Tiny Gardens Everywhere

This timely book … looks at the ingenious ways that city dwellers have carved out space for cultivating their own fruit and vegetables and why growing conditions in the city may actually be healthier than the countryside … splendid … Tiny Gardens Everywhere makes a powerful case for more urban gardeners to be encouraged to grow their own produce … Could this be the time for town gardeners to dig for victory once again? – Constance Craig Smith * Mail on Sunday *She deftly combines … pressing ecological concerns with an absorbing narrative history – Timothy Mowl * Country Life *What a wonder Tiny Gardens Everywhere is! This absolutely riveting, beautifully written book is a blueprint for how we can transform our cities by remembering the lessons of the past - how by simply providing space for gardens we can create happier, healthier communities, grow prolific, sustainable food and construct cities that are connected with the earth and a fairer way of living. How I hope we can all heed the wisdom of this astonishing book! – Isabella Tree * author of WILDING *With enviable skill, craft, and insight, Kate Brown shows that the past of small-scale urban provisioning contains the seeds of a more resilient future for us all. – Sunil Amrith * author of THE BURNING EARTH *Tiny Gardens Everywhere shows us the path between the plot and the planet. It’s an amazing, beautiful book; I couldn’t put it down. – Anna Tsing * author of THE MUSHROOM AT THE END OF THE WORLD *Engaging and inspiring. A fascinating history into the quietly radical role of allotments and guerrilla gardening. A reminder that cities are still places where plants can thrive, where people can connect to the earth, despite all the concrete, brick and asphalt. Superb. – Chris Fitch * author of WILD CITIES *‘A heartening testimony to the efficacy of small, idiosyncratic projects, and the ingenuity and resilience of urban gardeners – Todd Longstaffe-Gowan * landscape architect & author of LOST GARDENS OF LONDON *A sparkling new history of urban areas demonstrating that they have long been full of vibrant green shoots. Diving into this visionary blend of history, memoir, and political insight is like eating a salad of fresh spring greens with a sprinkling of wild strawberries – refreshing, delightful, and nourishing for both mind and spirit. – Tiya Miles * author of WILD GIRLS and ALL THAT SHE CARRIED *For urban farmers world-wide, this vibrant secret history validates our work and guides future gardeners toward better composting, radical use of common spaces, and plenty of zucchini. – Novella Carpenter * author of FARM CITY and THE ESSENTIAL URBAN FARMER *

Kate Brown is a Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of four previous prize-wining books, including A Biography of No Place, which won the George Louis Beer Prize from the American Historical Association, Plutopia, which won the Dunning and Beveridge prizes from the American Historical Association and Manual for Survival, which was a finalist for the 2020 NBCC Award. She currently plants her gardens in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in Vermont.