Download or read book The Living Soil Handbook written by Jesse Frost and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Principles and farm-tested practices for no-till market gardening--for healthier, more productive soil! From the host of the popular The No-Till Market Garden Podcast—heard around the world with nearly one million downloads! Discovering how to meet the soil’s needs is the key task for every market gardener. In this comprehensive guide, Farmer Jesse Frost shares all he has learned through experience and experimentation with no-till practices on his home farm in Kentucky and from interviews and visits with highly successful market gardeners in his role as host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. The Living Soil Handbook is centered around the three basic principles of no-till market gardening: Disturb the soil as little as possible Keep it covered as much as possible Keep it planted as much as possible. Farmer Jesse then guides readers in applying those principles to their own garden environment, with their own materials, to meet their own goals. Beginning with an exploration of the importance of photosynthesis to living soil, Jesse provides in-depth information on: Turning over beds Using compost and mulch Path management Incorporating biology, maintaining fertility Cover cropping Diversifying plantings through intercropping Production methods for seven major crops Throughout, the book emphasizes practical information on all the best tools and practices for growers who want to build their livelihood around maximizing the health of their soil. Farmer Jesse reminds growers that “as possible” is the mantra for protecting the living soil: disturb the soil as little as you possibly can in your context. He does not believe that growers should anguish over what does and does not qualify as “no-till.” If you are using a tool to promote soil life and biology, that’s the goal. Jesse’s goal with The Living Soil Handbook is to provide a comprehensive set of options, materials, and field-tested practices to inspire growers to design a soil-nurturing no-till system in their unique garden or farm ecosystem. "[A] practical, informative debut. . . .Gardeners interested in sustainable agriculture will find this a great place to start."—Publishers Weekly "Frost offers a comprehensive, science-based, sympathetic, wholly practical guide to soil building, that most critical factor in vegetable gardening for market growers and home gardeners alike. A gift to any vegetable plot that will keep on giving."—Booklist (starred review)

Download or read book The Ecological Gardener written by Matt Rees-Warren and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2021-04-29 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Design a garden for the future—because what we grow matters. "Matt Rees-Warren explains why every square inch of Earth, including our gardens, has ecological significance... Excellent, timely, essential!" —Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Nature’s Best Hope Transform your garden into a self-sustaining haven for nature and wildlife. Ecological garden designer Matt Rees-Warren shares inspirational design ideas and practical projects to help you create a garden that is both beautiful today and sustainable tomorrow. The Ecological Gardener will give you the tools to create an abundant, healthy garden from the soil up—a garden that welcomes birds and bees and allows native planting and wild flowers to flourish, with minimal carbon impact or need for fresh water. This book can guide both novice and experienced gardeners alike in their journey to a more ecological approach, and is full of practical projects and information, including: Finding the right design for your space Creating a wildflower meadow Building rainwater catchments and other tips for water conservation Making compost from kitchen waste, leaf mold, compost tea and more Creating a space for wildlife such as hedgehogs, bees and other pollinators Finding beauty in your garden during the winter Matt will show you how to re-imagine how you garden, working with nature instead of controlling it, to create a space that promotes both wildlife and beauty.

Download or read book Eco logical Gardening Handbook written by Dr Wendy Seabrook and published by Learning from Nature. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing healthy food is a great idea. But what about all the costs involved? It's frustrating when our leafy greens get chewed, our fruit gets riddled with holes, tomatoes wilt, and we have to rely on expensive garden products to have any chance of harvesting a decent crop. The solution is quite simple - getting the ecosystems within our food gardens functioning again. Bringing back these FREE ecological services - our soils naturally supply nutrients to our crops, and insects and birds control most of our pests. Understanding this ecological approach, you'll develop practical solutions for your climate and other growing conditions. You'll grow healthy food self-sufficiently, be less dependent on commercial products with dubious environmental credentials, get carbon out of our atmosphere, and have the joy of bringing Nature back into your garden again. Are you ready to try this eco-logical way to grow?

Download or read book Gardening with Biochar written by Jeff Cox and published by Storey Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2019-01-22 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bio-activated charcoal — called biochar — is the new darling of organic gardeners, embraced for its outstanding abilities to enrich the soil and improve plant growth. Gardening with Biochar is the first comprehensive guide to understanding, making, and using it effectively in the home garden. In this highly accessible handbook, long-time garden writer Jeff Cox explains what biochar is and provides detailed instructions for how it can be made from wood or other kinds of plant material, along with specific guidelines for using it to enrich soil, prevent erosion, and enhance plant growth. Now widely available at garden centers, biochar is also being lauded for its ability to sequester carbon in the soil, making it good for the health of the planet, as well as the plants.

Download or read book A New Garden Ethic written by Benjamin Vogt and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: “An outstanding and deeply passionate book.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals Plenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal communities. Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives—lives sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete that significantly harm our physical and mental health. He examines the psychological issues around climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand how we are short-circuiting our response to global crises, especially by not growing native plants in our gardens. Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it's social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow. By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another.

Download or read book Gaia s Garden written by Toby Hemenway and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extensively revised and expanded edition broadens the reach and depth of the permaculture approach for urban and suburban gardeners. The text's message is that working with nature, not against it, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens.

Download or read book The Ecological Design Handbook written by Fred A. Stitt and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 1999-06-14 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of "green" writings which provide an overview of ecological design in architecture and planning.

Download or read book Garden Revolution written by Larry Weaner and published by Timber Press. This book was released on 2016-05-18 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AHS Book Award winner This lushly-photographed reference is an important moment in horticulture that will be embraced by anyone looking for a better, smarter way to garden. Larry Weaner is an icon in the world of ecological landscape design, and now his revolutionary approach is available to all gardeners. Garden Revolution shows how an ecological approach to planting can lead to beautiful gardens that buck much of conventional gardening’s counter-productive, time-consuming practices. Instead of picking the wrong plant and then constantly tilling, weeding, irrigating, and fertilizing, Weaner advocates for choosing plants that are adapted to the soil and climate of a specific site and letting them naturally evolve over time. Allowing the plants to find their own niches, to spread their seed around until they find the microclimate and spot that suits them best, creates a landscape that is vibrant, dynamic, and gorgeous year after year.

Download or read book Winter written by James C. Halfpenny and published by Big Earth Publishing. This book was released on 1989 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide to various aspects of winter includes stresses of cold temperatures on animals, plants and people, coping behaviours and mechanisms, the forces of winter and the human perception and experience of the season.

Download or read book Ecological Principles of Agriculture written by Laura E. Powers and published by Cengage Learning. This book was released on 2000 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction to ecology and ecological principles for agricultural students with no prior coursework in ecology.

Download or read book Native Plants for New England Gardens written by Mark Richardson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-03-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Native plants are drought tolerant, disease resistant, wildlife friendly, and environmentally sound. Experts increasingly encourage gardeners to use natives exclusively. This handy and practical guide focuses on 100 great native flowers, ground covers, shrubs, ferns, and grasses that will thrive in New England gardens. The presentation is aimed at gardeners, who want concise, practical information. It will also include material on the importance and desirability of using native plants. The heart of this book is 100 two-page spreads, one for each species. The spreads will include facts about the plant of use to a gardener (not a botanist)—where it grows best, when it blooms, the soil conditions in which it thrives, its appeal to wildlife, sunlight requirements, how high it grows, how to propagate it, and how to avoid any problems particular to the species. Each spread will also feature two color photos.

Download or read book The Permaculture Handbook written by Peter Bane and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A step-by-step guide to creating resilient and prosperous households introduces permaculture as a practical way to live well with less money, convert waste into wealth, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Download or read book The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden written by Karen Newcomb and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the best books for beginning and experienced vegetable gardeners, this clear, straightforward, easy-to-read gardening bestseller (over 500,000 copies sold) uses organic, biodynamic methods to produce large amounts of vegetables in very small spaces. To accommodate today's lifestyles, a garden needs to fit easily into a very small plot, take as little time as possible to maintain, require a minimum amount of water, and still produce prolifically. That's exactly what a postage stamp garden does. Postage stamp gardens are as little as 4 by 4 feet, and, after the initial soil preparation, they require very little extra work to produce a tremendous amount of vegetables--for instance, a 5-by-5-foot bed will produce a minimum of 200 pounds of vegetables. When first published 40 years ago, the postage stamp techniques, including closely planted beds rather than rows, vines and trailing plants grown vertically to free up space, and intercropping, were groundbreaking. Revised for an all new generation of gardeners, this edition includes brand new information on the variety of heirloom vegetables available today and how to grow them the postage stamp way. Now, in an ever busier world, the postage stamp intensive gardening method continues to be invaluable for gardeners who wish to weed, water, and work a whole lot less yet produce so much more.

Download or read book Alpine Plants written by J. E. G. Good and published by Timber Press (OR). This book was released on 2007 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise introduction to the science behind the success of alpine plants, this fascinating and accessible book will enable gardeners to tailor their cultivation practices in lowland gardens to mimic the alpine habitat as closely as possible.

Download or read book Edible Forest Gardens Volume II written by Dave Jacke and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An edible forest garden is a perennial polyculture of multipurpose plants. Most plants regrow every year without replanting: perennials. Many species grow together: a polyculture. Each plant contributes to the success of the whole by fulfilling many functions: multipurpose. In other words, a forest garden is an edible ecosystem, a consciously designed community of mutually beneficial plants and animals intended for human food production. Edible forest gardens provide more than just a variety of foods. The seven F's apply here: food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, and "farmaceuticals," as well as fun. A beautiful, lush environment can be a conscious focus of your garden design, or a side benefit you enjoy."--from pub. website.

Download or read book Urban Ecological Design written by Danilo Palazzo and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This trailblazing book outlines an interdisciplinary "process model" for urban design that has been developed and tested over time. Its goal is not to explain how to design a specific city precinct or public space, but to describe useful steps to approach the transformation of urban spaces. Urban Ecological Design illustrates the different stages in which the process is organized, using theories, techniques, images, and case studies. In essence, it presents a "how-to" method to transform the urban landscape that is thoroughly informed by theory and practice. The authors note that urban design is viewed as an interface between different disciplines. They describe the field as "peacefully overrun, invaded, and occupied" by city planners, architects, engineers, and landscape architects (with developers and politicians frequently joining in). They suggest that environmental concerns demand the consideration of ecology and sustainability issues in urban design. It is, after all, the urban designer who helps to orchestrate human relationships with other living organisms in the built environment. The overall objective of the book is to reinforce the role of the urban designer as an honest broker and promoter of design processes and as an active agent of social creativity in the production of the public realm.

Download or read book Designing California Native Gardens written by Glenn Keator and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An excellent how-to book on California native plant landscaping . . . with plans, photographs, and plant lists which are sure to fire the imagination of any gardener."--Arvind Kumar, California Native Plant Society