From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden

Amy Stewart tells the story of how she got to Santa Cruz & took over a patch of seaside earth in which a couple of fruit trees, a handful of shrubs & a host of weeds fought for life. Each chapter includes helpful tips on neighborly propagation, composting, worm juice, rose pruning techniques, how to make a bug love you & concocting a gardener's bath. They are not what you think - some of this novice's results are hilarious while others are downright commonsensical. One of the first tips she gives us is on Making a Sun Map - do give it a go - I haven't looked at my garden the same since I discovered this clue. Alongside the story of this young woman's determination to create a garden in which the plants will live up to her vision, she remembers family moments from her childhood while facing down obstinate natives more wily than her. Talk about turf wars!A fine companion for anyone contemplating becoming addicted to gardening! Amy Stewart has since moved to northern California where she is hard at work on her second garden & , I hope, her second book.

Amy Stewart captures the essence of gardening and living in Santa Cruz, CA. This is a gentle and graceful book that will make you want to run to your local garden center and buy everything, then go home and spend the whole weekend getting dirty. You will greatly enjoy this book regardless of the size or state of your garden or yard. A wonderful read, very well written, almost poetic at times...you will love it.

I'm in escrow right now on my first house and daily I walk over to it just to visit. It, like Stewart's, is a bare patch of earth with a few fruit trees. I loved this book and it was timed perfectly for me. It's mix of the dream garden we have in our heads and the pragmatic realities of the garden once we get out there -- ie. from wisteria to worm casings! is a delight. I ate it up in one day much like I hope one day to eat up my own sungold tomatoes and tender lettuces. A wonderful and honest portrait of a first garden. Good luck in Eureka A.S.!

Amy Stewart has written a wonderful book about gardening that is funny, interesting and full of lessons about the beginnings and endings of things. Her story about moving from an urban woman yearning for the feel of a garden's dirt on her hands into a full-fledged gardener, compost pile and earthworm manure and all... is also the story of how to change a life and move towards what we love. I loved reading it and highly recommend it for gardeners and non-gardener's alike.

For those who enjoy digging in the dirt or simply admiring gardens, Amy Stewart's From the Ground Up is a charming read. The book offers many practical tips but its appeal is more than a "how to" manual. The reader shares Ms. Stewart's excitement in planting her first flowers and veggies in the ocean climate of Santa Cruz, CA, discovering the hard way what really works. The author shops for soil amendments and ladybugs the way some women revel in a Saks Fifth Avenue sale. Recipes using garden bounty pepper the narrative. The mood is like a cozy chat between friends. All this unfolds against a backdrop of a roller coaster next door, tourists stealing plants and cats gamboling in the greenery. Curl up in a comfy chair in a pleasant spot and enjoy the gardening expoeriences of Ms. Stewart from dreamer to doer.