Gardening

How not to be amazed at the sight of a dragonfly? Creating a pond is a powerful lever to restore biodiversity and introduce children to the beauty of nature! It is also one of the best ways to create water reserves for watering the garden and vegetable patch. Frédéric Proniewski presents all the techniques for simply creating a natural pond, a water reservoir, or a swimming pond. A significant part of the book is devoted to the animals and plants that will enrich this new environment.

Prevent, identify, treat: these are the three keys to cultivating an organic vegetable garden without resorting to insecticides, herbicides, rodent repellents, slug killers, and other synthetic pesticides, which are harmful to human health and the environment...

What associations in the garden for leeks, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, and herbs? By playing on the proximity and complementarity of plant species, it is possible to reduce efforts, improve production, and naturally combat diseases and pests.

Striving for food self-sufficiency is the foundation of resilience. However, feeding oneself from the garden throughout the year is quite a challenge. Charles Hervé-Gruyer presents, month by month, what needs to be done in the vegetable garden to obtain abundant harvests. From soil care to variety selection, in a permaculture vision, he details all the steps to plan and create a nourishing garden.

A reference book for professional market gardeners looking to increase their productivity. Jesse Frost (aka Farmer Jesse), an organic market gardener, host, and independent journalist, provides all the details for using the no-till ecological market gardening method, resulting in a truly living soil and incredible market garden productivity. Advice and methods tailored to French soils.

Having a productive vegetable garden and a beautiful ornamental garden for next to nothing and gardening almost for free is possible thanks to this book! You will find advice on how to find a small piece of land if you don't have one – such as family, community, shared gardens or those in your neighborhood – the basics of gardening based on recovery, recycling, resourcefulness, water management, seed and plant exchanges, tips for making everything yourself – potting soil, compost, green manure, producing your own seeds, seedlings (including trees), cuttings, natural home care for your plants using ash, comfrey, nettle, horsetail or urine – but also making small, ecological, clever and aesthetic DIY projects like pathways, wooden braided borders, fences, mobile greenhouse, pallet planters, or privacy screens.

The world's richest soils are the "black lands" of the Amazon, or terra preta. Ancient populations incorporated a particular form of charcoal, called "biochar," into these soils. Simply adding this powdered carbonized plant matter to your soil in the presence of very little oxygen and seeded with microorganisms will improve its structure, reduce the need for fertilizers, counteract the effects of toxic metals, stimulate plant growth by storing water and nutrients, and increase microbial biodiversity. Furthermore, its controlled production is not only very low in pollution but also contributes to carbon sequestration in the soil. Jeff Cox teaches you about biochar, how to use it effectively, and even how to produce it yourself, step by step, in your garden or in a stove. For those who want to take the adventure further, there are instructions on how to build the ultimate biochar stove.

Cultivating your own oyster mushrooms, shiitakes, shaggy manes, button mushrooms, morels, and other delights, you've been dreaming of it? It is now possible thanks to this very educational, practical, and fun book.

At first glance, winter may not seem like a favorable period for bountiful harvests in the vegetable garden, and yet, many vegetables are perfectly suited for this season! This book brings together all the information needed to feast on more than 40 vegetables truly well-suited for this season, without relying on heated greenhouses or techniques that require fossil fuels (freezing or pasteurization). Because to have vegetables in winter, it's all about planning your crops, knowing how to store... and most importantly, relying on the diversity of vegetables, a basic principle of permaculture.

Guide to new gardening: No soil work, on plant coverings and compost Latest updated edition 2021! An innovative approach to gardening, very easy to implement!

This book is intended for anyone who wants to eat more naturally and enhance their meals with wild flavors. The lack of knowledge and fear of picking a toxic plant are the main obstacles to consuming wild herbs. This guide aims to facilitate the identification and picking of wild plants. You will learn how to avoid possible confusion with 50 common plants. The leaves of 280 species are meticulously described with numerous photos. For each plant, bio-indication elements are provided. They will help you understand the nature of the soil where they grow and alert you to deficiencies, excesses, pollutants... The wandering plants that populate our gardens, cultivated lands, and countryside will become food treasures, original, healthy, free, and easily accessible. Families, genera, and species updated according to current botanical nomenclature.

“Agriculture with a hoe, in a simple way, involves hitting the ground repeatedly with a sharp tool to break its structure into finer particles, to achieve suitable conditions for sowing your favorite plants. Undoubtedly, it is both the most important and the simplest of technologies that has marked the course of human history. It allowed humanity to evolve beyond the hunting and gathering practices and venture onto the path of agriculture. Once they became farmers, men could modify their environment to meet their specific needs. The population could increase food surpluses, store them; cities could grow, and civilizations could rise and fall – all thanks to the effect of a simple hoe.”

“By searching for nature, we end up finding it”! A radical and provocative concept, the punk garden is an invitation to practice gardening differently, beyond conventions, with instinct and intuition. It is necessary because it addresses current issues of applied ecology to bring biodiversity into every corner of daily life and to beautify our environment regardless of knowledge, financial means, etc. Designed so that the new gardener does not see their desire to garden constrained by their lack of knowledge or preconceived ideas (by themselves or others), the objective of this work is for everyone to realize how possible it is for them to create, no matter what, a beautiful and ecological space. This libertarian manifesto aims to be accessible to as many people as possible and reveals the tips and tricks that allow a garden to be "punkified." Adopt punk culture to create an impertinent garden and learn how to manage it while remaining lazy, rebellious, broke, and eco-friendly! Discover the magic of instant regeneration, the simplicity of propagation, and how to break all the rules. This work received the Saint-Fiacre Prize 2019, awarded annually by the Association of Garden and Horticulture Journalists (AJJH).

The French Method, proven for nearly two centuries in urban areas and practiced in 150 countries worldwide, is the essential method for those looking to maximize the productivity of a small piece of land with limited financial resources. Through manual labor and appropriate tools, it allows achieving a level of productivity that mechanized agriculture cannot rival. This book, the only work detailing the principles of market gardening on a small scale, will provide you with all the keys to adopt the French Method yourself through various practical tools: a detailed monthly sowing calendar, a unique projected table to optimize yields... Professionals looking to innovate their practices or curious amateurs: this book aims to be accessible to all those who wish to rethink agriculture and embrace an approach that is both ethical and economical. Follow the guide!

All multiplication methods illustrated step by step. Sowing, cuttings, grafting, layering, explained in a very simple way and illustrated step by step. All garden plants (ornamental, vegetable, orchard) and indoor plants. Ideal for beginners, with economical and easy-to-implement and successful techniques.

How about dealing with most of your garden problems without using any chemicals? With Purin d’ortie et Cie, it's completely possible! You will discover the art and the way to prepare many plant extracts, such as nettle, but also those of 31 other essential plants, like horsetail, fern, comfrey, dandelion, etc. A real first aid kit for your garden, your planters, and your indoor plants... The authors' experience is complemented by testimonials from specialists who share their own secrets and tips... "Your plants will be happy!" The bible of the happy gardener: one hundred and twenty-five thousand copies already sold!

Multi-faceted and multi-dimensional, market gardening activity cannot simply be reduced to the art of growing vegetables. Organization, planning, soil work (or lack thereof), fertility and organic matter, cropping systems, variety selection, harvests, infrastructure, income, physical and psychological health... Quentin d'Hoop addresses organic market gardening in this practical and comprehensive book as exhaustively and thoroughly as possible, thanks to his rigor and expertise.

Damien Dekarz, known for his inspiring videos on Youtube (channel "Permaculture, agroecology, etc."), speaks to all those who dream of a productive garden full of fruits and vegetables that promote biodiversity as a whole. Indeed, more and more people are desiring a healthy and environmentally friendly diet. Permaculture is at the heart of this work, which is practical and illustrated, making it accessible to everyone.

For centuries, hedges protected, delimited, and nourished. The last few decades have seen massive uprooting or replacement by "green concrete," the monospecific hedge. And with this process, there has been an impoverishment, a deterioration, even a desertification of living beings. Today, it is once again urgent. For climatic, aesthetic, ecological, and philosophical reasons, it helps to reintroduce nature and therefore biodiversity. Trimmable (providing mulch, wood, stakes...), diverse, it allows for all combinations in all locations. Bees need flowers, fauna need food and shelter, humans need fruits and plants. It is essential to protect oneself from climatic hazards, neighbors, noise... The hedge is there! The idea of this work is to help build the project, choose the plant species (about forty are presented), and open up new perspectives for the gardener, the owner of a small plot, the elected official. To greenify as much as possible, while there is still time. It is part of a permaculture, global vision, where the tree regains its rightful place, at a time when heatwaves, droughts, and other climate disruptions are intensifying.

Are you interested in consuming quality food produced and harvested by your own hands? Do you have a pioneering spirit and want to learn something new? Do you want to find out if aquaponics meets your needs? This book is for you. Grégory Biton decided to write this book - the first in French on the subject - to make this form of closed-loop culture combining plants and fish, still largely unknown in the French-speaking world, more accessible.

Mmmmm... those memories of strawberries or raspberries picked in the garden! Those blackberries gathered from the hedges and bushes... Those crunchy grape berries. That enticing scent of red fruit jelly slowly simmering on the stove... Small fruits are pure happiness!

This book is a real user manual to help you launch and design your sustainable, autonomous, and resilient edible space. The goal of this guide is to start your vegetable garden, sow your biodiversity area, and plant your forest garden. In this book, the authors accompany you hand in hand, from your first steps to refining your project. A more specific aspect of this manual is its practical approach, resulting from concrete achievements and exciting experiments in various fields such as agroecology, permaculture, biodynamics, and electroculture, to name a few. As the microcosm of a vegetable garden is a living organism that is part of a whole, the authors open all doors at once. They invite you to dream, imagine, and understand your ecosystem. Step by step, build the balance of biodiversity within your nourishing space. Start from observation to create your design and implement your project concretely. Furthermore, throughout these pages, you travel with the authors in the realization of three playgrounds: an experimental vegetable garden in Belgium, a perennial vegetable area in France, and an agroecology farm-school in Senegal. Thus, with enthusiasm, the authors take you step by step on this journey towards the ultimate goal: making the Earth alive.

Agastache, chard, coriander, mint, purslane, celandine, lesser celandine, geranium, bindweed, chickweed, pellitory, cornflower, poppy, cosmos, evening primrose, buckwheat, sunflower... Do you know how to recognize young spontaneous seedlings? Do you know what to do with them, leave them or pull them out? Are you familiar with natural dispersal?

Sowing, planting, transplanting, grafting, monitoring, thinning, mulching, treating, stimulating, pruning, watering, cleaning, propagating, harvesting, cutting, weeding, picking up, digging, eliminating, caring, burying fertilizers, installing supports, picking, removing faded flowers, installing nesting boxes, putting on winter veils... There are many tasks to be done in the organic garden, season after season, and it's easy to get lost! Following Terre Vivante's cheat sheets on vegetables, pests and diseases, fruits and berries, and herbs, this new addition to the collection focuses on seasonal tasks, detailed every two weeks. Discover throughout the year what needs to be done in the vegetable garden, orchard, greenhouse, or ornamental garden, and efficiently take action! With this cheat sheet that's easy to slip into your pocket, with its essential, clear, and concise information, organize yourself so you don't forget anything and know what to do... when it needs to be done!

The organic gardener's agenda, an essential tool for the vegetable garden, provides day by day the lunar calendar, the essential tasks to be carried out, the actions to be taken. This 2024 edition opens its pages to Marie Chioca, who shares month after month her passion for the vegetable garden, as well as delicious recipes to enjoy the garden's products to the fullest. With the beautiful brush strokes of Anne Jamati for the illustrations. In a few words: The 2024 edition of the Gardener's Agenda takes us directly from the vegetable garden, with beautiful poetic texts describing Marie Chioca's garden each month, to the table with 48 recipes to help us transform our harvests into delicious dishes to enjoy. Every fortnight, a reminder of the garden tasks to be done in accordance with the season, as well as the phenological markers. A detailed lunar calendar, day by day, taking into account the various astronomical events. A practical notebook reminding of the basic principles of organic gardening. Spaces for notes so that the gardener can scribble in their agenda as they see fit. A very comprehensive and regularly updated address book listing the best seed producers, nurseries, suppliers (aquatic plants, fertilizers, amendments, mulches, mulching, treatment products, tools, equipment), breeders, etc.

Visual guide to good plant combinations The "companion planting" method involves growing plants together that have positive influences on each other, either because their basic needs complement each other (soil type, nutrient needs, root systems, etc.) or because the chemical compounds they emit repel certain pests or diseases. This natural farming method, which originated in Germany, has proven its effectiveness over many years.

From sowing to preservation, including care, cultivation advice, harvesting, and seed production, this book brings together all of Terre vivante's expertise to succeed in your organic vegetable garden. Create a healthy, 100% organic, and productive vegetable garden! Discover organic know-how: composting, mulching, crop rotations, green manure... Choose from over a hundred vegetables, herbs, and small fruits presented, the ones you want to grow. More than 1100 varieties are suggested for their flavor, hardiness... Learn how to protect them naturally and effectively against pests and diseases. Become self-sufficient: make your own seedlings, produce your own seeds, prepare your own fertilizers, collect rainwater... Preserve and enjoy your harvests with the many healthy and delicious recipes offered by gourmet gardeners! The advice from recognized professional authors is illustrated with over 500 drawings and photos, enriched with tips and tricks from Terre vivante's gardeners and 300 amateur gardeners. All this knowledge makes this book the reference for organic vegetable gardening!

In this magazine, you will find instructions on how to use the BIONNEUR by Mr. SOLTNER. A 28-page guide dedicated to gardening techniques on ridges.

What if the problems faced by gardeners and farmers stem from our ignorance of soil life and the mistreatment we subject it to? The example of natural areas (forests and others) shows us that the "Genius of Soil Life" is the key to fertility and productivity. This book is not afraid to challenge conventional ideas and denounce the lack of respect from human activities towards soil science and its consequences, which no one can deny the profound nature of the issues (desertification, erosion, unhealthy eating and malnutrition).

Can we harvest melon seeds planted next to squash? How to preserve the color of the flowers? Should I store my seeds in the refrigerator? When should I harvest my carrot seeds? Do bell peppers and chili peppers cross-pollinate? How to harvest seeds from multiple varieties of squash in the same garden? Saving seeds is a practical and enjoyable activity... To prevent any unpleasant surprises, this comprehensive practical guide explains what you should do... and should not do to produce beautiful and good seeds. In the same vein as "Nettle Manure and Company," a practical, highly illustrated book to turn your garden into a place for perpetuating biodiversity.

Manual for human manure composting What if the organic waste from the seven billion people who use the toilet every day could be turned into valuable resources? Recycling our feces and urine remains a major taboo in our societies. Yet, using clean drinking water to dispose of our waste may be one of our most curious and polluting cultural habits.

Driven by the international success of the first edition of The Market Gardener, Jean-Martin Fortier continued to refine his diversified market gardening techniques and to test tools to optimize his organic crops on a small scale. In this new revised and expanded edition, he once again generously shares his expertise to help those who dream of starting in organic farming and market gardeners looking to improve their farming practices. Yes, it is possible to cultivate organic vegetables intensively on less than a hectare of land, to feed hundreds of people through short food supply chains, and to make a profit from your micro-farm! Now considered a reference in organic farming, this practical guide provides cultivation notes on over 25 vegetables and teaches you, step by step, how to: choose a site location inspired by permaculture; minimize initial investments for your business; use alternative machinery to tractors; cultivate in permanent beds with minimal soil disturbance; organically fertilize your crops; effectively combat diseases and harmful insects; weed using the best tools; extend the growing season by "forcing" crops; develop a crop calendar; create a sound financial plan. Sold in over 50,000 copies and translated into several languages, The Market Gardener is a must-read for those who want to practice ecological, local, and truly nourishing agriculture. The time has come to turn away from industrial agriculture, dependent on petroleum, which is so harmful to our health and our environment. The agricultural revolution is underway, and this book is the perfect tool to participate in it. “One of the most encouraging things for me is to see the number of young, enthusiastic, educated, and politicized individuals who deeply wish to learn the art of producing food sustainably. In the near future, this community will form a powerful critical mass and, when the time comes, we will no longer be ignored.” — Jean-Martin Fortier

Permaculture is a philosophy of life for the establishment of a sustainable society. An essential approach for all those interested in ecological transition, which renews our way of understanding the world. Permaculture is also a very productive method of cultivation, taking nature as a model, promoting biodiversity by focusing on the relationships between plant species, creating ponds, fruit hedges, forest gardens... Its results are astonishing. Permaculture is experiencing strong growth today. To allow both rural and urban dwellers, beginners and enthusiasts to learn about this cultivation method, the author shares in this book the know-how, experience, and advice of numerous experts.

Starting your own vegetable, flower, or shrub plants is an added pleasure for gardeners. Using simple techniques and minimal equipment, producing your own plants has multiple benefits: avoiding the uncertainties of spring weather, limited maintenance and weeding, propagating rare varieties... and the joy of sharing with friends. Following ''The Pleasure of Saving Seeds'', Jérôme Goust now allows us to enhance the joys of gardening while contributing to biodiversity-friendly gardening.

This book is aimed at any new gardener who wants to start with the right method, but also at any experienced gardener who wants to improve their working comfort and the productivity of their garden. You will discover all the advantages of raised bed gardening: less need to bend down to harvest vegetables, fixed and wide aisles that prevent soil compaction since you no longer walk on the planting beds. As a result, the growing surface increases. The raised soil greatly improves it and this garden is particularly suitable for heavy soils. The vegetable roots will find more depth, water will be better drained in case of heavy rains, the soil will warm up faster in spring. It will suffer less from drought. Its maintenance will be kept to a minimum. You will also discover the most beautiful feature of raised bed gardening: its beauty by highlighting the plants.

Self-sufficiency and no-till gardening The essential guide to succeeding in your garden without depleting the soil and achieving food self-sufficiency. Choosing to act daily according to one's convictions? This is the choice that Marie-Thérèse Thévard (Marie-Thé, for insiders) made about thirty years ago by successfully developing her food self-sufficiency through no-till gardening in Saguenay, her adopted region in Quebec. Le jardin vivrier recounts her practices, convictions, and research to embody an ecological lifestyle based on independence from fossil fuels, resilience, healthy eating, permaculture, agroecology, and community living. Designed to guide month by month all the steps to achieve a flourishing organic vegetable garden, this manual details the principles and techniques for growing vegetables, fruits, legumes, and even cereals. A guiding principle drives her approach: no-till gardening. Faced with soil depletion, which is the fate of industrial agriculture, Marie-Thé advocates for "the genius of the soil," avoiding plowing while enriching it with mulch. All of this in a boreal climate, in a context considered challenging for market gardening. Marie-Thé's many years of experience will teach you: The principles of permaculture, agroecology, and no-till gardening; Crop associations to create a living and resilient ecosystem; Techniques to protect crops from the cold; Biological methods to get rid of major pests; A toolkit to organize your garden (storage, tools, seeding, planting, and harvesting calendars); Methods for preserving vegetables and seasonal recipes; The essentials of poultry farming. Written by Marie-Thé's daughter, Le jardin vivrier is the essential guide to succeeding in your kitchen garden through no-till gardening and gradually achieving food self-sufficiency. Richly illustrated with diagrams and photos, this book is a must-have for ecological gardening.

Here is the first comprehensive work dedicated to urine, this true liquid gold that allows for recycling and production at the same time. In an updated edition, it synthesizes current knowledge about the number one natural fertilizer: legal status, agronomic value, impact of dietary salt on plants fertilized with urine, health and environment, plants best suited for frequent urine applications. Recycling urine in the garden helps avoid costly water treatments and benefits from a free resource, rich in mineral salts beneficial for plant growth and biodiversity. To cultivate without polluting, the author provides recipes combining urine and compost; informs about the dosages to be applied and proposes two spreading methods - undiluted or diluted - depending on the chosen frequency, and also addresses the specific case of plants grown in pots. In this practical manual, discover the value of this fantastic resource as well as how to use it safely, and adopt a new, smart and productive gardening habit. "Our brains need to be unlocked and read this book!" Stéphane Marie, editor-in-chief of Silence, ça pousse! "It took courage to write this book, [Renaud de Looze] did it." Alain Baraton, in La Main verte on France Inter. New edition, replaces EAN 9782359810608.

After permaculture, syntropy is the new revolution for gardening! This approach is inspired by natural mechanisms that tend towards abundance. Syntropic gardening relies on a process of organic matter accumulation to establish or restore soil fertility. This leads to a productive and resilient garden, capable of adapting to climate change. In practice, this translates to the installation of extremely dense and diverse crops, where different plant species are sown and planted at the same time to ensure yields over periods ranging from a few months to several decades. It involves envisioning the evolution of this group of plants over time and space.