardeners, crafters, and for readers looking for inspiration.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
