Gardener's Year by Karel Čapek

Gardener's Year Reviews

• 
  Viola

  Kas par dīvainiem cilvēkiem tie dārzkopji! Fanātiķi, kuri jebkurus laika apstākļus skata ar aizdomām. Daudzās lietās varēju atpazīst sevi kā dārzkopi. Jauka, asprātīga un sadzīviski patiesa grāmata.
• 
  jeremy

  originally published in czechoslavakia in 1929, karel čapek's the gardener's year is a charming, whimsical, and amusing little book about the joys and frustrations of gardening. known best for his early science fiction novels (as well as for coining the word 'robot'), čapek wrote widely about a number of different subjects. with a varied background (often veering into the political realm), čapek's many interests must have cross-pollinated one another and enriched whatever he happened to be writing about at the time.
  
  the gardener's life obviously sprang from a love of and devotion to nearly all kinds of flora. with quaint, humorous illustrations by his brother josef, this funny and alluring work will appeal to gardeners and non-gardeners alike. chronicling the gardener's year month by month, čapek contrasts the ecstasies and hardships of turning one's hands and heart to cultivating the soil. with adversaries aplenty (hoses, uncooperative weather, detritus-laden soil, etc.), the sheer act of gardening, to čapek, is as much about commitment and fidelity as it is the possibility of complementary aesthetic bounty. interspersed between the chapters are brief asides about particular foci important to the gardener (seeds, rain, whom to entrust the garden to while on holiday, etc.). the gardener's life was not composed as a detailed, how-to guide, and, thus, little in the way of instructional advice is to be found. instead, it offers witty musings and reflective meditations on what, to many, is less of a hobby or diversion and more of an art form and way of life. čapek's slim work is a rich, rewarding read.
  
  

  the future is not in front of us, for it is here already in the shape of a germ; already it is with us; and what is not with us will not be even in the future. we don't see germs because they are under the earth; we don't know the future because it is within us. sometimes we seem to smell of decay, encumbered by the faded remains of the past; but if only we could see how many fat and white shoots are pushing forward in the old tilled soil, which is called the present day; how many seeds germinate in secret; how many old plants draw themselves together and concentrate into a living bud, which one day will burst into flowering life- if we could only see that secret swarming of the future within us, we should say that our melancholy and distrust is silly and absurd, and that the best thing of all is to be a living man- that is, a man who grows.
• 
  David

  Just recently, I discovered the Modern Library Gardening Series (Michael Pollan, series editor) which published--from what I can tell--only eight classic gardening books in its series from 2002-2003. I'm not sure why there are not more than eight, to be honest, but at least there are these and I'm thankful. Capek, for those who do not know him, was a Czech writer (1890-1938) who is remembered in literature for his science fiction (he coined the term "robot") than this short treatise on gardening, but he has nonetheless left us with a very entertaining and beautifully written account of the trials and passions of an obsessive Czech gardener and his year-long life entrenched in his garden. The illustrations (sketches, really) that punctuate the essays are downright hilarious and depict garden-characters that are described in the essays, something I am fond of and wish I would see more of. Anyway, Capek was first and foremost a writer and it's his equally blunt and excessive style of writing (I love the long list of verbs and adjectives used throughout)as well as his odd use of metaphor that raises this book to such a unique and beautiful status among garden books that are often twice the length. I want to read these aloud they are so funny and, I should add, still very culturally accurate today. Highly recommended for gardeners and anyone who enjoys short essays that entertain while shedding light on our modern, busy lifestyles.
• 
  William

  "It is only an optical illusion that my flowers die in autumn; for in reality they are born. We say that Nature rests, yet she is working like mad. She has only shut up shop and pulled the shutters down; but behind them she is unpacking new goods, and the shelves are becoming so full that they bend under the load. This is the real spring; what is not done now will not be done in April. The future is not in front of us, for it is here already in the shape of a germ...Sometimes we seem to smell of decay, encumbered by the faded remains of the past, but if only we could see how many fat and white shoots are pushing forward in the old tilled soil, which is called the present day; how many seeds germinate in secret; how many old plants draw themselves together and concentrate into a living bud, which one day will burst into flowering life--if we could only see that secret swarming of the future within us, we should say that our melancholy and distrust is silly and absurd, and that the best thing of all is to be a living man--that is, a man who grows."
• 
  Anete

  4.5/5 Lai cik liels būtu katra dārzkopja zemes placītis - podiņš uz palodzes, zemloga puķu dobīte, vai dārzs parka izmērā, ir īpašības, kas mūs vieno. Un tās ļoti asprātīgi izgaismo K.Čapeks. Klasika ne bez iemesla.
  
  
• 
  Fabio

  Cronaca di una mania
  Čapek me l'ha fatta ancora: con questo siamo a tre libri notevolissimi su tre - i precedenti, per la cronaca, il geniale
  La guerra delle salamandre e la raccolta dei
  Racconti tormentosi.
  
  Stavolta mi sono trovato a leggere, con indubbio divertimento, una raccolta di feuilleton originariamente pubblicati su un importante quotidiano ceco, che mi hanno permesso di seguire, mese per mese, le attività di un cultore del giardinaggio cittadino. No, non è un manuale che vi aiuterà a ottenere un rigoglioso giardino: è l'ironica analisi di quali e quanto grandi follie possano essere compiute per quello che, inizialmente, poteva sembrare un'innocuo passatempo. Di come questa passione, una volta radicata nella persona, la porti a guardare il mondo con occhio nuovo - meglio, a esperire il mondo in maniera totalmente nuova. I fiori sono solo un paravento, scelto perché Čapek stesso era stato risucchiato nel vortice della selezione di bulbi e sementi, concimi, attrezzi, tecniche, ricette segrete per preparare un ottimo terreno: l'analisi potrebbe essere applicata, con i dovuti accorgimenti, a qualsiasi passione divorante e totalizzante - anche quella per la lettura ( si veda l'affinità tra il giardiniere che, durante il riposo invernale, impiega il suo tempo compulsando cataloghi alla ricerca di semi e bulbi, e la costante crescita della wishlist di ogni buon lettore ).
  
  Secondo la curatrice, Daniela Galdo, la qualità più di questi feuilleton, "quella che colpisce ed emoziona, è la cura che Čapek ha della lingua, della sua lingua ceca", lingua ricca e raffinata come poche altre: "ricca di sinonimi, che danno allo scrittore una possibilità infinita di giocare con le sfumature, quasi tono su tono". L'Autore sfrutta la varietà della lingua, gioca e si diverte proponendo lunghi elenchi di nomi botanici, di verbi legati al giardinaggio, con tutte le sfumature permesse. La stessa traduttrice riconosce l'improbo compito: "tutta questa ricchezza viene limitata dalla traduzione in italiano, che in certi casi sembra avere meno parole di quante ne siano necessarie".
  
  Se l'ironica e a volte spietata (auto)analisi della mania per il giardinaggio potrebbe essere applicata ad altre passioni, è pur vero che qui, in fin dei conti, di giardini si parla eccome. E Čapek, con le sue lunghe teorie di nomi di fiori, stimola anche il lettore dal pollice meno verde a spendere qualche minuto in ricerche per comprendere, ad esempio, la bellezza di un phlox, di una sassifraga o di una petrocallis pyrenaica - anche in chi, come me, ha come massima esperienza la cura delle piantine aromatiche sul davanzale o esperimenti di coltivazione di pomodori ( chi rientra, dunque, nella categoria čapkiana degli agricoltori ).
  
  Anche la citazione è una mania?
  [ indubbiamente, dunque tenterò di limitarmi. Sappiate che c'è molto altro, ad esempio la "Vita di san Giorgino da Dalia" ]
  
  Nuovi romantici: la rosa
  

  Oggi una ragazza non potrebbe più cantare così semplicemente: «Sotto le nostre finestre cresce la rosa». Piuttosto dovrebbe cantare che sotto le nostre finestre si dovrebbe spargere il nitrato e la cenere di faggio, accuratamente mescolata a fine paglia. La rosa è, per così dire, solo per dilettanti; la felicità del giardiniere affonda le sue radici più profondamente, fin nel grembo dell'humus.

  
  
  Nuovi romantici: maggio, i baci
  

  Aprile è proprio il mese giusto e benedetto del giardiniere. Che gli innamorati vadano a quel paese con la loro esaltazione del mese di maggio; a maggio gli alberi e i fiori si limitano a fiorire, ma ad aprile spuntano; ... i germogli e i getti sono la più grande meraviglia della natura, e non rivelerò su di loro nemmeno una parola di più; accovacciatevi voi stessi e frugate con un dito nella terra soffice, con il fiato sospeso, poiché il suddetto dito tocca un germoglio fragile e pieno. E' una cosa che non si può descrivere, così come non si possono descrivere con le parole i baci e altre poche cose.

  
  
  Riflessione seria sul primo maggio - sindacati, imparate!
  

  Si dice festa del lavoro, e mai festa della produzione; e tuttavia l'uomo dovrebbe essere orgoglioso di quello che ha prodotto piuttosto che del fatto di aver semplicemente lavorato.

  
  
  I pericolosissimi coltivatori di giardini rocciosi
  

  Il coltivatore di giardino roccioso non è solo un giardiniere, bensì un collezionista,
  il che lo fa annoverare tra i maniaci rari. Fategli vedere che vi ha perso per esempio la campanula morettina e arriverà da voi di notte a rubarla, uccidendo e sparando, giacché non può più vivere senza di lei; se invece è troppo vigliacco o troppo grasso per derubarvi, piangerà e mendicherà perché gli diate almeno una piccolissima talea.

  
  
  Dei misteri ( di cui fanno parte a buon diritto i cactus, ma non le rose )
  

  I misteri si devono solo riconoscere per poterli trovare e adorare.
• 
  Sarah

  Don't be deceived by the gentle prose - these are the ravings of a madman. Capek really captures the ornery obsession that gardening brings out in people:
  
  

  It is done like this: you buy any bulbs you like, and from the nearest gardener you get a sack of nice compost; then you look for all the old flower-pots in the cellar and in the loft, and put one bulb in each. At last you find that you still have some bulbs, but no flower-pots. You buy more pots, and then you discover that you have no bulbs, but pots and soil left over. After that you buy a few bulbs more, but because again you have not soil enough, you buy a new sack of compost. Then again some soil remains over, which, of course, you don't like to throw away, so you decide to buy some more pots and bulbs. In this way you go on until people at home put a stop to it.

  
  Amidst the rantings are delicate musings about nature and rebirth:
  
  

  I tell you, there is no death; not even sleep. We only pass from one season to another. We must be patient with life, for it is eternal.

  
  Capek was also a science fiction writer who is credited with introducing the word robot?! His other accomplishments include being named Czechoslovakia's public enemy number two by the Gestapo. Not a bad life's work, and I definitely came away with the sense of what really matters:
  
  

  A good soil...must not make slabs, or blocks, or honeycombs, or dumplings; but, when you turn it over with a full spade, it ought to breathe with pleasure and fall into a fine and puffy tilth. That is tasty and edible soil, cultured and noble, deep and moist, permeable, breathing and soft - in short, a good soil is like good people, and as is well known there is nothing better in this vale of tears.
• 
  Patricia

  "The best thing of all is to be a living man -- that is, a man who grows."
  This happy little quote, straightforward and simple and profound, could sum up this wonderful little book.
• 
  Laurent De Maertelaer

  Onderhoudend en soms erg grappig tuinadvies van de Tsjechische grootmeester.
  Er circuleren 3 edities van deze vertaling uit 1998, die helaas uit het Frans is. Jammer dat Rainbow deze secundaire vertaling gewoonweg overneemt.
  Leuke tekeningen van Josef Čapek.
• 
  turkan

  Yazarın “Sıradan Bir Cinayet” kitabını çok severek okuduktan sonra mutlaka başka kitaplarını da okumam gerektiğini düşünmüştüm ve bahçe işleriyle de uğraştığım için bu kitabı hemen aldım.
  
  “Sıradan Bir Cinayet” ten birçok yönden farklı bir kitap. Bahçıvan nasıl biridir, karakteri, düşünce yapısı, istekleri, arzuları, hayalleri, hayal kırıklıkları nelerdir gibi analizlerle bahçıvanın portresi çizilirken bir yandan da mevsimlerin geçişiyle aydan aya bahçedeki değişimler anlatılmış.
  
  Genel olarak teknik bir kitap ama yer yer edebi yönü çok güçlü satırlarla da karşılaştım. Yazarın kullandığı ironik üslup kitabı okunabilir kıldı, öyle olmasaydı sıkılabilirdim. Ayrıca, Altıkırkbeş Yayınları baskısını okuduğumu ve bolca yazım yanlışı olduğunu söyleyebilirim.
• 
  Stella

  Beautiful, positive, hopeful, witty and wonderful. Anyone who endures the trials and tribulations as well as the serene tranquility and beauty gardening can bring will enjoy this book. If you can't get out to garden, this is the next best thing.
• 
  Dace Deniņa

  Burvīgi. Kā gan es šo grāmatu biju palaidusi garām?
• 
  Jim

  The lengthy quotation by William really summarizes this witty and thoughtful book. It has the frenetic sense of Eastern European writing along with the sense of the gardener. Written in the early 1920's, it is the picture of a lost era, but seems contemporary to the mad gardener in me.
• 
  marketafus

  Roztomilé a humorné pohlazení po duši.
• 
  Lyudmila Marlier

  Как в зеркало посмотрела)
  
  Уверяю вас, материнская гордость — ничто в сравнении с высокомерием и кичливостью кактусовода, у которого зацвел кактус.
• 
  Suze Geuke

  dit is me een wild boek over tuinieren! de Tsjech vertelt met een diepgrondige passie over het doen en laten van een tuinier gedurende het jaar. en met wat voor humor! en fenomenaal geformuleerde beelden.
  
  het geeft bijvoorbeeld waarschuwingen voor aspirant-tuiniers: "Algauw komt u echter tot de ontdekking dat een nog niet getemde tuinslag een bijzonder geraffineerd en gevaarlijk wezen is."
  
  of informatie over bepaalde struiken en hun gedrag: "De framboosstruik kan enkele meters onder de grond doorkruipen en laat zich niet door schutting, muur, of sloot tegenhouden, evenmin door prikkeldraad of bordjes."
  
  mijn favoriete passage was met afstand de passage over wat planten in hun muzikale mars hebben: "Was ik echter musicus, dan zou ik de 'mars der knoppen' schrijven. Eerst zou men de lichte mars van de seringenbataljons horen, daarna zouden de pelotons bessenstruiken op weg gaan; ergens halverwege zou men de enorme formatie van appel- en perenknoppen zien aankomen, terwijl op alle snaren die konden trillen het jonge gras ruiste en murmelde. en op de klanken van deze orkestrale begeleiding zou men regimenten gedisciplineerde knoppen voorbij zien trekken, als één man onvermoeibaar verder marcherend, zoals men het in militaire kringen pleegt te zeggen. één - twee, één - twee. lieve hemel, wat een prachtmars!"
  
  dan, tot slot, concludeer je aan het einde van het boek dat de tuinier eigenlijk vrijwel alleen door zijn aarde en bemesting wakkergehouden wordt, en de plantjes slechts een invulling hiervan zijn. prachtig.
• 
  Annyliis

  "Aedniku aasta" on suurepärase ülesehituse ja vaimustava huumoriga teos. Lühike, tõsi, aga selle eest pungil täis mulle meelepäraseid teemasid. Aed on nii minu teema ja tundub, et see raamat on ka nii minu teema. Ühesõnaga lugemine oli täielik nauding.
  
• 
  Veerle Mogensen

  3,5
  Heerlijk herkenbaar boekje voor mensen die graag wroeten in de aarde.
• 
  Kaetlyn Anne

  This is a charming little read
• 
  Siv30

  ספר קטן ואירוני העוסק ביחס שבין האדם לטבע (המבוית) שסביבו: "שנת הגנן" מאת קראל צ'אפק.
  
  בלשון הומוריסטית מדוייקת, מפרק צ'אפק את הפנטזיות והמיתוסים שלנו על הטבע המבוית. גננות משולה לשיגעון המוזן מהצלחות וכשלונות. אהבה שמונעת מדחף קנאות ותסכול.
  
  פעם אחר פעם מסתבר לקורא שהטבע, הכה פסטורלי והיפה, אינו עבד חרוף לידו המכוונת והמיטיבה של האדם אלא נוגש קשה ומר המתעתע בגנן.
  
  הספר רווי אמיתות על החיים, ומיד מזהים שמדובר באלגוריה על הנסיונות של האדם להכפיף את הטבע לגחמותיו. אל לכם להסיק מכך שמדובר בספר מדכא ומדכדך. נהפוך הוא. מדובר בספר משעשע מלווה בקריצה חיננית לחוסר יכולתו של האדם להפנים את אי שלטונו המוחלט בטבע.
  
  מומלץ בחום.
  
  "שנת הגנן", קארל צ'אפק
  
  הוצאת בבל, 2010, 134 עמ'
  
  מלווה באיורים מקסימים! מקסימים של אחיו (יוסף צ'אפק) ובאחרית דבר של המתרגמת בחסד רות בונדי.
• 
  Nick Grammos

  A joy to read. Even if you don't garden, but if you do, you know that fussy obsession well, the absurdity of the pursuit, the intensity of fetishes, the competitiveness and shared insanity with other gardeners, almost the notes of an anthropologist. It's spring here in southern Australia, my vegetable and seedlings are near ready. The fecund madness of summer is near. I would've loved to have talked to Capek about his garden and shared seedlings with him. But I suspect he and I would be suspiciously eyeing off the size of each other's tomatoes and the voluptuousness of our roses. Still, we'd each know what a garden means to each other.
  
  Worth reading each year around this time.
• 
  Holly Troup

  Although I am a rather clumsy gardener and I am plagued by rabbits and gophers and deer ( oh my!), I do share Capek's enthusiasm for gardening.
  I re-read this book every year. It inspires me and gives me solace in the long dark days of Winter.
  This is a light-hearted introduction to the work of Karel Capek, one of the best European writers from the last century.
• 
  Elizabeth Licata

  This is very charming, often humorous, and the writer communicates the essential angst of everyday gardening quite well. Hard to relate to in terms of practical gardening experience, but entertaining. Maybe just a bit thin.
• 
  Stina

  I am not kidding you when I say this is one of my favorite books. OF. ALL. TIME.
  
  You wouldn’t think a book so random like this would speak to me so much but here we are, I honestly want to get out a proper review to let this do justice to it.
  
  But for now, three words:
  Ma
  Ster
  Piece
  !
• 
  Jing Ma

  Interesting book. It kind of reminded me of how we behave in other aspects of our life.
• 
  Nati Korn

  Being an amature gardner myself I enjoyed this simple book tremendiously.
• 
  māris šteinbergs

  vēlos citēt vienas dziesmas vārdus “kad lietus silti līst” un pēc šî man arī , pavisam silti :)
• 
  Amálie

  Skvostné dílko, při jehož čtení se vám hlína dostane až pod kůži.
  
  Cože jsem to chtěl říci? Už vím, nic; nebo jen to, že život je složitější, než si kdo může představit.
  
  Dnes už by dívka nesměla zpívat: "pod našema okny roste růže květ." Spíš by měla zpívat, že pod našema okny by se mělo nasypat ledku a bukového popele, pečlivě promíchaného s drobnou řezankou. Růže květ je tak říkajíc jenom pro diletanty; zahradníkova radost je zakořeněna hlouběji, až v lůně prsti. Po smrti se zahrádkář nestává motýlem opilým vůní květin, nýbrž žížalou okoušející všech temných, dusíkatých a kořenitých rozkoší hlíny.
  
  ...zkrátka lidové pranostiky věští nám většinou věci neblahé a pochmurné. Pročež vězte, že existence zahradníků, kteří přes tyto špatné zkušenosti s počasím, rok co rok vítají a zahajují jaro, dává svědectví o neumořitelném a zázračném optimismu lidského rodu.
  
  Duben je kromě rašení také měsíc vysazování. S nadšením, ano s divokým nadšením a nedočkavostí jste objednali u zahradníků sazenice, bez kterých byste nemohli být dále živi; slíbili jste všem přátelům zahrádkářům, že si k ni přijdete pro odnože; nikdy, pravím, nemáte dost na tom, co už máte. A tak se vám jednoho dne sejde doma nějakých sto sedmdesát sazenic, které chtějí do půdy; v tom okamžiku se rozhlédnete po své zahrádce a shledáte se zdrcující jistotou, že to nemáte kam dát.
  
  Budoucnost není před námi, neboť je už tady v podobě klíčku; je už mezi námi; a co není mezi námi, nebude ani v budoucnosti. Nevidíme klíčky, protože jsou pod zemí; neznáme budoucnost, protože je v nás. Někdy se nám zdá, že páchneme tlením, postláni suchými zbytky minulosti; ale kdybychom se mohli podívat, co tlustých a bílých výhonků si razí cestu v té staré kulturní půdě, které se říká dnešek; co semen potají klíčí; co starých sazenic se sbírá a soustřeďuje v živý puk, který jednou propukne v kvetoucí život; kdybychom se mohli podívat na to tajné hemžení budoucnosti mezi námi, řekli bychom si patrně, že velká volovina je náš stesk i naše nedůvěra; a že ze všeho nejlepší je být živým člověkem; totiž člověkem, který roste.