Margaret Roach’s Magical Garden
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Today, Margaret Roach’s all-new 21st anniversary edition of her first award-winning book, A Way to Garden, makes its way into the world.
It’s 300+ pages, nearly twice as thick as the original, packed with color photos, and totally revamped to reflect forty years of wisdom and insight, most importantly the changes in how Margaret gardens today. For gardeners of all kinds and at all skill levels, it’s a dream, a treasure trove of knowledge. Some highlights for me include:
- 18 Seed-Starting Tips
- 13 Things About Growing Tomatoes
- Organic Lawn Care
- A Must-Have Rose
- Not Your Average Morning Glories
- Growing Potatoes
- Making Compost
I could list so much more, not to mention the touching stories (like one about sisterhood, which made me cry).
Though my garden is wee, Margaret and her website are a constant source of inspiration and a resource I turn to again and again. She taught me how to freeze parsley (and other herbs) and the trick to growing cilantro — hint, as Margaret says: “sow, sow, sow again.” She also introduced me to Craig LeHoullier, his book, and Dester tomatoes, which my husband started from seed a few weeks ago in our basement. I cannot wait for summer.
I recently visited Margaret and her garden, and I’ve included a few snaps below. But before you get lost in the wonderland that is Margaret’s backyard…
A Few Things:
- Margaret is hosting a big giveaway featuring some of her favorite garden gear.
- May 11th: Visit Margaret’s Garden, Take a Class, Buy Plants, Listen to a Lecture, & More (Come! I’ll be there, too!)
- Read more about Margaret’s book here (or in The Washington Post!)
- UPDATE: GIVEAWAY is CLOSED. WINNER IS KATHRYN RICHTER.
To enter to win a copy of A Way to Garden, leave a comment below. Tell me your favorite vegetable and your favorite way to cook or eat it. Good luck! - ALSO: Instagram Friends: There is giveaway over there, too: a signed copy of A Way to Garden
Some snaps from Margaret’s garden: A sea of hellebores.
Backyard pond, where Margaret’s friends are known to take baths, and …
… where Margaret finds salamander egg beds while skimming leaves.
Margaret’s 125-year old apple tree.
Voodoo lilie bulbs.
Margaret and her book! Get yours: A Way to Garden
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
197 Comments on “Margaret Roach’s Magical Garden”
It is impossible to pick just one. I love vegetables. Right now, I am enjoying some fresh pea shoots with my hard-boiled egg and fresh sourdough bread, with salt a pepper and drizzle of olive oil. I can’t wait for the first home-grown tomato, but that is months away here in Michigan.
Margaret is a gardener’s inspiration. I read her blog often and listen to her radio show.
Braised fennel. Always!
Love Margaret’s books!
I love cauliflower and I am so glad it is trendy right now. I love eating it raw with salt and pepper, roasted with olive oil and capers, or stir fried with other vegetables and chicken.
One vegetable favorite? How about two, they’re always favorites. Corn and tomato. I’ve been without great corn and tomatoes since living here and I’m super anxious to get back to them. I love making corn fritters, corn chowder, and corn salsa….corn salad….. as for tomatoes I love them in a BLT, a tomato sandwich, and fried green tomatoes…. That’s really not an easy question Ali.
I take it back…sort of… I miss good tomatoes and corn… but I eat and/or drink beets nearly every day. That’s my favorite vegetable.
Winning a copy of this book would be a great Mother’s Day present from myself- love Margaret’s podcasts, cannot wait to read her new book
Wow – I love roasted veggies with kosher salt, olive oil, pepper and parm – Asparagus is my fav, but fresh tiny tomatoes – OMG! I also think broccoli and cauliflower roasted that way minus the parm – sublime!! Do you think Margaret would notice if I just moved into her garden? Heaven!
Tomatoes are my favorite. Our first ones should be ripe in a couple of weeks.
Vine ripened sweet golden cherry tomatoes is my favorite.I like them tossed in with homemade pasta and fresh basil from the windowsill garden.
I am a big fan of Margaret Roach,too!
Cauliflower, roasted! Your recipe (of course)😊
Homegrown vegetables are the best. I’m in NE Florida and just ate my first cherry tomato of the season. Peas and potatoes are probably my favorite homegrown vegetables. Store bought doesn’t compare. Cooked simply with a pat of butter. Delicious!
i love chard.
easy to grow..
delicious to eat
(raw in salads, steamed to accompany a yellow squash or purple potato or
sauted with olive oil and garlic and a dash of vinegar and salt.
and then,
there are are all those colors to choose from.
sigh.
🌱
I hope to one day have a garden like that, wow.
My favorite vegetable tends to change seasonally. Cucumbers…beets…any squash. Cucumbers I can never hold onto long enough to do anything but eat them whole. I salt-roast my beets (thank you!) and most often roast my squash as well.
🙂
What amazing pictures! Thank you for introducing me to her works. As for favorite vegetable . . . so hard to pick just one (pun intended), but I swoon the most for roasted cauliflower.
Anything picked right off the vine and eaten before I get to the house,..but especially pea pods!
Carrots are my favorite vegetable. I like them glazed or roasted in the oven to bring out their natural sweetness.
Heirloom tomatoes, just sliced with oil and salt. I cannot wait for late summer….
My niece found wild ramps in our backyard and used them to make spanakopita for Easter. Delicious!
That is so much fun Catherine!!
Tomatoes! Every year our goal is to actually have so many we don’t know what to do with them—that never happens. I love making Marcella Hazen’s fresh tomato sauce to put on a pizza with homemade ricotta. There’s nothing like it.
Right now, in this season, it’s fresh peas. I love them in a cream sauce with new potatoes and asparagus! I’m hungry just thinking about it.💓
It is so hard to pick a favorite vegetable. Carrots roasted with olive oil/butter and fresh dill is probably my favorite. Close second is cauliflower with harissa and dates.
Tomatoes! Either simply sliced on a tray with small cucumbers or in an old fashioned tomato sandwich.
In what state is her garden? We don’t have that kind of lushness or moisture to render a garden like that in Texas. We want a backyard like that but it just isn’t possible in the hot, dry south.
Upstate New York 🙂
My favorite vegetable changes from day to day, lol. Right now it’s Baby Bok Choy sauteed with garlic, shallots, and drizzled with sesame oil and soy sauce 🙂
I love so many vegetables but the one thing I CRAVE when not in season is a perfectly ripe heirloom tomato. The first salad and BLT of the year make me so very happy.
My favorite vegetable would probably be zucchini. I love it so many different ways.
I love Margaret’s podcast, especially when I’m out in the garden. If we could just get a break in the rain…
I’m a sucker for fresh summer tomatoes. Sliced w/ some salt and pepper.
I would say carrots in a nice stew.
I love roasted butternut squash.