From "The Curious Gardener" by Anna Pavord

Picked up this kindle book after having read a brief review of it on The New York Times.

"... I also realised how completely I had missed the point as a child. Gardening was not necessarily about an end result. The doing was what mattered."

"Optimisim is an essential tool in the gardener's kit. Much more important than a strimmer. And quieter."

"I don't feel I have to burrow around in my subconscious for reasons to garden. Fortunately, nobody else seems to feel the need either. Psychologists and psychiatrists leave us alone with our happy mania. My own theory about this (you have to have a theory in the psych-business) is that the act of gardening itself is what keeps you out fo the hands of the shrinks in the first place."

"Gardens are shaped essentially by soil and climate. The gardener contributes a signature scratched on the surface of the contours. The only signatures likely to last are those made by gardeners who work with rather than against the prevailing conditions."

"The real point of a garden is to increase the value of our lives. It gives us the best chance we have of fitting ourselves back into a world that cities make us forget. A garden locks you into the slow inevitable rolling out of the seasons, cycles of growth and decay, the lengthening of days and shortening of shadows."

"A garden gives pleasure, instils calm, grafts patience into your soul. Gardening slows you down, masks worries, puts them in proportion. A garden teaches you to be observant and how to look at things. You become less inclined to leap to quick conclusions. Or to jump on the latest bandwagon. A garden hones your senses. You can hear the sound of dampness creaking through the soil and smell it hovering in different guises over the compost heap. In a garden, you never feel lonely."

"Take time to admire the way a seedling pushes through the earth, its back humped into a croquet hoop with the effort. Even if it's a seedling of a weed like groundsel, it's still a miracle of tenacity and endurance. Grow something from seed yourself. If it's something useful - basil, coriander, rocket - so much the better. Plant a tree. Train a clematis."

"The point of gardening is the doing of it, not having got it done. It's the process that matters, through it is of course directed towards an end result."

- Anna Pavord, "The Curious Gardener"