Inner City Hoodlum

This book won't tell you how to build a cold-frame or grow cabbages. It doesn't list the most fashionable flowers (with their Latin names) or the newest insect repellent. Norfolk's approach to gardening is philosophical, attitudinal, inspirational. He believes that a garden should be a place of 'romance, mystery, magic, pleasure and surprise - a place to rest, as well as work in - a place to take time off from the rat-race, and let the mind roam free; a place to appeal to all the senses; a place of fantasy, where you can dream, and have fun.' This is, after all, small or large, your own patch of earth, and no-one else's. So grow trees, bushes and hedges not only to give shade and privacy but for the rustle of their branches, their patterns against a winter sky. Share meals there with friends, drink a solitary gin-and-tonic at the end of a hectic day... Walk in the dark down winding paths with a blaze of stars above, amidst the late-day scent of stocks and roses. Above all, keep it simple. Grow what grows best in the soil that you have; don't strive for a perfect lawn. Avoid straight lines and right-angles (nothing in nature is so undeviating). The simpler it is the more time you'll have to enjoy it. Norfolk draws his ideas and attitudes from his work as an osteopath, healing strained muscles, bad backs and tension headaches arising from life's stresses and strains; and from his historical and horticulatural research. In short, the therapeutic garden should satisfy our need for periods of rest and relaxation, and renewal of the spirit. It should be designed to serve as a pleasure ground, a sybaritic hideaway where we can let you hair down, play games, hold parties or simply revel in the enjoyment of a wide array of natural scents, sounds and textures. The book is beaituflly designed and decorated with evocative, monochrome drawings. (Kirkus UK)