Author(s): Louisa Jones; Dan Pearson (Foreword by)

Gardening

Mediterranean gardening offers a way of living in harmony with the earth without contrived effects or heavy spending. Born of long human experience on the land, it is frugal and fruitful, serves many purposes and gives many pleasures, year-round. Today, it adapts easily to our growing ecological awareness, to individual creativity and community sharing. Above all, it perpetuates a long-standing partnership between human beings and their environment, tested in Mediterranean countries for millennia. Mediterranean cooking grew from peasant roots but has become fashionable today all over the world without loss of local diversity. More than a mere trend, it has been widely adopted because of its underlying, enduring practices: it is seasonal, local, healthy and flavourful, economical but capable of great refinement. Mediterranean gardening has much the same base and similar benefits. Like the cuisine, Mediterranean gardening offers an approach that can be adapted to all climates and budgets, for better, sustainable living in harmony with the environment.