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 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.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

got my money's worth in one season, for just one technique from this book:

The Library journal review does a huge disservice to this book.
Imagine a beautiful, highly productive, virtually weed-free,
drought-resistant, inexpensive, low-maintenance and ecologically sound
garden bed in your yard. It sounds impossible, but it is very simple
and only requires a few hours to create this fall, no digging required.
You can put to use the bounty of leaves and/or pine needles that are
provided for free to almost every suburbanite in the fall. This
is the... more info

Gaia's Garden:

An excellent book and resource. At the time I purchased this book, I also purchased Bill Mollison's seminal work on permaculture. I intended to read Mollison's book first and Gaia's Garden second. After reading the first few pages of Mollison's book, I set it aside to "look through" Gaia's Garden just to familiarize myself with its contents. I discovered that I could not put it down because it is so well written and informative. I recommend this book to all persons interested in the subject of permaculture.

permaculture in your own yard:

This was recommended by someone when I started asking questions about permaculture. I am glad he did! It is a great introduction without being too simplistic. It is showing me how to start small and gradually increase the use of permaculture.
I have shown it to friends who are all waiting to borrow it from me!

A must have book for the coming end of oil:

This book is excellent for establishing new concepts of applying time tested old technology. I use these principles everyday and I look forward to the days when we need to rely on our local resources and skills in order to make a living. This book teaches you how to make a start with permaculture.

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