A Life in the Garden

One of America's most well-known and bestselling gardening writers shares her reflections and advice on finding joy in the garden

In A Life in the Garden, horticultural icon Barbara Damrosch imparts a lifetime of wisdom on growing food for herself and her family. In writing that's accessible, engaging, and elegant, she welcomes us to garden alongside her. Personal, thoughtful, and often humorous, this book offers practical DIY insights that will delight gardeners, cooks, and small-scale farmers. With a personal and sometimes irreverent tone, Barbara expresses the pleasure she takes in gardening, the sense of empowerment she finds in it, and the importance of a partnership with the real expert: nature.

"This is a lovely book to pick up and read one of the bitesize, chatty chapters... possibly with that cup of coffee."--The Professional Gardener
"This is a must for readers who want to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits." --Library Journal, Best Life + Style of 2024
"Damrosch is such an engaging, fluid writer, it was easy to forget that I was actually reading. It felt more like sitting down with a friend over a mug of tea and listening to her share her experiences. As I read, I could see, feel, breathe, and taste what was going on in her garden, all through the seasons." --Westchester Daily Local News
"An intriguing, personal volume about her upbringing and life as a food gardener." --Southern California News Group
"Drawing on a lifetime of organic gardening, Barbara Damrosch collects her lessons learned and wisdom gained into an easy-to-read-and-enjoy overview of kitchen gardening. For the new gar­dener, there is encouragement on top of nuts-and-bolts advice. For every gardener, there is inspiration to face the challenges inherent in a life deeply rooted in and fed from the garden. Damrosch will make you want to grow more, grow better, and enjoy the garden's bounty in every sense." --American Gardener
"Damrosch's wealth of information and easy-to-understand, conversational writing style will appeal to vegetable gardeners of all experience levels." --Library Journal
"This is a wonderfully informed how-to guide on nearly every aspect of backyard veggie growing, though it's cleverly disguised as simply a leisurely stroll through the garden." --Booklist
Barbara Damrosch has saved from extinction the art of the personal essay. Not since Charles Lamb have we had such enjoyable reading. She makes kitchen gardening an imaginative experience.
--Daniel Hoffman, 22nd United States Poet Laureate.
One of the most popular gardening personalities in the world.
--Dr. Richard Churchill, People, Places and Plants
The Queen of organic growing...a human search engine when it comes to questions about gardening and cooking.
--Heidi Julavits, The New York Times Style Magazine
To me, Barbara Damrosch is the Julia Child of gardening. ...Barbara was one of the people who made "sustainable" "small-scale," and "compost" household words. ...She practically invented the edible gardening movement.
--Phillis Odessey, The New York Botanical Garden, Plant Talk

Barbara Damrosch is one of the nation's most respected garden experts and writers. She is the author of Theme Gardens and The Garden Primer and writes a weekly column for The Washington Post called "A Cook's Garden." She appeared as a regular correspondent on the PBS series The Victory Garden, and co-hosted the series Gardening Naturally for The Learning Channel. She is the co-owner, with her husband, Eliot Coleman, of Four Season Farm, an experimental market garden in Harborside, Maine, that is a nationally recognized model of small-scale sustainable agriculture.

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