Couldn't relate. [Gardening Your Front Yard by Tara Nolan]
Disclaimer, I have no front yard. The most "garden" space I've ever had was my fire escape garden square footage and I've since then not approximated the amount of space it afforded me or the level of control over such a space in my plant growing efforts. Still, I look to future and dream of my future gardening efforts. A garden, in whatever loose sense of the word, where I'll have a range of light orientations and be able to grow such larger variety of plants than my indoor space currently allows. So generally I'm down to read any garden book.
Tara Nolan's Gardening Your Front Yard, also known as Gardening Your Front Yard: Projects and Ideas for Big and Small Spaces, in most senses offers everything the title teases. Unfortunately, it wasn't my bag. The short text, just over 220 pages, was less about gardening proper and more about the space around gardening - design accents. Where I expected more plant information and more general design themes and schema, I got project after project after project. The book is rife with garden projects that require varying levels of carpentry skill. Build a bench, border your garden, build a shelf - things I didn't much care for.
It generally met the main grab as it did touch on gardening in the context of the front yard, but I walked away from my read not feeling inspired but disconnected. While I'm usually not bothered by localized reference-type texts, the regular localization reminded me that this book is best suited to an audience with a privilege I can't relate to. A suburban or rural setting where discretionary funds are spent on fun projects for aesthetic. There was sense of "living in the good neighborhood" versus everywhere else, where everything is sketch to the max. I didn't connect. The regular referencing to the author's previous book was also off-putting.
I can't say I didn't come away with anything. And I do love pictures of gardens. I don't think I would buy this book for myself, but I could see it being a library loan. Surprisingly, I'm giving this only 3 stars.
It generally met the main grab as it did touch on gardening in the context of the front yard, but I walked away from my read not feeling inspired but disconnected. While I'm usually not bothered by localized reference-type texts, the regular localization reminded me that this book is best suited to an audience with a privilege I can't relate to. A suburban or rural setting where discretionary funds are spent on fun projects for aesthetic. There was sense of "living in the good neighborhood" versus everywhere else, where everything is sketch to the max. I didn't connect. The regular referencing to the author's previous book was also off-putting.
I can't say I didn't come away with anything. And I do love pictures of gardens. I don't think I would buy this book for myself, but I could see it being a library loan. Surprisingly, I'm giving this only 3 stars.
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