Lazy-Bed Gardening: The Quick and Dirty Guide

by John Jeavons, Carol Cox

Offers a basic guide to gardening using a deeply prepared, small growing area capable of producing up to four times more than a conventionally prepared garden of an equivalent size.

Genres: Gardening

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

John Jeavons is an American sustainable agriculture educator, author, and leader in Biointensive farming. As Executive Director of Ecology Action in Willits, California, he developed the GROW BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming method, a small-scale system designed to produce high yields while conserving water, land, and soil fertility. The approach emphasizes intensive cultivation and enables growers to produce nutritious food and income on limited land. According to Ecology Action, Jeavons' methods have been used in 143 countries across diverse climates and soils. He studied political science at Yale University and later worked for the United States Agency for International Development and Stanford University before focusing on small-scale agriculture education. He is the author of How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible With Less Water On Less Land Than You Can Imagine, a widely published handbook that has appeared in multiple languages and Braille. Jeavons has authored, co-authored, or edited more than 40 publications on Biointensive agriculture. His work has received several awards and has been featured in PBS documentaries and major newspapers. He has also taught and conducted workshops extensively internationally for communities around the world.

Reviews

[Lgordo]

This is the Cliff Notes version of "How To Grow More Than You Thought Possible in Less Space" and for that brevity alone I give it an extra star. Also, he does finally explain what he expects a home-gardener to do with 100 square feed of wheat kernels. (Make porridge.)

This is the exact same thing as "The Sustainable Vegetable Garden" by the same authors. Same illustrations. Don't waste your time on both like I did.

There's some good stuff in here but on the whole, unless you're a homesteader, you're probably better off with a more recent book directed at the backyard gardener.

[Annette McIntyre]

A really useful informative book on a system of gardening that shows how you can get high yields from a smallish amount of land