The 3000-Mile Garden: An Exchange of Letters on Gardening, Food, and the Good Life [Hardcover]

Leslie Land (Author), Roger Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1996

The companion volume to a six-part television series on PBS collects the humorous, lyrical correspondence between a world-renowned gardener from London and a food writer from the Maine coast. 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo. TV tie-in.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two professional gardeners, one British, the other American, having met at a New Hampshire "mushroom foray," continue to share their gardening adventures in this delightful collection of their letters. Journalist/author Land (The Modern Country Cook) has country gardens in Cushing, Maine, and upstate New York; Phillips, a prolific writer/lecturer and plant photographer (Quest for the Rose), gardens by committee in London's three-acre city park at Eccleston Square. The difference in their situations intrigues them both and is instructive. They exchange discoveries about climate, garden design, rare and common cultivars, soils, mulches, pests and numerous other details of concern to gardeners. They spice their letters with botanical myth and gossip, bits of local history and geography and custom, and compare favorite recipes for their edible plants. Among other titillations, Phillips tells her how he heated a ham in mulch, and Land describes her experiments with diluted urine as a greening agent. But every page in this chatty, exuberant book is a feast of tips and surprises whose abundance and utility well serve any gardener. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670867144
• ISBN-13: 978-0670867141
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,070,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gardeners are very interesting people!, June 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The 3000-Mile Garden: An Exchange of Letters on Gardening, Food, and the Good Life (Hardcover)

Having seen the PBS series based on this book, I was very anxious to actually read the book. I wasn't disappointed. Meeting the challenge of one's own ecosystem and making a garden work is interesting reading. This book doubles that interest by going back and forth between two completely different eco- systems and two completely different gardeners. Roger Phillips is in charge of a very public garden in the center of London and enjoys not only working with others but also conversing with visitors that are a part of his daily routine. Leslie Land gets very upset one morning when a strange woman wanders into her garden to admire and comment on it. This is her private domain and she considers the woman to be a rude trespasser. Even Roger finds that difficult to believe. As their friendship develops, however, they rely more and more on the advice they receive from each other and, as a novice gardener myself, I found myself combining their expertise to benefit my own garden.Very interesting reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two self-smitten garden-philes find each other., July 30, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The 3,000 Mile Garden: An Exchange of Letters Between Two Eccentric Gourmet Gardeners (Paperback)

After reading this book, I have a) a somewhat revived interest in gardening (with some new planting ideas); 2) a deep aversion to ever having to read/watch anything by Mr.Phillips, who is completely self-absorbed with his own knowledge; 3) bemused speculations about What Might Have Been, vis a vis what seemed an almost flirtatious beginning between the two, which then subsided once Land found herself a guy [after that, copious references to children and mates--before, nothing]! An interesting read for gardeners, but not a great one--this book's a borrower, not a buyer (sorry, amazon.com)..

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Enchanting Correspondence, July 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The 3000-Mile Garden: An Exchange of Letters on Gardening, Food, and the Good Life (Hardcover)

The 3,OOO Mile Garden is a pure delight. While full of useful gardening information, interesting recipes, unusual plants and vegetables, it is in no way dry or pedantic. It is instead a lively and spirited correspondence between two very unique gardeners- their gardens, their countries and their lives.