Awards

• Runner-up for Garden Writers Association, Media Award 2006 (United States)
• Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2006 (United States)

Overview

Edible Forest Gardens is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work. In Volume II, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier move on to practical considerations: concrete ways to design, establish, and maintain your own forest garden. Along the way they present case studies and examples, as well as tables, illustrations, and a uniquely valuable iplant matrixi that lists hundreds of the best edible and useful species. Taken together, the two volumes of Edible Forest Gardens offer an advanced course in ecological gardeningoone that will forever change the way you look at plants and your environment.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dave Jacke ,  Eric Toensmeier
Publisher:   Chelsea Green Publishing Co
Imprint:   Chelsea Green Publishing Co
Dimensions:   Width: 23.50cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 26.10cm
Weight:   1.066kg
ISBN:  

9781931498791

ISBN 10:   1931498792
Pages:   396
Publication Date:   29 July 2005
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

"List of Tables and Figures Preface Introduction: An Invitation to Adventure What Is an Edible Forest Garden? Gardening LIKE the Forest vs. Gardening IN the Forest Where Can You Grow a Forest Garden? The Garden of Eden: It Sounds Great, But Is It Practical? An Invitation to Adventure 1: The Forest and the Trees The Primal Forest: A Remembrance Gardening the Forest Forest Remnants Feature Article 1: Natives and Exotics: Definitions and Questions Suburban Ecology Gardening in the Industrial Image Lessons Learned Box 1-1: Shifting the Burden to the Intervenor 2: Visions of Paradise Study of the Household: Ecology Defined Tales of Mimicry Advantages of Forest Mimicry The Limitations of Forest Mimics Spanning the Gamut: Images of Forest Gardens Goals of Forest Gardening Revision--the Garden of Eden? Box 2-1: The Principle of Functional Interconnection Case Study 1: Charlie's Garden Part Two: Ecology: Form and Function in the Forest Garden 3: The Five Elements of Forest Architecture Vegetation Layers Feature Article 2: With All These Layers, What Do I Grow in the Shade? Soil Horizons Density Patterning Diversity Summary Case Study 2: Robert's Garden 4: Social Structure: Niches, Relationships and Communities Species, Species Niches, and Species Relationships Multi-Species Interactions: Frameworks of Social Structure Feature Article 3: Natives and Exotics, Opportunists and Invasives Social Structure Design: Strategies and Anchors Chapter Summary 5: Making A Living In The Dark: Structures of the Underground Economy The Anatomy of Self-Renewing Fertility Feature Article 4: Parent Materials: The Soil's Nutritional Constitution Plant Roots: Engines of the Underground Economy The Soil Food Web Summary: Dabbling In The Underground Economy 6: Succession: Four Perspectives on Vegetation Dynamics Classical Linear Succession and Climax Progressive Succession to Shifting Mosaic Steady State Patch Dynamics: Out of Line and Out of Balance A ""Unified Oldfield Theory"": Successional Causes Feature Article 5: ""Invasive"" Plants and the Unified Oldfield Theory Succession Design: Using the Four Models Summary: The Simultaneity of the Four Models Case Study 3: E.F. Schumacher Forest Garden Conclusion: Elements, Dynamics, and Desired Conditions Appendices Appendix 1: Forest Gardening's ""Top 100"" Species Appendix 2: Plant Hardiness Zone Maps Appendix 3: Publications and Organizations Bibliography Glossary General Index"

Reviews

Edible Forest Gardens offers a vision of the garden that reaches well beneath its aesthetic surface and into its ecological depths. It reminds us that whatever gardens are an oasis from, they can never be an oasis from the natural world or our own underlying economic needs. Verlyn Klinkenborg, from a review in The New York Times

Author Information

Dave Jacke is the owner of Dynamics Ecological Design Associates and a long-time permaculture teacher and designer. He lives in Keene, New Hampshire. Eric Toensmeier is a plant researcher, agricultural educator, and permaculturist who lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Eric Toensmeier calls himself a isocially engaged plant geeki. He has spent much of his adult life exploring edible and otherwise useful plants and how they can be used in designed ecosystems. He is the co-author of Edible Forest Gardens.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions