RHS The Creative Gardener: Inspirational Projects and Ideas to Personalise Your Space
by Adam Frost
DK, £20
ISBN 978-0241474464
When Adam Frost is on TV in BBC Gardeners' World, he appears calm in an increasingly confusing world, and this book is the embodiment of that feeling. The Creative Gardener is a balm of perfectly described and photographed step-by-step projects for the keen and even new gardener, to help make any plot more beautiful, usable and exciting.
Frost has a way of making you feel as though you could build that wooden obelisk and shou-sugi-ban it too (a Japanese wood-charring method, which is neatly explained) but the main message in this book is, give it a go and enjoy the journey. We often forget that the process is as much part of the fun as the final result, but if you spend the time to make, nurture and build something yourself, then your gains are multiplied – exponentially.
This is a truly inspirational book, with attainable goals
Projects range from creating seasonal planting schemes for planters, terracotta pots and tubs to creating toad homes and bee hotels. I think he may have a camera in my shed, as there is a very specific project on how to take apart, replace slats, paint and upcycle a cafe table and chairs – something I have been meaning to do with mine for about five years. Maybe I will now get round to it, quietly counselled by Frost.
Before I got to this book, my husband, mum and one of my children all had a good look through. Frost has managed to write something that has appeal across the generations – they all thought it was beautiful and practical and had picked out specific tasks they wanted to tackle.
None of that has happened yet, but I am holding out for the new furniture, planters and obelisk that will surely result. This is a truly inspirational book, with attainable goals. Frost passes power, knowledge and tools back into our hands, to do all those things in the garden we've always wanted to achieve, but didn't know where to start.