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A WAY TO GARDEN DOT COM, born March 2008, is the latest horticultural incarnation of me, Margaret Roach, with my own words and photographs (taken here in my Hudson Valley, New York, garden) as its DNA. You can visit 24/7/365 online, or come visit on tour or workshop days.

The blog (which people always think is Away to Garden, rather than A Way, as in my way) is named for a book I wrote early in my garden career, and in the life of my garden. “A Way to Garden” was named best garden book of 1998 by the Garden Writers Association of America, and is now a collector’s item.

I have been writing about gardening for more than 20 years; in my previous lives I was garden editor at Newsday (one of the country’s largest dailies) and then for Martha Stewart, where I was the first garden editor of “Living” and later editorial director of the magazines, books and internet.

Sunny DayI “retired” on the last day of 2007 (at a very young age, thank you) to my 2.3-acre garden, bordering on the Berkshires of Massachusetts. I walked away from a fancy job and “success” to explore personal creativity again—something executives don’t get to do much between meetings. The book I wrote about dropping out, “And I Shall Have Some Peace There,” is being published in February 2011.

A Way to Garden was my first warmup session toward that end, and it stuck, thanks to kudos from The New York Times, Washington Post, Apartment Therapy, Dallas Morning News and others, and to readers who seemed to appreciate my take on the topic, which is simply this, as the logo proclaims:

horticultural how-to and “woo-woo.”

Please note:

  • I speak serious botanical Latin, but long ago lost count of how many genera, species and varieties grow here.
  • I am also an old-fashioned, organic-style gardener and a vegetarian (for 30-plus years), so…
  • I put up a sizeable chunk of the food I eat each year. I would have made a good hippie; maybe that is who I am at heart.
  • Gardening is not my hobby, it is my spiritual practice and life partner. I hope it will become yours.
  • I find most things funny; laughter helps me learn, and I will use it liberally to help you learn, too, and to entertain (which explains the weekly doodles by my friend Andre Jordan).

Other than Andre’s column, I create everything you see here: writing, photos, and the weekly email newsletter. Even the occasional peach clafoutis. But I could not do it without the help of web designer Ken Smith and the WordPress experts at WebDevStudios. Here’s my entire gratitude list.

My experiments in “personal creativity” are expanding. As mentioned, I have written about finally daring to leave “success” behind and embrace the rural life in “And I Shall Have Some Peace There,” from Grand Central Publishing.

I am also the co-founder and chief cook and bottle-washer of The Sister Project, a blog network that explores all the meanings and facets of the words “sister” and “sisterhood.” Brothers also welcome; come see us.

I (through Margaret Roach Inc.) packaged and published my baby sister Marion’s helpful, hilarious how-to manual on first-person writing, based on a sold-out class she’s been teaching for 12 years. Then we sold it to a major publisher! Look for “The Memoir Project” in late spring 2011.

I do not take ads here on A Way to Garden, so you can register your thanks by subscribing to my free newsletter, by buying the books my sister and I write, or just by saying hello in comments.

The listings in my “blogroll” are places I have actually shopped; I receive no free stuff, including no samples, nor do I get paid to mention people. It’s easier and more ethical that way.

I love technology, and particularly the platform called WordPress, and I consult with a few select clients a year to help them enjoy the digital medium as much as I do. More about my professional life is on Margaret Roach dot com.

Want to know more about me and my relationship with both sides of the gardening equation, the hands-on and the touchy-feely? Read on.

Want to know how this site is best navigated? That’s here.

You can or at follow margaretroach on Twitter.

And “we” are also a fan page called “A Way to Garden from Margaret Roach” on Facebook.

The garden has been open to tours for 13 years as part of the national Garden Conservancy Open Days visiting scheme and on other occasions; in 2011 I am resting the garden for renovations, and will be back in 2012.

You can contact me with this form, or at any time by commenting on a post.

I welcome you and hope you find what you are looking for in my albeit very personal approach to the world of plants and the magical forces of nature.

Tell Me You Like It!


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The Confessional

Some stuff really gets A Way to Garden-ers going. Weigh in, or just lurk while everyone else shares about these hot buttons:
resources

Juicy Bits

name that weed I KNOW A LOT OF PLANTS by their proper names, but my “weeds,” not so much. These great weed-identification websites are helping me finally address them with the proper (dis)respect.

everything old is new VINTAGE 'GREEN' POSTERS from the WPA 1940s look fresher than ever.

shrubs to covet THE OLDER THE GARDEN and I get, the more we love these shrubs.

plants that perform 21 POWERHOUSE PERENNIALS you will love for your garden.

herb-garden help GROWING AND STORING a year of parsley.

berry peachy-keen CLAFOUTIS BATTER how-to (the solution for easy fruit desserts).

rex, rhizomatous and more FANCY-LEAF BEGONIAS, beauties for indoors and out.

crispy refrigerator pickles WHAT IS IT ABOUT refrigerator pickles that makes everybody so happy? Get those cukes ready!

winged victory THE GARDEN as bird habitat: 11 tips on what birds like.

forum

keeping deer out DEER FENCE: I tried every anti-deer potion and trick till I got real and fenced. Strategies for every garden.

secrets to great tomatoes TOMATO TIPS, seed to harvest: Dozens of tricks for a better crop.

yes, even in dry shade MY 4 TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS perform even in the worst spots, like dry shade.

5 great small trees GARDEN-SIZED TREES can’t just be the right scale; they need to have multi-season interest, too. Have room for one of my favorites?

10 underplanting do’s and don’ts MAKING MOSAICS—that’s what I call good underplanting of trees and shrubs with a tapestry of plants. Here’s how.

making a 365-day garden THINK FALL (YES, FALL): Don’t get sucked in by spring-bloomers only at the nursery. A great garden happens 365 days: Shop smart to make it so.

the facts about bulbs SOMETHING UP with a flower bulb? Paltry bloom, or wondering when to feed or cut off the foliage? It’s all here.

must-read garden poem MY FAVORITE POEM celebrates loss, one of gardening (and life’s) realities. It does it with humor: "Why Did My Plant Die?” is a must-read. orchid rebloom made easy I REBLOOMED MY FIRST ORCHID recently (finally!) and it turns out to be pretty easy going. Here’s how.

can-do pruning REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

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