A stylish, inspirational and practical guidebook to maintaining a more environmentally friendly outdoor space. Sustainable gardener Marian Boswell walks us through the process of creating and maintaining a sustainable outdoor space, offering tips, guidances and step-by-step projects designed to help you lead a more low-impact lifestyle. Whether it's by making your own fertilisers, converting to peat-free compost, reducing your consumption of plastic, saving your own seeds or creating raised beds with reused timber, there are numerous ways - both big and small - to make a difference. This book will guide anyone hoping to take informed and intelligent decisions to make a difference, but who perhaps don't know where to begin.
“I can't imagine a designer or avid gardener who wouldn't want this on their bookshelf.” —Garden Design Online Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens is a practical guide to the best 200 plants guaranteed to thrive in low-water gardens. Plant entries provide the common and botanical name, the regions where the plant is best adapted, growth and care information, and notes on pests and disease. This practical and inspiring guide includes a variety of plants, from trees to succulents, perennials to bulbs, all selected for their wide adaptability and ornamental value. Companion plants, creative design ideas, and full color photography make this guide a must-have resource for any sustainable gardener.
"A timely, accessible guide to responsible landscaping that convincingly explains how and why our home landscapes must participate in local ecosystems."--Douglas Tallamy, coauthor of The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden "By explaining the importance of individual decisions, presenting relevant facts, sharing personal experience, and providing specific strategies, Varlamoff inspires readers to transform their yards into planet-friendly landscapes."--Lucy Bradley, coauthor of Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening "Captures in clear, easy-to-understand language how our gardening choices impact the environment--from water to soil to the creatures that inhabit them."--Linda Nelson, president, National Garden Clubs, Inc. While issues such as climate change, pollution, and water shortages become increasingly difficult to ignore, the movement toward sustainability continues to grow. Even though most gardeners are attuned to nature, some common processes of garden maintenance can take a toll on the environment. Sustainable Gardening for the Southeast is a vividly illustrated guide that offers simple techniques to help conserve water, reduce pollutants, and mitigate climate change while increasing biodiversity and attracting pollinators and wildlife. Gardeners will be inspired and empowered to protect and enhance the local ecology as they cultivate a resilient landscape featuring native plants, colorful flowers and trees, and even organically grown fruits and vegetables. And for those who cherish their emerald lawns, Susan Varlamoff provides tips for keeping it green and environmentally sound. Gardeners in the Southeast--whether amateurs or professional landscapers--who want to implement sustainable strategies will find this book the ultimate resource for cultivating a garden that gives back to the earth.
This extensively revised and expanded edition broadens the reach and depth of the permaculture approach for urban and suburban gardeners. The text's message is that working with nature, not against it, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens.
'This is a clearly presented work, with accessible topic headings and plenty of good advice sprinkled with engaging personal anecdotes. The message at the book's heart is to adopt a greener way of being and to see oneself as part of nature, not removed from it. On this point it is exceptional, distinguishing itself from many of the green gardening books written in recent years.' The English Garden magazine 'Conversational, interesting, and personal ... it reaffirms the link between what we love to do and why we should be doing it with nature, the planet and our health in mind.' RHS The Garden magazine If you want a sustainable garden and a better relationship with nature, A Greener Life is the guide you need. Packed with inspirational images and practical tips, the book covers garden planning, organic composting and vegetable growing, as well as sustainable planting, rewilding and wildlife-attracting environments. Learn traditional gardening techniques like propagating and growing from cuttings to make your garden self-sustaining, and discover plants that attract hover flies, bees and butterflies. With Jack Wallington's warmth and expertise on every page, this is an ideal book for new gardeners seeking greener practices.
In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: “An outstanding and deeply passionate book.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals Plenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal communities. Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives—lives sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete that significantly harm our physical and mental health. He examines the psychological issues around climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand how we are short-circuiting our response to global crises, especially by not growing native plants in our gardens. Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it's social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow. By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another.
Dismantle your gardening myths. Grow a garden grounded in fact. Master gardener Robert Kourik deftly guides the reader through the mysteries of growing plants and designing landscapes in temperate climates and suburbs, and the use of all-natural, sustainable methods to grow and maintain a healthy variety of plants. Would you like to garden without digging, composting, buying fertilizers, spraying with pesticides, or lamenting low yields? If so, Sustainable Food Gardening is the book you've been waiting for, with over 450 pages, 13 chapters, 487 color photos, illustrations, charts, and graphs, and a 10-page index. Author Robert Kourik began his career in natural landscape design and maintenance in 1974, with one of the first sustainably oriented organic gardening businesses in the country. In Sustainable Food Gardening, you'll learn to: Design your own "edible landscapes." Use no-till techniques to preserve the integrity of your soil Adapt your growing space to fit into a wide range of USDA garden zones Review alternative ways to change "guilds' (well-intended clusters of trees and shrubs jumbled together) to more effective and labor-saving plantings. Grow new kinds of beautiful and productive Victory gardens Plant Native American "Three-Sisters" gardens that actually work Learn many myths about roots, and what to do to help them thrive Attract many beneficial insects to your garden with strategic flower plantings Here are some of the other topics covered in depth: Rainwater catchment/cisterns. Hügelkulturs (do you really need raised garden beds filled with rotten wood?). Options for better, faster ways to maximize and improve soil. "Dynamic accumulation"--a myth with some useful guidelines. Avoiding hours of tree-pruning and encouraging fruiting with a few dozen clothespins. Clever ways to install and simplify drip irrigation Using plants to lure good insects that prey upon pests. Promoting beneficial soil life. Adding food crops to a native-looking landscape. In Sustainable Food Gardening you'll learn how to achieve that Holy Grail of gardening--productivity, tasty food, and a beautiful, sustainable garden, yard, or landscape.
Created especially for the Australian customer! Reduce your environmental footprint in the garden with this practical guide With all the talk about the health of the planet, you've probably heard about sustainability. Now you can apply these principles in your own backyard, whether that's an Aussie apartment balcony or a sprawling Kiwi rural spread. Find out great techniques for planning your sustainable garden and keeping your plants - and you - happy and healthy. Plant nutrients - what are they and how can you supply them to your plants sustainably? Watering techniques - how much water does your garden really need, and how can you conserve and supply it? Landscaping and gardening materials - where do they come from and are they sustainable? Biodiversity - how do you help increase the biodiversity of the planet through your own gardening practices? Organic gardening, permaculture and biodynamics - what methods can you adopt to improve your sustainable garden? Weeds and pests - how are they defined, and how do you control them while being kind to the environment? Compost heaps and worm farms - how do you build and maintain them, and what do they do for your garden? Potting mix - how can you choose a sustainable product or even make your own?
