Best temperate climate gardening books according to redditors
We found 24 Reddit comments discussing the best temperate climate gardening books. We ranked the 5 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 24 Reddit comments discussing the best temperate climate gardening books. We ranked the 5 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Dave Jacke's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132608
Gaia's Garden:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603580298/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687542&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1890132608&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0DKFRRSMRZE5HP5F3XDB
I'm about six months in to five acre mature forest gardening in the Northwest. Any specific questions?
I can't stress this book enough, ESPECIALLY for your inquiry: Edible Forest Gardens.
I know they're expensive, but worth it. If you simply can't afford it and know of a way to exchange 15mb pdf files, I can hook you up!
Resources:
Creating a Forest Garden by Mark Crawford.
Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier
Forest Gardening by Robert Hart
I'd would plant a small edible forest garden. I like the ecological soundness, variety of produce and yield/upkeep factor of such systems.
The appendix in Vol. II of Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set) by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier has a pretty extensive list. It's broken down by zone, size, function, moisture requirements, and a zillion other factors – including food and other uses.
Try to get your hands on Edible Forest Gardens ( vol 1 and 2 ) by David Jacke and Eric Toensmeier. It's the premier work on Eastern North American ecological agroforestry.
Martin Crawford's work is also very applicable since he's in a humid zone 3-5 ish British climate. His book is an amazing resource.
The Bullock Brother's have done a lot of work in Cold climate permaculture but they're in Washinton so it's still more humid.
Great Plains ecology is an interesting biome though and I'm not sure there's been a lot of work done on food forestry in that particular climate. I know a fair amount of work has been done on perennial grasslands but it gets more complicated since you are dealing with elements of dryland design and cold climate design. Some tropical techniques for water retention aren't going to work since frost is going to be a factor. Probably the best technique would be to follow the ecology and design around coolees since that's where great plains deciduous forests tend to thrive.
Oh ok. There is info on micronutrients in my forest gardening book. Apparently most of the US has the right kind of geological history, meaning there is very little risk of those micronutrients being depleted (since plants need so little of them and the subsoil is still pretty young). Certain areas (like in the SE where I am) need more careful balancing of the ecosystem in order to not deplete them too quickly, and are more sensitive to ecological disturbances like clear cutting.
A proper ecosystem cycles these nutrients via dynamic accumulators. This family might have planted comfrey, for example. The comfrey uses it's deep-reaching roots to take in the micronutrients from the subsoil. It stores it in it's tissues which you can then harvest and add to your top soil.
This family is not exporting 100% of their produce, they are composting, planting dynamic accumulators, and growing on young subsoil. So they shouldn't have any problems with micronutrient depletion for centuries.
Around the World In Eighty Plants is right up your alley. It's by a fellow in Norway (!) who trialed hundreds of perennial vegetables for hardiness, and wrote a book about his favorites. Since /u/BioCuriousDave is in Britain, he'd also probably find it useful.
Good tips. I have a bit of experience in your current study topic and if you feel like diving in deep I'd suggest Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke. It's like the bible of permaculture in my opinion.
If you are looking for examples, Sepp Holzer has lots of videos on youtube. Search "temperate permaculture" and you will find a lot of stuff on youtube.
http://tcpermaculture.com/site/ is a great temperate permaculture resource with guild lists and explanations of how permaculture can be used in a temperate climate.
The absolute BIBLE I rely on is this:
http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132608/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1368994131&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=eric+tonsmeijer
It's pricy and worth the hardcopy. But it's out there in torrents. It has an absolute ton of information on HOW to do permaculture in a temperate setting. I can't recommend this highly enough. If there is one thing you do, find this and read it!
If you are considering a forest garden, I would not recommend doing so without a proper design. I highly recommend these two books: http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132608
They will help you create the right design which will save you a ton of work/ resource usage in the long term.
This book might help you pick out plants, this book by Dirr might help you understand the plants in the book of lists a little better. You will still need to learn how to make a plant schedule and what size plants to pick out, theres some interesting information here. In general, small plants for civil jobs will be specified as 3 gallon or 5 gallon bucket sizes. 7 gal if you want it to be larger, and 15 gal if they need to be big fast, but i have never put anything bigger than a 5 gallon on my civil jobs.
You can probably get this book at your local library, or find a used copy on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Mediterranean-Way-Waterwise-Drought-Tolerant/dp/0810956004/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487451378&sr=1-1&keywords=gardening+the+mediterranean+way
Try this one- primarily for horticulture students and commercial growers, but home growers can use it as well or this one- intended for home growers.
Italian cypress are easy care trees and will help give your yard some privacy.
Olives and citrus also do well in your climate, although citrus will need watering and some have sharp thorns. Fruitless olives are best if you don't want fruit all over the yard.
Lavenders, santolinas, myrtles, box, euphorbias are all easy care shrubs. Rosemary and New Zealand flax also do well. Agapanthus and daffodils put on attractive seasonal displays.
You might want to go to your local library and check out some books about gardening in Mediterranean climates.
Like [this one] (https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Mediterranean-Way-Waterwise-Drought-Tolerant/dp/0810956004/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0810956004&pd_rd_r=1c30bf26-af6e-11e8-b369-ffe841fc31b4&pd_rd_w=SjWsA&pd_rd_wg=RTzIz&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=SY3QVJM87AZDG3BQ08RK&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=SY3QVJM87AZDG3BQ08RK)
Las Pilitas Nursery also has a good selection of California natives if you want to add some to your landscape:
http://www.laspilitas.com/
The Sunset Western Garden Book is a good resource for California gardeners, available at your local library or used on Amazon.
It actually won't be the first food forest of the nation. There are already plenty of food forests and forest gardens in america... they just arent public. For those interested in forest gardening, I recommend these books. This link also is a well done video detailing why forest gardens/ food forests are important for the future.
One day these two books will be mine. I've checked them out of the library here before. So good.. you should check em out if your library has them.
edit: oppsed the link http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132608
Edible forest gardens