cover image Building Your Garden

Building Your Garden

Ian Penberthy. MacMillan Publishing Company, $17.95 (120pp) ISBN 978-0-02-595491-5

``As a gardener you need more than just green fingers; you need to be part surveyor, part landscaper, part architect, part construction engineer, part carpenter, part builder and part electrician.'' Penberthy, a magazine writer, tells us how to construct sandboxes, properly rake the ``sea'' of gravel in a Japanese garden, line a manmade pond, and attack various and sundry heavy-duty chores with creativity and confidence. His detailed instructions and step-by-step photographs and diagrams bring even bridges within range of possibility for the unschooled, though the author cautions that ``designing seats is a complex business'' perhaps better left to professionals. Most counsel is couched in quasi-fatherly tones: in building a wall, ``it is a good idea to practice with secondhand materials,'' and a bridge must be ``stoutly made, since the last thing you want is for it to collapse.'' Penberthy has more than done his homework--he includes a few photos of designs that didn't quite come off, accompanied by captions that soften the critique: a formal fountain installed in the middle of a pool occupying an informal garden, and the like. (July)