Getting Started in Permaculture: 50 Practical Projects to Build and Design Productive Gardens, 2nd Edition (Simple Living Series) - Softcover

Mars, Ross; Mars, Jenny

Softcover

ISBN 10: 185623035X ISBN 13: 9781856230353

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007

Synopsis

Permaculture experts Ross and Jenny Mars outline the steps to transform your garden into a productive living system. Modeled upon the development of Candlelight Farm, and illustrated with photographs, this guide encourages the reader to make positive steps towards reconciling human impact with nature - following the permaculture ideal.

Permaculture is based on the ethics of caring for people and our planet. It is about growing your own healthy food, being resourceful and environmentally responsible. Permaculture concepts and ideas can be applied successfully from small suburban units to large farming properties.

Getting Started in Permaculture delivers step-by-step knowledge for a variety of useful projects including: making herb fertilizers, compost, organic sprays for pest control, and much, much more. It also includes how to recycle your soft drink bottles, waste paper, and tires in a number of useful projects such as ponds, fruit fly traps, retailing walls, and solar stills.

As part of Permanent Publications Simple Living Series, this practical and accessible guide for gardeners of all skill levels serves as an ideal introduction to the world of permaculture.

About this title

About the Author

Ross Mars is an experienced permaculture teacher, designer and consultant. He is a qualified high school teacher and has been actively involved in permaculture education in schools. He is the author of the well known text The Basics of Permaculture Design and has also produced an educational video on energy efficient housing called Passive Solar Design of Buildings.

Review

This deceptively compact little volume is chock full of practical activities aimed at increasing self-reliance and reducing our ecological footprints. Clearly explained and illustrated DIY projects range from recycling every day waste such as tyres, plastic bottles and newspaper into ponds, retaining walls, mini-greenhouses and bio-degradable plant pots, through to creating sheet mulched mandala gardens, home made landscape surveying equipment, plant propagation techniques and even how-to guides for producing your own paper and household cleaning agents. Theoretical content is kept to a minimum, although sprinkled throughout are short sections that place activities into a wider permacultural context. I like this approach as it encourages 'learning by doing', making this a potentially useful resource for schools or community gardening projects where early success is crucial in breeding confidence, empowerment and the development of new skills. Another winner from Permanent Publications' aptly titled 'Simple Living' series. Graham Burnett, permaculture teacher, practitioner and author of The Vegan Book of Permaculture

Edition details

• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 185623035X
• ISBN 13: 9781856230353
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 102