The 3,000 Mile Garden: An Exchange of Letters Between Two Eccentric Gourmet Gardeners

The correspondence between a world-renowned gardener and nature photographer from London and a food writer from New England exchanges ideas on horticulture, pest control, gardening techniques, landscape design, and recipes. Reprint. TV tie-in.

Land is an American food writer who gardens; Phillips is a London-based plant photographer and writer who cooks. The two met in 1989 at a mushroom bash in New Hampshire and began a conversation that was too good to end. They continued it by mail. The resulting letters, through 1994, make up a book that is an exchange of ideas, drawings, practical tips, recipes, and personal tidbits. The correspondence is also the basis of a public television series that will air beginning in December of this year. Of particular interest are Phillips's references to the garden squares of London. We learn a bit about their history, the committee that oversees them, and the assaults on them by builders of high rises and car parks. Land's garden is in Maine, and the reader enjoys following her struggles with weather, soil, and terrain. The letters, witty and entertaining, are unfortunately published with no linking narrative, leaving gaps and unanswered questions. Though not an essential purchase, this book nevertheless will be enjoyed where anglophilic gardeners or public television fans are numerous.
Carol Cubberley, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.