The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture: Creating an Edible Ecosystem

by Christopher Shein

“A masterful distillation of permaculture in a way that is easy to apply to our gardens, farms, and lives today.” —David Cody, founder, Urban Permaculture Institute

Once a fringe topic, permaculture is moving to the mainstream as gardeners who are ready to take their organic gardening to the next level are discovering the wisdom of a simple system that emphasizes the idea that by taking care of the earth, the earth takes care of you.

The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture teaches gardeners of every skill—with any size space—how to live in harmony with both nature and neighbors to produce and share an abundant food supply with minimal effort. Permaculture teacher Christopher Shein highlights everything you need to know to start living off the land lightly, including how to create rich, healthy, and low-cost soil, blend a functional food garden and decorative landscape, share the bounty with others, and much more.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Food, How To, Environment, Nature, Ecology

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2013

Reviews

[Cathy Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good enough introductory book, with lots of visuals and some useful information. In fact, it would be very useful for someone living in zone 8 or 9, not quite so much up here at the cool end of zone 5. Shein goes into detail about important topics like seed saving and the basics of what to plant, and has some nice how-to diagrams for building swales, etc., but this book doesn't have the depth of reference material of others.

For me, it was a nice, quick how-to to get me started trying some new things with my garden. I may not have learned everything I needed to know here, but this book helped me define my questions. For introductory purposes, it's a good length and well enough written, but it's the diagrams and illustrations that make it special.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly basic information -- good for someone brand new to permaculture.

The author lives in California and focuses a little too much on plants and techniques for hot climates. Many of his suggestions wouldn't work in much of the country.

(Also, I can't believe another reviewer called this book "low on photos". I read it cover to cover in only a couple hours because at least 50% of it is pictures. (Not that that's a bad thing.))

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quite beautiful book, full of gorgeous photographs and elegantly designed. Most of the information is not new, but it's nice to read a fresh take on the subject of gardening from the viewpoint of permaculture.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to permaculture for growing vegetables, fruits and other food crops. It's filled with color photos of permaculture gardens and has lots of information about the basics of permaculture and much more. Probably a better fit for those in warm weather climates, but a great intro for gardeners all over.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good foundation information; home-garden specific. Tends to emphasize gardening in the western part of the US.

[Cheryl Gatling]

Every gardener knows that growing beautiful things requires constant work of weeding and watering, spraying for pests, thinning and pruning, etc, etc, while the weeds just sprout and grow all lush and healthy with no care at all. What if we could make our garden grow like things grow in nature? What if we could plant it, and let it go, and then just go out and pick food without slaving?

That's part of the idea of permaculture, the idea that if we work with nature instead of against nature, plants will flourish. There is more to permaculture than that, though. It can appear incredibly complicated. I admit that I have read some books on permaculture before, with their lists of principles, and diagrams of the zones, and the inputs and outputs, that had my mind glazed over in no time.

Shein's book is different. He throws references to permaculture principles into practical discussions of his actual garden and specific plants, so that they are easy to remember: create no waste, make use of the edges, plant in layers, share. And of course, there are the beautiful pictures, what I call "garden porn." Particularly useful were the chapters on caring for the soil, and saving seeds.

Permaculture can be adhered to, in all its complexity, with the devotion of a religion. I am not that kind of devotee. I don't think, for example, that round beds are really any better than square ones. But I am willing to adopt any ideas that work, and permaculture does have lots of good ideas, such as mixing in nitrogen fixing plants, and plants that attract pollinators. I am already mulching and composting in my backyard garden, but I am dreaming of creating a food forest, with fruit and nut trees, and berry bushes, and herbs and perennials, which will still be producing food for my children when I am gone. Shein's book feeds that dream.

[Sabine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik vind dit dus echt een heel praktisch boek voor mensen met de ambitie om een permacultuurtuin aan te leggen. De auteur gaat niet zozeer in op de details van het (moes)tuinieren maar geeft je handvatten voor de grote lijnen van een permacultuurtuin. De Nederlandse vertaling is ook aangepast op het Nederlandse en Belgische weer en klimaat. Al met al een geschikt boek als introductie in de permacultuur.

[Remi van Beekum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a translated and lokalised version of this book (to Dutch and a colder climate). I really liked it. But sometimes it was a bit confusing because some of the examples seem to be from the warmer climate and it wasn't always clear what parts were only translated and what parts were rewritten to match my climate.

[Ahna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent for a beginner's introduction to permaculture concepts, but wasn't the specific advanced guidance I was looking for. The pictures are beautiful, and it explains permaculture concepts well enough, but I feel like a beginner looking to this book for practical tips might come away confused in some ways, and the concepts are too basic to be of much use to an advanced gardener.

[Betsy Dion · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ended up skimming this book rather than reading it. It didn't have any new info that I hadn't already seen in other sources, and it tried to cover too much so it lacked the detail that a person would need to implement the ideas.

[Marloes Oostindie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes wederom een mooi en interessant boek! Het is als beginnende tuinder niet makkelijk om alles goed te doorgronden. Maar net als het boek omschrijft, geduld en observeren will do the trick. Dus dat is wat ik ga doen. Te beginnen met mijn ontwerp.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is both comprehensive and superficial. That being said, I haven't found any permaculture books I really like despite liking the idea.

[Zaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok? Creo que no sé mucho de permacultura y este libro no me enseñó nada nuevo. En general habla harto de arboles y cosas que no son tan aplicables a mi casa, entonces no me interesó mucho.

[Jean Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for any gardener especially those interested in organic gardening. The principles of Permaculture are similar to organic farming but it is a more holistic approach. Permaculture steps away from conventional farming practices like monoculture, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and focuses on bio diversity, soil building, and creating an ecosytem that will cut down labor and increase yields.

The 12 principles discussed in the book are:
1. Observe and interact
2. Catch and store energy
3. Obtain a yield
4. Apply self-regulation and respond to feedback
5. Use renewable resources
6. Produce no waste
7. Design from pattern and details
8. Integrate rather than segregate
9. Use small and slow solutions
10. Use and value diversity
11. Use the edges
12. Creatively use and respond to change

These principles can be applied to your own backyard or even patio container garden and will change the way you view gardening forever.

Another great Permaculture resource is the documentary Miracle Orchard.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very inspiring and encouraging. It is a great introduction to permaculture for the home gardener.
The book has plenty of design ideas, lovely photos and many helpful instructions. Including instructions for how to compost, how to plant, how to design fruit tree guilds, how to build trellises, and how to save seeds.
It has some information on specific plants but it is not robust in this area.

Because I read this book at the same time as many others from the library, they are all blurring together a little.

The other books I recently read which this book pairs well with are:
- Gaia's Garden (which may offer more specific details on plantings.)
- Edible Landscaping - for anyone more interested in the visual design of their permaculture garden.
- Your Edible Yard. Similar in scope to this book and again has many good photos of gardens.

One thing all these books have in common is high praise for Common Comfrey. After reading about it yet again in this book, I decided I must get some for my garden!

[Jacqueline M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess this was OK for a beginner who considers themselves more crunchy granola. Maybe a decent introduction but heavy on the woo-woo. I need less about the 12 principles of honoring the earth and more diagrams of actual permaculture gardens. A lot of discussion about what a keyhole set up is but very little details on actual configurations. Overall both too deep for a beginner, but too much beginner information (how to compost etc) for an advanced gardener. Probably better for those living in Zones 8 and 9 in non-desert environments. Much of this wouldn't work at all in Zone 6-7 High Desert where I live.

I would pass on this one.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for my permaculture discussion group. Pretty basic, with chapters on Why Permaculture?, Permaculture Basics, Designing the Permaculture Garden, Building the Soil, Permaculture Edibles, Growing from Seed, and Permaculture and the Community. Beautiful and helpful photos and drawings. Hits all the highlights — polyculture garden, fruit tree guilds, seed starting and seed saving, and goes into some detail on many crops: fruits, nuts, vines, fruiting ground covers, perennial and annual vegetables, mushrooms, edible flowers and herbs, and grains. Useful addition to the permaculture library.

[Diana Hyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to permaculture which gives you ideas you can use in your garden now. Great for starting to incorporate permaculture practices into your backyard (and front). Once you get the basics from this book, visit sites on the web such as permies.com to get advice for your particular climate. We live in zone 9, and unlike most books geared for the eastern states, this is great for southern California gardeners.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for an accessible gardening guide from a permaculture perspective that covers the basics, this is a good option. It's visually stunning, with beautiful photos and graphics throughout. I felt like I was reading through a high-end cookbook.

If you've read a permaculture guide before, you'll probably find little new information here - hence my 3-star rating. But this would be a great gift book for someone interested in getting into gardening.

[Netty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Met moestuinieren heb ik al de nodige ervaring maar ik wil graag een omslag maken naar permacultuur in mijn moestuin en daarvoor is dit boek goed te gebruiken. Van oorsprong een Amerikaans boek, maar door de vertalers is het ook geschikt gemaakt voor de Nederlandse en Belgische gebruikers.
Wel miste ik aanduidingen welke stukken juist voor West-Europa toegevoegd zijn. De auteurs van het boek Shein en Thompson wonen en werken nl in Californië, waar uiteraard een ander klimaat heerst.

[Briana Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to learn the basics of permaculture. We had help transforming out yard into a food forest last year and this season we are on our own. Learning the basics of food forestry, what to plant, where to plant it, and how to get the most use out of those plants has been very helpful. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about permaculture and start their first garden.

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, fast read for someone brand new to permaculture. I find it's more approachable than Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture for the basic what's and why's. This is not a technical manual and it doesn't pretend to be.

[Tory · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great beginners guide to permaculture. It gave me good starting points to now delve deeper in to specific aspects that I can apply. Contrary to other reviews, I found it very clear on how to alter permaculture in my 5b zone and felt each category was broken down by mild winter/ cold-winter and explained each well.

[VintageShake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really helped me understand Permaculture, it was the first book I read on the sort and I have marginally improved my knowledge of gardening, and permaculture gardening. Both of the authors did such a great job, especially with adding illustrations to make it easier to read, along with photography.

[Ben Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some things about plants. I was also able to make some additions to my internal list of "things that are edible".
3 stars, in the most loving sense. It was a good resource for one with very little knowledge on the subject.

[Shawn Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really confused about why this book has been given so many bad reviews. I'm really enjoying the simple layout and practical advice. I live in AZ and the attention to dry climates is really helpful as well as the focus on including natives.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good basic information and some original ideas, but it needed more frequent personal anecdotes. The most interesting chapter was Permaculture Edibles (chapter 5).

NB: Specific to the Northern Hemisphere.

[Jennifer Schadt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was overall informative and easy to read. Some things, like seed starting, seemed mundane because of previous gardening experience, but would be good if people are really new. I also wasn’t too keen on the end. But overall very helpful!

[Claire Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an accessible beginners guide to permaculture that is easy to read and follow. Lacking in the details of how to actually carry out some principles, but goes into practicals about others. Helpful to dip your toes in, but not enough to be the only guide in the process.

[Loïc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good one