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1st out of 57 books
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20 voters
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
The first edition of "Gaia's Garden, " sparked the imagination of America's home gardeners, introducing permaculture's central message: Working with Nature, not against her, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens. This extensively revised and expanded second edition broadens the reach and depth of the permaculture approach for urban and suburban growers...more
Paperback, Second Edition, 312 pages
Published
May 1st 2009
by Chelsea Green Publishing Company
(first published April 1st 2001)
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5th out of 115 books
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47 voters
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What a great book!
I don't read a lot of gardening books for fun (I find them dry) but the personal experiences, anecdotes, and concrete examples in this one make it a breeze. It appears quite well researched, and it answers all kinds of questions I've had for a long time about Permaculture and even urban gardening. (How safe is food grown next to a busy street? for example)
Why did I wait so long to read this book? As far as I can tell, this is going to be one of my foundational gardening books,...more
I don't read a lot of gardening books for fun (I find them dry) but the personal experiences, anecdotes, and concrete examples in this one make it a breeze. It appears quite well researched, and it answers all kinds of questions I've had for a long time about Permaculture and even urban gardening. (How safe is food grown next to a busy street? for example)
Why did I wait so long to read this book? As far as I can tell, this is going to be one of my foundational gardening books,...more
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My first permaculture book and still probably my favorite. Lots of practical information about designing gardens and landscapes, and good case studies, too. Hemenway is preparing a new edition that should be even better, but until then...
Apr 23, 2009
Mo Tipton
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
gardeners who want to work with nature
Shelves:
gardening
I've been interested in learning about permaculture for some time, but what little I knew always struck me as being intimidating and not for someone with my limited gardening experience. This book has completely changed my mind, and I'm eager to test out a few ideas in my community garden plot until I have access to a more permanent site.
Hemenway outlines the basic ideas of permaculture as relevant to the home gardener, from organizing plantings and structures in zones and sectors, to conservin...more
Hemenway outlines the basic ideas of permaculture as relevant to the home gardener, from organizing plantings and structures in zones and sectors, to conservin...more
This was a very good introduction to the field of permaculture. The Mollison textbook is rather overwhelming (though I do plan to read it cover to cover), and Hemenway broke it down into bite-size pieces with lots of real-life examples. I was afraid that I would have to do a translation from East Coast permaculture to my place in the arid Southwest, but how exciting it was to see 2 amazing success stories from Santa Fe and Los Alamos! This book will definitely keep a place on my gardening refere...more
2 likes · like · see review
Great overview of permaculture and gardening with "guilds" of "useful" plants. I almost passed by this one because I found the title off-putting. I was afraid I'd be hearing about Mother Earth, nature's balance, and the perfect harmony with which indigenous peoples once lived. The book still has an odor of this, but if you sift through it you get some tremendously helpful information for the new-to-permaculture gardener. In section three I found exactly what I needed: a spreadsheet of recommende...more
i really liked this book- or at least the idea of this book. while permaculture seems like a natural sensible way to garden but if you're reading this hoping to design your own you'll quickly it's not natural in the least- that's not to say it's not a good goal. it does mean that beyond some basic guidelines there's not a lot specifics (anywhere in any permaculture literature). the field is too new- not enough people have successfully done this to be able to walk you through it for your area. th...more
Jul 25, 2010
Jenny
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Jenny by:
Dear Old Dad!
Hey, this is a great book! It was such a useful, informative, and accessible read. Each chapter built on the one before, so by the end I had a comprehensive understanding of how all the individual pieces work together. But it would also be handy to read a particular chapter alone, if in search of specific information. This book explained a number of things I always wondered about, for example, how rocks contribute minerals to soil.
--"Rocks contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, and most of the o...more
--"Rocks contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, and most of the o...more
Loved this book! Practical ways to implement permaculture--which is the most efficient way to garden. As I dream of my own fruit orchard, I want to lay it out as recommended in this book: with bird and insect attracting shrubs (to deter fruit tree predators without spraying) and nitrogen-fixing plants (to lesson the need for fertilizers) and mulching plants (to decrease the watering needs). I love the idea of planning out my landscape so it takes care of itself (as much as possible).
I've learned more about musical form from this book than I have in any music book. Aside from that, Gaia's Garden has inspired me to further readings on permaculture and its applications. I'm recommending it to my friend's family who's just bought a farm. How efficient and wondeful the farm will be once they've applied these principles. For those who know nothing of permaculture, but a little about gardening I suggest you beg, borrow, or steal this book.
Jul 19, 2008
Tera
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Gardeners, plant nerds
Shelves:
non-fiction
This is a book that should be on every gardener's shelf regardless if you have one acre or one hundred. This book got me thinking of my own gardens as living, changing, interconnected environments and not some space I keep my plant collection. The ideals are something that any gardener, regardless of experience or gardening style can incorporate for a healthier and more active ecosystem.
after reading this book -- which has some didacticism amidst its informed passion -- i risked an experiment in scandinavian composting with a huge (10 foot x 20 foot) pile of brush and branches in my yard. it did shrink by 2/3 in a year, but never compacted enough so that i could do as the author instructs, and make a grassy hill or shapely bench out of it.
Just from the title alone, I really didn't want to like it. I assumed it was just a bunch of tree-hugger nonsense. But, to be completely honest, I actually really enjoyed this book. I am not hugely into gardening, but I do like being able to eat things from the garden and maybe have some nice plants for the chickens to eat when I let them roam around in the afternoon. This book had all of that and more.
My only minor gripe -- if it can even be called that -- is that the focus is more on people st...more
My only minor gripe -- if it can even be called that -- is that the focus is more on people st...more
The author's idea of "small-scale" is still larger than my own backyard, but I like his writing style and find myself endlessly fascinated by potential permaculture projects, such as worm boxes, chicken tractors, and greywater irrigation systems. Sustainable living is super sexy!!
Apr 27, 2012
Lindsay Zimmerman
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
farm-and-garden
An excellent introduction to permaculture, Toby Hemenway delivers in-depth information without losing sight of the big picture. He also manages the difficult task of holding the reader's interest, even when discussing the particulars of topics such as soil composition. Anyone from the suburban gardener to the market farmer will find valuable information on how to optimize their environment to require less external inputs and energy, while efficiently making the most of what you have. It's a book...more
I'm about half way through this book so far, and am loving it. Packed full of information, but not dry and unbearable to read. It's not just a gardening book of "do this/don't do that." The author does a wonderful job explaining the whys and hows of things like soil composition and water conservation, provides extensive information on specific plants, and mixes in anecdotes to really make this an enjoyable read. I have a totally different mindset as I walk around my suburban property. I am reall...more
May 20, 2008
Chris
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
gardeners, farmers, ecologists, and everyone else
Of all the permaculture books I've read this is the best intro to the concept. Plus, it's an enjoyable, interesting, and pretty book in it's own right. I re-read it occasionally just for the inspiration to do useful and interesting things with our yard.
Aug 06, 2007
Gea
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Those looking for permaculture inspiration and general info
Shelves:
naturepermaculture
I learned that I have a lot to learn! But what a fun and interesting book - general, but maybe even hard to fully grasp without at least some hands-on 'training' in permaculture - a classic nonetheless (and has an amazing bibliography).
This book was outstanding. It was a fantastic blend of how to make your yard into a lush food forest and why to do the things he recommends. I loved the chapters on soil and water. I also liked how he made mention of chickens and other animals but didn't dedicate so much space to it like other books (not where we're at with the process right now, so we just skip all the farm animal talk). I loved how he presented, explained, and recapped his ideas at the end. I can see how this would be a totall...more
I found this book inspiring. It has really changed the way in which I approach my house, my yard and my garden. It breaks down the concepts of permaculture in a way that makes it easy for the beginner to understand and apply.
1 like · like · see review
Despite the completely embarrassing name, I thought this was a good general guide.
The information, despite being on some level "home-scale", was not really well suited to well-established (read-shady) or very small city yards (i.e. places where you won't be planting groups of fruit trees). The step from conventional yard to having your own greywater system seems like a big one, though; while I appreciated the thorough overview of permaculture concepts in this book, I was really hoping for more...more
The information, despite being on some level "home-scale", was not really well suited to well-established (read-shady) or very small city yards (i.e. places where you won't be planting groups of fruit trees). The step from conventional yard to having your own greywater system seems like a big one, though; while I appreciated the thorough overview of permaculture concepts in this book, I was really hoping for more...more
Gaia's Garden is a general introduction to permaculture gardening. Other books on permaculture gardening have been interesting, but it was Hemenway's book which made me excited about my future garden. I fell in love with the idea of a garden that is both useful to humans and ecologically balanced. Permaculture gardening focuses on relationships rather than on individuals -- relationships between plants, animals, humans, soil, sun, water, and anything else that affects your garden. By paying atte...more
I liked a lot of things about this book, including some new ideas I haven't heard elsewhere, such as how to use branches and other woody scraps that are too big and fibrous to compost easily, as gardening materials. Towards the end of the book, however, there's a section on using animals to contribute to your garden. There's a quick line about "if you care about your rabbits only breed them so often or they'll die" that was jarring to me. It seemed to me that so much care was taken in protecting...more
This is an amazing book. Don't be dismayed by the title--it is not an extreme environmentalist or pantheistic book. It is an extremely practical book about how to build a healthy ecosystem in your garden rather than something where you are constantly fighting against nature. In a natural ecosystem, there are thousands of connections between plants and animals, and when all of the forces are balanced it is an extremely resilient system. A healthy garden can be built to create that same interdepen...more
First build organic matter in your soil. Then sculpt your landscape to capture and hold water. Third select multipurpose plants, adapted to your region and arrange them in synergistic relationships to each other, your micro-climates, and the other living creatures in your garden--including yourself.
What plants can do: build compost, fix nitrogent, pull minerals up from subsoil, break up hard soil, stabilize eroding soil, secrete sugars to feed soil organisms, secrete insect repellents, attract p...more
What plants can do: build compost, fix nitrogent, pull minerals up from subsoil, break up hard soil, stabilize eroding soil, secrete sugars to feed soil organisms, secrete insect repellents, attract p...more
Gaia's Garden is what I had imagined the Backyard Homestead would read like; it offers a dialogue regarding real options for a garden without giving some vague referent. Discussions of guilds, symbiotic plant relationships, function, stacking techniques, and reasonable intensive planting practices fill this book without feeling like a trip through a trust-fund hippie's fantasy world. Hemenway recognizing the fallibility of 'universal' guilds, but at least makes an attempt to construct variable f...more
This book truly inspired me! I don't think I have read any gardening book that made me think, plan and dream as much as this one did. A garden that is in perfect ecological harmony? Who doesn't want that? Not to mention that it requires a minimum output for maximum benefits. No rototilling invovled! I have tried implementing some of these principles in my garden and have already seen the benefits of more biodiversity AND the plants are happier. This is a must-read for people wanting to use whate...more
Aug 13, 2007
Bianka
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Nature lovers
Shelves:
extremelyuseful
Good intro to permaculture.
I love this book and think back to the stories and scenes in it often. In addition, it has plant lists to refer to again and again. I mentioned it at a science-fiction/fantasy writers' group last night (February 5, 2011).
It has greening-the-desert stories, a genre (that I made up) that helps me when human effects on the world seem distressing. I can remind myself that humans have strengths and gifts to share with their home. We make messes, but we can also work to clean up and to set scenes that...more
It has greening-the-desert stories, a genre (that I made up) that helps me when human effects on the world seem distressing. I can remind myself that humans have strengths and gifts to share with their home. We make messes, but we can also work to clean up and to set scenes that...more
A nuts and bolts guide to small scale permaculture, gardening solutions, maybe a survivalist guide to the 21st century in the sense it asks you to take a sober view of your balance sheet, holistically, in terms of your life support systems, understanding what they are and how to best maximize your relationship with them. In that sense, it unwittingly shares a common theme with some of the new theories of quantum physics, in what limited knowledge I have of that, in that relationships between phe...more
Jul 25, 2012
Tinea
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone with any amount of land and the desire to cultivate it
Shelves:
food-agriculture-hunger,
ecology-diy
I've found now a few different "comprehensive teach yourself permaculture" books, each tailored to a different audience. Food Not Lawns for the punks and the community organizers, The Urban Homestead for the busy, The Transition Companion for the big picture people and Toolbox for Sustainable Living for the tinkerers. Gaia's Garden stands above these books for its general appeal, a guidebook in clear, flowing language for understanding and working with the ecology of cultivated environments.
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Toby Hemenway is an American author and educator who has written extensively on permaculture and ecological issues. He is the author of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. He has been an adjunct professor at Portland State University, Scholar-in-Residence at Pacific University, and is currently a field director at the Permaculture Institute (USA).
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“The plants we've chosen will collect and cycle Earth's minerals,water, and air;shade the soil and renew it with leafy mulch; and yield fruits and greens for people and wildlife.”
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