Margaret Roach, garden editor for Martha Stewart Living magazine, has produced a particularly appealing addition to the philosophical genre of gardening books. Roach takes a holistic view of the garden: "Neither my garden books nor my garden is the stuff that art is made of, a fact for which I am only partly apologetic. My garden is where I can be myself--perhaps the only place besides the pay-by-the-hour couch that invites me to be so, in fact." The book"s basic conceit--that a year in the garden parallels the six seasons of life: conception, birth, youth, adulthood, senescence, and death/afterlife--makes for interesting reading, and the practical aspect is aided by a good index at the end. Fortunately, the text, while personal and charming, doesn"t descend too far into leafy navel-gazing; Roach can be quite hard-headed and instructive on the matter of caning raspberries, making a garden pond, dividing irises, growing your own salad greens. Gardeners who have plenty of room and a bit of puttering time themselves will delight in Roach"s relaxed approach. --Barrie Trinkle