Creating A Forest Garden: Working With Nature To Grow Edible Crops Download Free (EPUB, PDF)

                
              
Creating A Forest Garden: Working With Nature To Grow Edible Crops Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Offering inspiration for all gardeners, this book features beautiful color photographs and illustrations throughout, and is divided into two parts. Part One looks at why and how to grow particular crops and how to look after them for maximum health. Part Two features more than 100 perennial edibles in detail, both common and unusual, from rhubarb to skirret and Jerusalem artichoke to nodding onions. This book also provides plenty of cooking tips.
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: UIT Cambridge Ltd. (April 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1900322625
ISBN-13: 978-1900322621
Product Dimensions:  8.5 x 1.2 x 11 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:  4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #587,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)   #130 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Forests & Rainforests   #166 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Fruit   #229 in Books > Science & Math > Agricultural Sciences > Forestry
This was a bit of a splurge for me; having known Martin Crawford's name for years, I was really looking forward to seeing his work in print. I must say that the actual book is a bit of a disappointment. I knew that it would be aimed at a UK audience, so that's not a strike against it. In fact, it joins wonderful works by Patrick Whitefield and John Seymour to round out the picture of British forest gardening. But despite the beautiful photography, the book is neither as practical nor as detailed as Gaia's Garden or Edible Forest Gardens. This book adds very little to what they have already contributed, with the exception of a thoughtful consideration of global climate change and its presumed effect on forest gardening, and a chapter on fungi.More damning, the text is full of typos, and several of the photographs are misplaced and mislabeled. A picture illustrating Oregon grape is actually some sort of currant, for example. Discussions of design are general to the point of frustration; the section on water use says, in essence, "in a drought you'll use more than you think" and then spends two pages on irrigation methods. Again, it's possible that a British climate requires less thought about water than the southeastern U.S., but that sort of generality pervades the book. Save your money for Jacke and Toensmeier.
I just finished reading "Creating a Forest Garden" cover to cover. It's one of the best books on forest gardening I've come across and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in permaculture/edible landscaping. Martin's experiences with his forest garden are concisely presented to the reader and guide you to avoid many mistakes that are often made when starting out. The book not only guides you through the process of successfully laying out the garden, but gives many specifics, has pictures and information on many, many suitable plants and has many creative ideas born from working in the forest garden for so many years. If I were new to permaculture and forest gardening I'd start here. If you've read a lot in this area (like me) this book will become one of your best finds. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
That's right five stars. Martin has a 16 year old forest garden and talks from experience, not theory. His chapters are brief and concise. I finished the book feeling content that I actually assimilated all valuable info presented by Martin. Unlike some other forest gardening books I've read (cover to cover mind you) this one is short, easy to read and understand, and by no means intimidating. Let me reiterate; martin speaks from 16 years experience. And the icing on the cake... the photos are of an actual forest garden!
This book is a good companion for Edible Forest Garden. It is less comprehensive than EFG but more user friendly.Basically, it is a presentation of all species that fit well in a forest garden, with some instructions on how to design the several layers of the garden (canopy, bush, ground cover, etc).
This is a beautiful book. There is information here that relates directly to the long term planning needed to "build" a forest garden from scratch. The information is presented in clear terms with simple illustrations showing relationships within a garden both above and below ground - this could be a handbook for beginning any new garden and especially for intensive planting. The photos are superb and inspiring.
CREATING A FOREST GARDEN: WORKING WITH NATURE TO GROW EDIBLE CROPS packs in advice on planning, designing and maintaining a sustainable food garden with a twist, working with forest gardening for minimal maintenance. A forest garden is a managed ecosystem modeled on woodland where nature does the actual maintenance work: chapters tell how to plan, design and choose trees, shrubs, root crops and more for maximum effect.
I have ordered all books written on the topic, this one is by far the best. The least scientific jargon, the most practical hints.
The book does a pretty good job of listing the parts of a forest garden, and giving recommendations for plants for each (and has a good reference section on a wide variety of plants). I learned about a lot of plants I'd never even heard of, which is always a plus. My only real complaint is that some of the full page glossy pictures are VERY poor quality (low contrast, practically black and white). I'm not sure if its a printing error in my version or not (most of the small pictures look very nice). The problem pictures are almost exclusively the large views of the author's forest garden. Obviously I did not purchase this book for the pictures, but when friends and family ask me what a forest garden is, it is frustrating to not have any decent pictures to show.
Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops The Edible Flower Garden (Edible Garden Series) Cultivating Edible Fungi: International Symposium on Scientific and Technical Aspects of Cultivating Edible Fungi (Developments in Crop Science) Nature's Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants The Process of Creating Life: Nature of Order, Book 2: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order)(Flexible) Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set) The Mushroom Book For Beginners: 2nd Edition Revised : A Mycology Starter or How To Be A Backyard Mushroom Farmer And Grow The Best Edible Mushrooms At Home (Volume 1) The Complete Pond Builder: Creating a Beautiful Water Garden (Our Garden Variety) Edible Party Bouquets: Creating Gifts and Centerpieces with Fruit, Appetizers, and Desserts Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening: Innovative Techniques for Growing Vegetables, Grains, and Perennial Food Crops with Minimal Fossil Fuel and Animal Inputs Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Except Ornamentals Genetic Improvement of Vegetable Crops The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security Gardening For Entrepreneurs: Gardening Techniques for High Yield, High Profit Crops The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff - and Making a Profit Gardening For Entrepreneurs: Gardening Techniques For High Yield, High Profit Crops (Farming For Profit, Gardening For Profit, High Yield Gardening) Angry Birds Playground: Rain Forest: A Forest Floor to Treetop Adventure Apples Grow on a Tree (How Fruits and Vegetables Grow) Grow Your Own Sandwich (Grow It Yourself!) The Miracle Morning for Network Marketers: Grow Yourself FIRST to Grow Your Business Fast (The Miracle Morning Book Series) 