Gaia's Garden

This illustrated, practical guide to home gardening uses approaches drawn from permaculture, which sees gardening as a natural ecosystem. Toby Hemenway lays out the basic principles of this approach--to follow nature's wisdom, to avoid chemical pollutants and wasteful use of resources, to design for biodiveristy. He offers a wealth of sound advice on soil and water, selection of plants and flowers, and garden design. He has a sense of how plants both take from and give to the other elements in the system, the important role of insects and animals, and the use of zones for both human purpose and nature's use. In a permaculture garden there is a great variety of plants, and one of the pluses is that while gardening does take work, it does not have to be backbreaking. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.