Key features include:- use of compatible perennials;- non-invasive planting techniques;- emphasis on biodiversity;- specifically adaptable to local climate, landscape, and soil conditions;- highly productive output of edibles.Now, picture your backyard as one incredibly lush garden, filled with edible flowers, bursting with fruit and berries, and carpeted with scented herbs and tangy salad greens. The visual impact is of Monet's palette, a wash of color, texture, and hue. But this is no still life. The flowers nurture endangered pollinators. Bright-featured songbirds feed on abundant berries and gather twigs for their nests.The plants themselves are grouped in natural communities, where each species plays a role in building soil, deterring pests, storing nutrients, and luring beneficial insects. And finally, you—good ol' homo sapiens—are an integral part of the scene. Your garden tools are resting against a nearby tree, and have a slight patina of rust, because this garden requires so little maintenance. You recline into a hammock to admire your work. You have created a garden paradise.This is no dream, but rather an ecological garden, which takes the principles of permaculture and applies them on a home-scale. There is nothing technical, intrusive, secretive, or expensive about this form of gardening. All that is required is some botanical knowledge (which is in this book) and a mindset that defines a backyard paradise as something other than a carpet of grass fed by MiracleGro.

    Whether you’re new to gardening or interested in saving costs, Vegetable Gardening for Beginners offers easy-to-follow steps for starting and sustaining your very own vegetable garden.Learn the basics of starting your dream garden, including tips on choosing between in-ground or raised bed gardens and creating a full-season garden plan. Discover how to make your own soil mix, transplant seedlings, and maintain and harvest a thriving vegetable garden for seasons to come.Vegetable Gardening for Beginners includes:* Beet-by-beet gardening―Get the lowdown on planning, prepping, and planting―including building and filling garden beds, watering, mulching, and more.* Garden variety―Choose the right seeds with 30 in-depth profiles on popular vegetables and key decisions, like choosing companion plants.* Weed out problems―Troubleshoot plant problems, including bitter carrots, blight, and even pests like the squash vine borer.Go from greenhorn to green thumb with Vegetable Gardening for Beginners.

    She then illustrates a long-term plan to achieve her goal of self-sufficiency. One-Acre Homestead features a simplified permaculture design for a one acre farm that produces the majority of the resident's food. This design is based on practical workable methods that the author uses on her homestead. The author explains the importance of creating zones that will be dedicated to different purposes in the garden, and encourages planning ahead with slow but steady progress in mind. Instead of investing in expensive livestock, she focuses on a few small animals, practices forest gardening and growing trees for biomass production in order to achieve a no-till, sustainable gardening system. She explains why her goal on the homestead isn't to provide 100% of everything a family uses in order to be self-sufficient. Instead, gardening zones are established so that production can be maximized to meet the majority of a family's food needs in a crisis year. Written in an informal style directed toward the reader, the author aims to encourage others to take steps toward self-sufficiency no matter where they are in their journey. Using her own experience over the past 5 years as a guide, she urges readers to begin working now toward their goal of self-sufficiency. She often refers to methods that have worked for her in the humid southeastern US and makes suggestions for readers in other climates to adapt these practices to their gardens. This book is broken into 3 parts I. The author's journey II. The basic design process with lots of photos and reasoning for each step of the plan III. Gaining financial independence

    They don't require farmland or much special equipment, and today's modern chicken houses are designed so that anyone with even a little backyard space can keep chickens. The authors of this enlightening new book offer essential advice, provide the basic, easy-to-follow chicken-raising facts, and present their information in clear jargon-free text. Keeping Pet Chickens is arranged as a series of clearly-captioned pictorial spreads, each of which focuses on a particular topic of importance to chicken owners. Topics covered include pure breeds and hybrid chicken varieties, maintaining daily routines, catching and handling hens, keeping chickens in good health, and much more. Sidebars on every two-page spread present additional information and fascinating facts about chickens and chicken raising. Approximately 100 color photos.

    Designer Susan Morrison offers savvy tips to match your landscape to your lifestyle, draws on years of experience to recommend smart plants with seasonal interest, and suggests hardscape materials to personalize your space. Inspiring photographs highlight a variety of inspiring small-space designs from around the country. With The Less Is More Garden, you’ll see how limited space can mean unlimited opportunities for gorgeous garden design.

    Now, however, with prices rising and more chemicals than foods in the grocery store, families are starting to take notice. The return to sustainable living is long overdue, but many are so intimidated by the amount of work involved that they never even start.The Five-Year Guide to Self-Sufficiency follows a logical progression to move your homestead forward every year in an organized and affordable manner. Over the course of five years, you will learn how to get the most from your land, whether it be half an acre or 100. You'll grow everything from a basic garden bed to a fruitful orchard, pick from a wide variety of livestock ranging from chickens to alpacas, and lead a simpler life with less reliance on fossil fuels.The road may be long and arduous, but there's no need to overwhelm yourself. By taking everything at a rational pace, you too can remove yourself from a meaningless culture and improve your quality of life one day at a time.

    

    "A colorful (and meticulous) how-to guide for creating gorgeous indoor and outdoor window boxes."--Real SimpleMeet the window box: by far the most accessible garden for any skill level, space, or quality of light. Whether your window faces south where the sun floods in or north with nothing but shade, these indoor and outdoor projects show you how to easily grow succulents, herbs, cacti, monstera, and more.Bright photography and instructions take you from understanding soil and watering needs to personalizing your own box, making this a great primer for anyone who's green to gardening.

    It requires an annual dressing of compost to help accelerate the improvement in soil structure and leads to higher fertility and less weeds. No dig experts Charles Dowding and Stephanie Hafferty, explain how to set up a no dig garden, including how to:- Make compost and enrich soil- Learn skills you need to sow and grow annual and perennial veg- Harvest and prepare food year round- Make natural cosmetics, cleaning products, and garden preparationsThe no dig approach works as well in small spaces as in large gardens. The authors' combined experience covers methods of growing, preparing and storing the plants you grow for many uses, and includes recipes and ideas for increasing self-reliance, saving money, living sustainably, and enjoying the pleasure of growing your own food, year round. An acknowledged expert in no dig and author of a half-dozen books on the subject, Charles' advice is distilled from 35 years of growing vegetables intensively and efficiently. Stephanie, a kitchen gardener, grows in her small, productive home garden and allotment, and creates no dig gardens for restaurants and private estates. She creates delicious seasonal recipes made from the vegetables anyone can grow. She also explains how to use common plants you can grow and forage for to make handmade preparations for the home and garden.

    The Suburban Micro-Farm will show you how to grow healthy food for your table in only 15 minutes a day, proving that you can have a garden even on a limited schedule. With tips for creating an edible and ecologically friendly landscape, learn how to garden while maintaining aesthetics. You'll find simple tricks for growing food even in the worst yards. Worried about follow-through? This book is a gold mine of life hacks, guides, and tools to help you reap a harvest as well as a sense of accomplishment for your efforts.

    Learn a few basic country skills, she reasoned, and she would be able to produce at least some of the food and resources she used every day.Goodbye, fast food and Wonder Bread; hello, homesteading. With enthusiasm and joy for the tasks at hand, Woginrich embarked on a journey that has been sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking and always soul satisfying.From the fulfilling work of planting a garden and installing honeybees, to the bliss of gathering fresh eggs for an omelet or playing an old-time ballad on the fiddle, Made from Scratch shares the honest satisfaction of doing for oneself, and brings the reader to a deep appreciation for the value of simple skills performed well.

    Stunning photographs showcase creative ideas for using tillandsias mounted on walls and suspended from the ceiling. You’ll learn how to use the plants in living hair accessories and jewelry and in unique containers, like dishware, leather bowls, and baskets. Six step-by-step projects include a wood mount, a wall hook, lasso-and-hook wiring, a ceramic-frame garden, and three unique terrariums.

    But aren't they hard to grow at home? No! says orchid grower extraordinaire Steve Frowine. In this handy guide, he shows you step by step how to select the right orchids, keep them healthy, encourage blooms, and even propagate your own plants. Discover how to: * Select orchids that will thrive in your home * Water, fertilize, repot, and propagate orchids * Decipher complicated orchid names * Get familiar with favorite orchid varieties * Create spectacular orchid displays

    Born in 1908, in The Patch, Chicago, Giancana joined the Forty-Two gang of lawless juvenile punks in 1921 and quickly proved himself as a skilled 'wheel man' (or getaway driver), extortionist and vicious killer. Called up to the ranks of the Outfit, he reputedly held talks with the CIA about assassinating Fidel Castro, shared a girlfriend with John F. Kennedy and had friends in high places, including Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Marilyn Monroe and, some say, the Kennedys, although he fell out with them.The story of Sam Giancana will overturn many of your beliefs about America during the Kennedy era. If you want to know Giancana's role in the brother's deaths, and more of the intrigue surrounding that of Marilyn Monroe, this book will fill you in on the murky lives of many shady characters who really ruled the day, both in Chicago and elsewhere.

    Updated with the latest biointensive tips and techniques, this is an essential reference for gardeners of all skill levels seeking to grow some or all of their own food.