Arboriculture

The mini forest-garden is an imitation of a natural forest where all the plants are edible. This innovative concept is developed at Ferme du Bec Hellouin where a mini-forest is scientifically monitored. It proves to be particularly productive in a small space, while offering multiple ecosystem services. Discover in this guide various forms of forest-gardens that can be easily implemented in both urban and rural areas. Contents Living in the forest In search of a lost forest Journey into a mini forest-garden The study conducted at Bec Hellouin Becoming a forest gardener Choosing plants: the canopy Choosing plants: shrubs and vines Choosing plants: the herbaceous layer Key questions to ask before planting a forest-garden Designing a forest-garden Implementing a forest-garden Maintaining a forest-garden Tools for forest gardeners Many options for living off your forest-garden

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.

Planting trees, especially fruit-bearing trees, that will produce fruits for decades, is essential today. Because, once created according to the permaculture principles explained by the author, a diversified orchard over time provides a generous, healthy, and regular production, requiring only minimal maintenance. Whatever your region and the space you have, you will find in this book the key information to design your orchard or fruit hedge, choose suitable species and varieties, plant and maintain them... all while working with nature, never against it!

Create a forest garden or a fruit hedge in temperate, Mediterranean, and mountainous climates The forest garden is at the heart of current permaculture designs. Regardless of its name - forest garden, edible forest, nourishing forest, permaculture orchard, or fruit hedge - the idea is to draw inspiration from forest ecosystems, or more precisely from forest edges, to create a multi-layered and nourishing garden. By thus valorizing space in its three dimensions, this principle allows for increased productivity per surface area and the creation of a naturally intensive garden. Antoine Talin, a landscape architect specialized in permaculture, provides in this book all the keys to designing them, regardless of the cold or drought conditions that may prevail in our regions. The solutions he proposes make it possible to create agroforestry gardens adapted to climate change and to limit its effects.

By creating three-dimensional edible landscapes, it is possible to achieve abundance and autonomy while taking care of nature. Born from the marriage of permaculture and agroforestry, the technique of "food forest", which imitates the functioning of a young wooded area, is already gaining followers around the world, in rural areas as well as in cities, for collective or private projects, for professional, educational, aesthetic, or subsistence purposes. As the first book on a French experience, this work provides information on design techniques and the associated flora according to the climates and landscapes you wish to create. Practical and illustrated, it presents around a hundred original trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants, often unknown, that complement traditional fruit trees and vegetables. Food forests are more than ever seen as an exciting adventure to live and share!

Give those who still believe in paradise the pleasure of picking an apple, a pear, a pistachio in the scrubland or in a nearby wasteland... this is the successful challenge of Maurice Chaudière, this life magician!

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.

What a pleasure to pick oranges, lemons, clementines, kumquats, mandarins, grapefruits, pomelos, or even yuzus in your own garden! Citrus fruits are the most cultivated fruits in the world and are among the most sold tree species in garden centers. However, growing them, especially organically, is not so easy and can lead to bitter failures. Contrary to popular belief, citrus fruits can be grown in almost any climate (except mountainous areas), not just in the Mediterranean region. This book, written by Jean-Noël Falcou, an organic citrus grower from the Alpes-Maritimes, a pioneer in organic citrus orchard management, will guide you through all the steps of organic citrus production: from choosing varieties suitable for your climate, to harvesting and preservation, including planting – in the ground, under greenhouse or in pots – and care (watering, pruning, soil management, fertilizers and amendments, diseases and pests). In this book, you will discover the diversity of these citrus fruits: fruits of all shapes, colors, ranging from a few grams to several kilos, cold-resistant down to -20°C depending on the species, capable of growing in a wide variety of soils. A reference book with clear and educational content, supported by numerous illustrations, providing all the conditions for success for the general public and those looking to embark on this profession!

Why graft? How does it work? What tools to use? How to harvest scions and choose the right rootstock? So many questions when you want to enjoy delicious fruits from your garden...

After the success of "Le poireau préfère les fraises", "J’associe mes cultures… et ça marche !" offers an updated and verified selection of successfully tested plant associations.

Gardeners are showing an increasing interest in fruit trees and shrubs. At the same time, gardens are getting smaller and most gardeners lack time and expertise. Fortunately, there are now many varieties of small trees that are both generous, resistant, and suitable for limited spaces. In this book, you will find: • a detailed presentation of new fruit forms, dwarf or columnar, at human height, requiring little maintenance, • a selection of dwarfing rootstocks for old or modern varieties, helping to reduce the vigor of cultivated trees, • a range of varieties that are less susceptible to diseases and pests: apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, plum trees and pluots, peach trees, nectarine trees, apricot trees, fig trees, citrus trees... • basic prophylactic measures to preserve the good health of fruit trees: exposure, environment, soil, fertilization... as well as tailored advice for the easy pruning of these trees, • a description of gentle, curative, and preventive treatments, if necessary, to effectively protect the plants.

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.

A practical guide for treating trees using plant extracts with various techniques: spraying, infusion, poultices, soil treatments... A comprehensive book with precise recipes to understand how trees work and effectively combat diseases while respecting nature.

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!

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.

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.

The forest garden: a fascinating, productive, resilient, self-fertile, and soothing garden! In addition to producing an abundance of fruits, vegetables, flowers, seeds, aromatic or medicinal plants, the forest garden provides a solution (among others) to many current issues such as biodiversity loss or climate change. Remi Kulik, a well-known YouTuber from the channel Le Jardin d’Émerveille, a nurseryman specializing in the production of various plants and in the creation of forest gardens, planted his first trees about fifteen years ago, and what his forest garden now offers him far exceeds his expectations. He has met other forest garden planters, and every time, the feedback is the same: these gardens are as fascinating as they are nourishing. In this book, he provides explanations to understand the foundations – from the soil to the plant, through wild biodiversity or livestock – of this complete ecosystem, rich in incredible biodiversity, and all the advice to design and create this type of garden. While the subject may sometimes seem complex, the purpose of this book is to demystify it and allow everyone to embark on this adventure: theoretical knowledge with a thorough scientific approach (botany, soil microbiology, biodiversity, ecological successions…), choice of land, project design, selection of species to plant (creating guilds), crop associations, placements, plantings, maintenance… Everything is covered! Whether personal, family, or professional, the forest garden will generously provide you with all the beauty that nature produces!

Create an edible forest in permaculture to regain autonomy and abundance Creating an "edible forest" or "food forest" involves planting a wide variety of edible plants at different heights, inspired by forest systems. Thanks to their mutual interactions, the chosen species require little soil work, weeding, or pest control, resulting in a productive and healthy system.

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.

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.

Discover a fascinating world full of treasures and wealth: the world of trees! Knowledge, stories, powers, and hopes: it is through the main themes of this beautiful book, very well illustrated and a true encyclopedia, that its author, Serge Schall, invites you to both marvel and educate yourself. Forestry, exploration, botany, selection, issues, uses, research... but also literature, art, beauty, imagination, and even sylvotherapy, plant physiology, and dendrology are developed in this book. Without any particular hierarchy, there are no less than 162 topics on trees covered in it. You can thus "pick" the information according to your desires. This unique book, published in co-edition by Plume de carotte and Terre vivante editions, is aimed at beginners curious about nature as well as knowledgeable audiences such as botanists, explorers, lumberjacks, cabinetmakers, or forest activists... in short, all tree lovers!

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.