– a new book that sees 14 contemporary writers explore what is most engaging and urgent about gardening today – published by Daunt Books.
When I moved into a house in London with a garden, my mum was the one who came over on holiday and pruned it all back, revealing a small Japanese maple tree, rambling roses with teacup-sized yellow flowers and a malnourished olive tree. She took me to a garden centre – all this time I’d lived in London, and I didn’t even know where my nearest garden centre was – and we pushed an enormous trolley and stacked it with plants I didn’t know the names of. There was an entire courtyard dedicated to herbs, where the scent of apple mint and lavender perfumed the air. Sometimes we walked through the gentle mist from a garden centre employee hosing down the plants.