"Gaia's Garden will be recorded in history as a milestone for
gardeners and landscapers. . . An amazing achievement."--Paul Stamets
The classic book about ecological gardening--whatever size your
garden--with over 250,000 copies sold!
"A great book!"--Men's Journal
Gaia's Garden has sparked the imagination of home gardeners the world
over by introducing a simple message: working with nature, not against
her, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens.
Many people mistakenly think that "ecological gardening"--which involves
growing a wide range of edible and other useful plants--can take place
only on a large, multiacre scale. As Hemenway demonstrates, it's fun and
easy--even for the beginner--to create a "backyard ecosystem" by
assembling communities of plants that can work cooperatively and perform
a variety of functions, including:
- Building and maintaining soil fertility and structure
- Catching and conserving water in the landscape
- Providing a rewilded and biodiverse habitat for beneficial insects,
birds, and animals
- Growing an edible "forest" that yields seasonal fruits, nuts, and
other foods
This revised and updated edition also features a chapter on urban
permaculture, designed especially for people in cities and suburbs who
have very limited growing space. Whatever size yard or garden you have
to work with, you can apply basic permaculture principles to make it
more diverse, more natural, more productive, and more beautiful. Best of
all, once it's established, an ecological garden will reduce or
eliminate most of the backbreaking work that's needed to maintain the
typical lawn and garden.
