Book 9 in the Fennel's Journal series.

A Gardener’s Year celebrates the joy of cultivating living things, and reflects upon a life working with plants. It's a book of metaphor, being way more than a record of horticultural activities through the seasons. It’s about having a dream and making it come true. This dream may, for many, be about growing plants from seed and then seeing them bloom, or harvesting vegetables for the table. For me, as someone who's spent half my life working in gardens, it’s about a bigger vision: about cultivating a dream where I can live a self-sufficient life outdoors. This book sees me sow the seeds of my future reality.

Chapters

• Introduction – Working the soil.
• The Makings of a Gardener – No ordinary career, this gardening.
• Room to Grow – Thoughts from a potting shed.
• Dig It! – Soil, earth, dirt. Such filthy pleasures...
• Chicken Poo – Compost, organics, and toilet humour.
• One Man's Weed – Naturalistic or ornamental planting?
• Pricking Out – A selective lifestyle, this gardening.
• The Cottage Garden – Fennel rediscovers a lost garden.
• A Naked Assault – Fennel becomes 'a little exposed' in his garden.
• Urban Greenery – What to do with a neighbour who hates gardens.
• Dust and Desire – A drought of a different kind.
• The Size of One's Carrot – Think before you speak, and before you garden.
• Gardener for Hire – Big garden? Big ambitions? Call an expert!
• The Good Life – What does it take to be self-sufficient?
• Garden of Dreams – How dreams inspire us to seek perfection.
• Learning from the Master – Fennel remembers his gardening mentor.
• The Last Cast – A garden is not made in a year.
  

Publication details

• Published by Fennel’s Priory.
• Limited edition collectors' magazine published in 2013
• Kindle eBook published in 2013
• Hardback published in 2025

Book specification

• Dimensions: 216 x 140 x 14 mm (8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 in)
• Page count: 180 pages
• Language: English
• Copyright © Fennel Hudson 2013, 2025
• Hardback ISBN 978-1-909947-34-4

Favourite quote from A Gardener's Year

"Roll up your sleeves and imagine your vision of paradise. This, in whatever form it takes, is your garden. Keep hold of the image; know it’s every detail and piece together the elements that need creating or nurturing, so that when you get the chance, you can prepare the ground, sow the seeds, and make it real. Ours is a gardener’s life, whether we realise it or not."

Reader Testimonials

"A refreshingly upbeat and eccentric view of gardening and its context in one's life."

"Fennel chooses not to paint the usual cliched and overly-romanticised view of gardening, though his love of all things horticultural is evident. Instead he entertains us with funny and down-to-earth stories of a life spent gardening. A fun read, recommended for those of us who garden for pleasure."

“Fennel’s writing is uniquely funny. I mean, who else can name a chapter ‘Chicken Poo’?  His sense of humour, balanced with some deep yet subtle messages, had me in tears. From his ‘escape’ to a public toilet, to what not to say to a celebrity, this is a Journal to entertain all readers.”

“When I started reading this Journal I had a garden with a lawn and a patio. Now I have a vegetable patch, blisters, an aching back, and the biggest smile of my life. Thank you Fennel!”

“I now understand how one can sow the seeds of dreams as easily as nurturing plants, so long as we point our green fingers (or whatever colour they may be) in a hopeful direction.”