Description
Book SynopsisThe evergreen classic on ecological gardening, whatever size your garden!
Over a quarter of a million copies sold worldwide!
Working with Nature, not against her, results in more beautiful, abundant and resilient gardens.
In the revised, second edition of Gaia’s Garden, Toby Hemenway extends his expert knowledge of permaculture to urban and suburban landscapes. A perfect beginner’s guide to ecological gardening, Gaia’s Garden dispels the notion that meaningful gardening can only take place on a large piece of land with lots of space to grow.
Readers can expect step-by-step instructions on:
- Building and maintaining soil fertility and structure
- Catching and conserving water in the landscape
- Providing habitat for beneficial insects, birds and animals
- Growing an edible forest that yields seasonal fruits, nuts and other foods
Whatever size garden you have to work with, you can apply basic permaculture principles to make it more diverse, more natural, more productive and more beautiful. Rewild your garden today with the ecological tools/principles for a better tomorrow!
Trade Review"Become a sustainable producer of resources instead of a wasteful consumer. This wonderful book shows you how by helping you create and enhance beautiful backyard ecosystems within the garden. Put this book into action, and you'll begin to live an example that positively shifts your own community and beyond. Best of all, doing so with this book is simple, juicy, and fun."--Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond and http://www.HarvestingRainwater.com
"Toby's fun, well-grounded, and engaging book is fast becoming a classic, and deservedly so. Practical yet visionary, broad-ranging yet focused on the basics one needs to know, this is a great place to start on the permaculture path. The new edition builds solidly on the success of the first. Congratulations!"--Dave Jacke, co-author of the two-volume Edible Forest Gardens
"The world didn't come with an operating manual, so it's a good thing that some wise people have from time to time written them. Gaia's Garden is one of the more important, a book that will be absolutely necessary in the world ahead."--Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and Hope, Human and Wild
"Permaculture gardens are no longer a thing of the future. They are here to stay and flourish. Gaia's Garden is enlightening and required reading for all people who desire to make their home's landscape healthy, sustainable, and healing."--Robert Kourik, author of Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape--Naturally
"Gaia's Garden is simply the best permaculture book ever written, and is in the running for best gardening book ever written. No one should be without it."--Sharon Astyk, author of Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front
"Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden will be recorded in history as a milestone for gardeners and landscapers--a fusion of the practical and the visionary--using the natural intelligence of Earth's symbiotic communities to strengthen and sustain ecosystems in which humans are a partner, not a competitor. An amazing achievement showing how we can and must live in harmony with nature!"--Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World
Table of Contents1. Introducing the ecological garden
2. A gardener's ecology
3. Designing the ecological garden
4. Bringing the soil to life
5. Catching, conserving, and using water
6. Plants for many uses
7. Bringing in the bees, birds, and other helpful animals
8. Creating communities for the garden
9. Designing garden guilds
10. Growing a food forest
11. Permaculture gardening in the city
12. Pop goes the garden
