How to Create an Eco Garden: The Practical Guide to Sustainable and Greener Gardening

by John Walker

Overview

Eco gardening can lessen our overconsumption of natural resources, reduce waste, cut energy use, and make a positive contribution to reducing our carbon footprint. Each page of this planet-friendly book is bursting with ideas for creating your own eco garden on any scale from a small courtyard to a large garden or allotment. Find out how to make soil-building compost from kitchen and household waste, how to save energy by harvesting rainwater, and how to utilise sunlight in your garden. Discover organic techniques that improve biodiversity and attract pest-eating animals and insects. Learn the value of using recycled and reclaimed materials for landscaping. Six eco garden ‘greenprints' are packed with environmentally friendly ideas. Simple projects include making a pond and a wildlife hotel, turning a lawn into a wildflower meadow, and planting a ‘fedge'. Packed with practical advice and 500 photographs, this book is for everyone who wants a beautiful, productive backyard that won't cost the earth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780754834717
Publisher:	Anness Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	8.64(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

John Walker (‘earthfriendlygardener') trained at Kew and is a gardening and environmental writer with over 40 years' practical experience in horticulture and teaching. He has won the Garden Media Guild Environmental Award three times.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

Gardening and the environment 8

Climate-friendly gardening 10

Eco garden greenprints 12

Eco-fitting your garden 14

City courtyard garden 16

Intensive food garden 18

Eco allotment 20

Dry garden 22

Rain garden 24

Eco garden basics 26

Establishing an ecosystem 28

Choosing tools 30

Choosing compost 32

Types of container 34

Sowing seeds 36

Feeding your plants 38

Pest barriers and deterrents 40

Slugs and snails 42

Companion and mixed planting 44

Using and controlling weeds 46

Tackling tough weeds 48

Soil care and composting 50

Improving your soil 52

Soil cultivation 54

Choosing and using a mulch 56

Sheet mulching 58

The importance of composting 60

Cool composting 62

Composting with worms 64

Leaf mould 66

Harvesting sunlight and rain 68

Renewable gardening 70

Using a sunny wall 72

Greenhouses and polytunnels 74

Green manures or cover crops 76

Water in the garden 78

Harvesting and storing water 80

Watering techniques 82

Food gardening 84

Planet-friendly food 86

Planning a food garden 88

Sowing vegetables 90

Planting vegetables 92

Sprouting seeds and microgreens 94

Vertical vegetables and fruits 96

Growing potatoes 98

Fruit in containers 100

Growing tree fruits 102

Boosting biodiversity 104

Why garden biodiversity matters 106

Encouraging wildlife 108

Attracting beneficial insects 110

Self-seeding plants 112

Making a simple pond 114

Transforming your lawn 116

Building an insect hotel 118

Sustainable landscaping 120

What is sustainable landscaping? 122

Choosing sustainable materials 124

Eco paths and paving 126

Living or green roofs 128

Sustainable fences and screens 130

Directory of eco-friendly plants 132

Eco-fnendly annuals 134

Eco-friendly perennials 136

Eco-friendly shrubs and climbers 138

Eco-friendly hedging plants 140

Eco-friendly trees 142

Eco-friendly annual vegetables 144

Eco-friendly bush and tree fruits 146

Eco-friendly herbs 148

Eco-friendly pond and bog plants 150

Calendar of care 152

Further information 156

Index 158

Acknowledgements 160

Editorial Reviews

05/04/2020

Botanical teacher Walker (Weeds: An Organic, Earth-friendly Guide to Their Identification, Use and Control) devotes this encouraging work to laying out an approach to gardening that takes into account one’s own yard space and the surrounding ecosystem as a whole—what he calls “the web of life.” Walker addresses different reasons for setting up a garden—food cultivation, landscape design, or flower planting, among others—and different stages of the process of creating and maintaining a garden, including tool selection, sowing seeds, and fighting pests without using pesticide. Walker further covers proper soil preparation, using compost, harvesting rainwater, and maximizing sun exposure, all with sustainability in mind. He discusses how to make one’s garden into an inviting space for wildlife (though not if one is aiming primarily to raise food, in which case he includes fences in the garden plan). Allowing a section of lawn to grow wild, he notes, will encourage butterflies to visit, while shrubs and trees can provide birds with roosting and nesting spots. Throughout, Walker uses diagrams, color photos, and step-by-step instructions to illustrate his points. His well-stocked primer will ensure that, with persistence and patience, even the average backyard putterer can create an environmentally sustainable garden. (June)

Publishers Weekly

This is a book perfect for now on so many levels. Eco gardening is something that personally I believe we should all take seriously and implement as much as we can. I am by no means a perfect eco gardener and would make no claims to be so, but I try and know I could do so much better. John talks us through the principles of eco gardening carefully and accessibly. He explains why it matters and shows us the difference between a less and a more eco-friendly garden. There are lots of step by step pictures, which is a format in a book I always appreciate. Things that we might think we know such as how to water effectively, are explained carefully so that we better understand what we are aiming to achieve. There are sections on seed sowing and weed control, about letting the grass grow and how to understand and develop sustainable landscaping. At the end of the book there is a helpful calendar on what to do when. What I like about this calendar is that it is not sectioned by month but by which part of the season you are in. Gardens do not understand months of the year, but they do understand seasons and this makes this calendar one of the best. I learned a lot from this book: I found some of my habits were eco friendly and I did not know it, I also found that some of my habits could be easily improved and I liked that I did not feel preached at as I read.

The Blackberry Garden - Alison Levey

You will find this book contains lots of practical gardening tips to suit all types of set-up. So whether you're growing in pots on the patio or have a fully-fledged garden, there is something for everyone. There are typically two pages on each subject,including how to make compost, grow potatoes or tackle tough weeds, spread out over eight chapters. The book doesn't feel overwhelming at all and the style makes it easy to use as a quick reference guide. The book has a useful section on how to encourage bio-diversity in your garden. This is done by several different methods, such as introducing certain types of plants that will attract useful insects, as well building insect hotels or ponds. There's also an interesting chapter on sustainable landscaping – for example, how features like paths and fences have an effect the environment. This book tells you why and how you can be more sustainable. There are full colour photos throughout, making up a good mixture of background shots and practical instructional guides. Overall, this is a really reader-friendly book that you will enjoy.

The Vegetarian, Vegetarian Society members magazine - Steven House