There are plenty of proverbs extolling the virtues of hard work in the garden. ‘Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade’ (Rudyard Kipling),  ‘Gardening requires lots of water…most of it in the form of perspiration’ (Lou Erickson) and ‘You cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind’ (Anon) are just a few.  These insights reflect a truth about gardens - that they represent a taming of nature, to one degree or another, and the level of taming is directly proportional to the amount of effort.

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