Karel Capek (1890-1938), the author of this little book, was an Czech author, playwright, critic and political philosopher who opposed the rise of both fascism and communism in Europe. He wrote several science fiction novels, his most notable being “R.U.R”, where he introduced to the world the word “robot”. (Here’s his Wikipedia entry if you’re interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Čapek).
So you might think a treatise on gardening by this deep thinking philosopher would be a profound dive into the art of horticulture. You would be mistaken. The Gardener’s Year is a humorous and self-deprecating look at the foibles and manias of the gardener. Dare I say it is even a cute? Sure, why not. This is indeed a cute and fun book.
Mr. Capek delves into such subjects as the gardener’s eternal battle with the water hose, why it is unfair that the extra day in leap-years are in February as opposed to May, and how gardeners are able to recognize one another in public even if they should be strangers.
The most humorous chapter (in my opinion) is when a gardener goes on holiday. He or she asks a neighbor to look after the garden and leaves copious notes on what needs to be done. While away on vacation the gardener sends daily notes on new requirements and anxiously requests updates on the status of the garden. Eventually the gardener returns home early to take care of the garden himself. I could so relate!
Most of the book could have easily been written today, but there are chapters that are charmingly anachronistic. At one point Mr. Capek suggests scooping up horse droppings from the street to help amend the soil. While we modern gardeners no longer need to scrounge the roads for ruminate or equine crap, we are still locked into the same eternal battle to somehow improve our always less than perfect soil. Mr. Capek himself states in this book, “the gardener doesn’t cultivate flowers, he cultivates dirt”.
The chapters are broken into months, i.e. “The Gardeners June” that deal specifically with the gardeners trials for that particular month. There are additional chapters that deal with subjects such as rain, cacti and the gardening life. My e-book version was only 100 pages long, so it is a very quick read. If you enjoy gardening, or even if you don’t, you will enjoy this fun and breezy book about the gardener and his neurosis.
