Greg Loades is a young man who grew up working on a farm and loved all the vegetables on the planting fields. He continues to make gardens – and has learned that half an hour a day is enough time to give him enjoyment of the natural world.  He gives us a view of the way he creates a beautiful garden – and teaches us how to do it. His way is to Cultivate Beauty and Joy by Gardening Every Day.”

Using the 30-Minute way, Loades organizes the book through the year, and the way plants grow and increase over the years. He has shown that you can sow seeds, of any types you like, then watch the beginning of the seeds growth. Pot marigolds are easy summer flowers, for growing in the ground, or in pots.

Loades shows the way a garden develops. There are young flowers, shrubs, grass, and then you can watch the way it develops and enjoy yourself. It takes time and plants, and ideas may change, but there is always time.

I don’t grow many peas myself, but it took me a while to figure out how to collect stakes. I will do better next year. With stakes and string.

Loades has written strong and useful information about gardens.  He said “Our goal in becoming a 30-minutes-a-day gardener is not to make an efficient garden maintenance regime (sounds too much like doing the dishes to me) but rather to  open the door to a parallel universe that is bursting with life, to delight in the process of natural growth, and to embrace nature’s pace.”                                                With Photography by Neil Hepworth – Timber Press.