Book Review: The Complete Gardener by Monty Don

Imagine getting a behind-the-scenes tour of your favorite British TV show's set design. Imagine even more than that: learning the tricks of the trade from the designer himself, with photographs, advice, and musings. Now imagine that this TV show is a gardening show, and the set is the garden that hosts all of those terrific episodes. If that's all that comprised The Complete Gardener, it would make for a spectacular book. However, it is so much more than that . . . so "completely" more . . . it is almost an encyclopedia of all things gardening, but never as dry as one might expect of an encyclopedic tome. Perhaps that is because the book is written by none other than the BBC's Gardeners’ World headliner, Monty Don, and features his own garden—which has been used as the setting of Gardeners’ World since 2011—as both classroom and superstar, yet which is still "a family home made and shared with love."

And to me it is. The book closes on page 850, but those 800-some pages are chock full of almost anything a gardener would want to know about gardening, from how to propagate plants to how to grow organic vegetables to how to create a water garden. Through it all, Mr. Don adds his unique, charming, eco-conscious personality to the assorted entries, updated versions of the original The Complete Gardener that was published in 2003.

To be clear, The Complete Gardener bears no resemblance to the silly product du jour of a flighty celebrity. Rather, each section of the book is thorough, well-organized, and useful long term for gardeners of diverse skill levels. For example, the "Gardening Basics" chapter contains subsections addressing soil, cultivation, propagation, greenhouses, composting, mulch, leaf mold, green manure, liquid fertilizer, weeds, pests, watering, and tools! Readers may devour each page, soaking in the advice that is shared as if from a wise neighbor, or use the extensive table of contents to refer to content when a specific need arises. Each part of the book is like a mini-course in how to garden correctly, and as Mr. Don reminds the reader frequently, that includes being a responsible caretaker of the natural world.

Similarly, as Mr. Don acknowledges in the introduction to The Complete Gardener, "Our gardens have become more important than ever as places of refuge and solace as well as bringing a much greater awareness of their role in achieving and maintaining a physical and mental wellbeing." He seems to truly believe in the essentialness of gardens, particularly in today's world of pandemics and political turmoil, and tries to impress upon the reader the value of wildlife and insects; the offensiveness of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and the delight that comes from creating a garden where children play and grow along with the trees.

This reviewer would be remiss if she did not mention the inspiring photographs included in the book and the seemingly idyllic expanse of a garden that Mr. Don has shaped at his home. Even the names of various areas, such as "The Jewel Garden," "The Long Walk," "The Writing Garden," and "The Paradise Garden" evoke a fairy tale land full of peace, wonder, and renewal. Now, if only Monty Don's next project would include guided in-person tours of his considerable gardens . . .