Growing our own fruit & vegorganically. Farming techniques that do not use pesticides or chemicals. Composting. Here is a selction of excellent books to get novices off on the right path and to inform the experienced.
Organic & Permaculture
Organic Gardening: The Natural No-dig Way
In "Organic Gardening", Charles Dowding, who started the first vegetable box scheme in 1983, shares the philosophy, tips and techniques which have enabled him to run a successful organic garden supplying local restaurants and shops for over 25 years. Forget the rules: 'received wisdom' about gardening is surprisingly inaccurate. Understand better what is going on in the soil and with your plants, in your own garden and climate, and work out your own methods instead. Respect and encourage life as much as you can, chiefly by spreading good compost or manure. There is no need to dig in compost and manure - just spread it on top and let worms take it in. More
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
Choosing locally grown organic food is a sustainable living trend that’s taken hold throughout North America. Celebrated farming expert Eliot Coleman helped start this movement with The New Organic Grower published 20 years ago. He continues to lead the way, pushing the limits of the harvest season while working his world-renowned organic farm in Harborside, Maine.Now, with his long-awaited new book, The Winter Harvest Handbook, anyone can have access to his hard-won experience. Gardeners and farmers can use the innovative, highly successful methods Coleman describes in this comprehensive handbook to raise crops throughout the coldest of winters.Building on the techniques that hundreds of thousands of farmers and gardeners adopted from The New Organic Grower and Four-Season Harvest, this new book focuses on growing produce. More
Permaculture
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
Permaculture is a verbal marriage of permanent and agriculture. Australian Bill Mollison pioneered its development. 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 Monets 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|
The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener
Those who have loved and used Eliot Coleman's original The New Organic Grower will be glad for the opportunity to revisit the master to learn of his latest thinking on every aspect of organic gardening. Those who are newly acquainted with Coleman will find this revised, expanded edition an incomparable source of inspiration, good sense, and practical advice that includes a fully revised chapter on organic pest management, more than sixty new illustrations, an updated, comprehensive, annotated bibliography listing indispensable sources for serious growers, and an appendix of updated tools and supplies. More
Successful Small-scale Farming: An Organic Approach
“My advice is as old as the plow.” So says author, Karl Schwenke of his guide to making a full- or part-time living on the land, a book for anyone who plans to own a small farm. With sections on soil management, farm practices, cash crop selections, machinery, and many other topics, as well as comprehensive series of appendices, the author touches upon the basics of getting started with one’s own small-scale farm. Schwenke, himself a small farm owner, has provided a great practical resource for the beginning cash crop grower. Get started on acquiring “the hodgepodge of knowledge blended with a plethora of skills” necessary to becoming a successful organic farmer. More
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
Choosing locally grown organic food is a sustainable living trend that’s taken hold throughout North America. Celebrated farming expert Eliot Coleman helped start this movement with The New Organic Grower published 20 years ago. He continues to lead the way, pushing the limits of the harvest season while working his world-renowned organic farm in Harborside, Maine.Now, with his long-awaited new book, The Winter Harvest Handbook, anyone can have access to his hard-won experience. Gardeners and farmers can use the innovative, highly successful methods Coleman describes in this comprehensive handbook to raise crops throughout the coldest of winters.Building on the techniques that hundreds of thousands of farmers and gardeners adopted from The New Organic Grower and Four-Season Harvest, this new book focuses on growing produce. More
Micro Eco-Farming: Prospering from Backyard to Small Acreage in Partnership with the Earth
Microfarms—or small acreage farms—are gaining popularity across the country for their astoundingly high yields and great tasting produce, as well as their profitability. This handbook reveals the secrets of successful micro eco-farming and explains what eco-farmers need to know to start their own small agribusiness. Questions such as What can be grown? How do farmers reach their markets? and What sustainable production methods can be used? are answered in detail and supported be hundreds of real-life examples. A variety of unusual uses for crops are also provided, including producing organic spa products, building an urban greenhouse, creating a heritage rose farm, or cultivating a connoisseur apple orchard. Ecologists, amateur gardeners, farmers, and those interested in sustainable living will enjoy this in-depth look at the spiritually and financially rewarding aspects of this new field. More
Organic Vegetable Production: A Complete Guide
"Organic Vegetable Production" provides and invaluable, practical guide to the production of organic vegetables across a range of organic farming systems in temperate areas. The book covers all aspects of production, including crop choice, fertility building and weed, pest and disease management within a framework of rotation design and business planning. The specific needs of a range of commonly grown vegetable crops are discussed in detail. The authors consider that knowledge-gathering, marketing and financial management are integral parts of organic vegetable production and these subjects are examined in depth. Speciality topics as protected cropping and storage are covered. The book highlights the technical and economic consequences of converting from conventional to organic production and the challenges that can arise. The editors and authors of this book are all experts in their field and work as part of the Organic Horticulture Programme of the Henry Doubleday Research Association near Coventry, a charitable body dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food. More
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