What I'm eReading...My Tiny Plot

My Tiny Plot is one of the many gardening blogs I have in my Google Reader subscriptions. I have now idea how I first discovered it, but I love the garden diary and excellent pictures. This is also one of the many UK blogs I follow. I am a bit of an Anglophile and the Brits just seem to be so passionate about their gardening it is hard not to like them.

"My Tiny Plot is the diary of a small vegetable patch in Bath, England. I’m all about growing vegetables and eating fresh produce. And more recently turning that produce into yummy and exciting baby meals!"

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Book: The Water Lily Cross: An English Garden Mystery by Anthony Eglin

Update (5/10/07): The Water Lily Cross is now available at Amazon and other book resellers -- Douglas


The Water Lily Cross: An English Garden Mystery
Anthony Eglin
A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin's Minotaur

Although he would be more comfortable restoring gardens and traveling about in his sporty 1964 TR4, Lawrence Kingston, botanical expert, finds himself once more engaged in another mysterious adventure.

This 3rd book in the English Garden Mystery series has Kingston searching for an old friend who has disappeared, quite possibly kidnapped. It seems Kingston's friend has discovered a way to use water lilies to solve one of the world's most pressing problems. Crossword and anagram clues, helicopter flights and threatening messages lead Kingston on a whirlwind and dangerous chase across the English countryside.

Eglin's mysteries are always a great romp combining two of my favorite things -- mysteries and gardening. Lawrence Kingston is a character you wouldn't mind inviting into your home on a regular basis and each new book is an opportunity to do just that. I can imagine sitting across from him, sipping his single-malt Scotch, as he recounts his latest tale of mystery or the details of a garden rejuvenation somewhere in the English countryside. Both are equally interesting to me.

I will say, Eglin is so good at creating interesting supporting characters that I sometimes miss the young couple who discovered The Blue Rose and the American woman who owned The Lost Gardens from his earlier books. Perhaps he can return to them for a future adventure.

The Water Lily Cross and Eglin's previous books are the perfect choice for some relaxing reading between your gardening chores. Pull the chaise lounge under your favorite tree, or within the scent of your favorite roses, and delve into the mysteries of the garden.

Highly Recommended

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, outdoors, writing, london, uk, mystery, english, flowers, gardener

How to be a gardener video from the BBC

Kottke.org points out this video series on Google Video -- How to be a Gardener with Alan Titchmarsh. This is a 4 hour series on gardening.

While I wish the poster had broken this series up into episodes before posting to Google Video, it is still nice to be able to see the program at all. Too much great BBC content never makes it to the US, even with BBC America on some cable systems.

The audio sync is a little wonky and the video quality is not the greatest, but again, in the case of an excellent program like this, something is better than nothing. The companion web site will give you even more information.

I look forward to seeing the benefits of this new partnership between YouTube and the BBC, BBC and YouTube partner to bring short-form BBC content to online audiences

Tags: : bbc google video garden gardening gardener uk british england television education