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A neglected acre in an isolated Cotswolds spot, a self-confessed non-gardener with an iPad, and a professional gardener with an eye for rare snails. The story behind A Year in the Cottage Garden could begin like a country house mystery. Instead, it forms the foundation of a thoroughly modern and deeply personal book charting the evolution of a very special garden.
The book is co-written by Sue O'Neil, CEO of gardenwear brand Genus, and Joff Elphick, the professional gardener and podcaster. It documents their collaboration, which began almost a decade ago when O'Neil, retiring from a business career, realised the garden she had single-handedly carved from nothing needed expert help. As she puts it, naively believing each completed section was "done," she soon discovered "how much maintenance is needed."
This is more than a simple before-and-after diary. It is a collection of the "witty, insightful observations" from Elphick's long-running In The Genus Garden blog, selected to "share with you the joy, excitement, and sheer wonder of creating, growing, and looking after a garden." The book’s philosophy is rooted in a patient, observant collaboration with nature. O'Neil's journey began with internet searches and books; Elphick's touch is seen in the details, from improving the woodland garden with "white birches, alliums, Geranium nodosum, snowdrops, and hellebores" to his fascination with the microscopic world, noting that a fallen branch is "often covered in lichen, and not just one, but a myriad of different species."
Structured around the seasonal rhythm that "comes to life year after year," the book celebrates not just the planting—from the productive orchard giving "bottles of apple juice, fresh pears, and baskets of plums" to the challenges of a wildflower meadow that eventually gave way to a "cherry tree corner"—but the rural setting itself. It is rich with wildlife: owls, deer, foxes, and the "army of tiny toadlets" from the pond that prevent mowing for weeks.
For the professional, it offers a candid case study of a client-gardener relationship and a substantial garden project. For the amateur, it is an inspiring record of what can be achieved, proving you don't need a grand plan, as "the design began to emerge" by developing "one area after another." Illustrated with Elphick's "near-professional photography," A Year in the Cottage Garden is a worthwhile and engaging read for any gardener who, like O'Neil at age three with her first bed in an old steel bath, has fallen in love with gardening.
A modern chronicle of a Cotswolds garden's transformation. Available at https://www.genus.gs/
