If you are a home gardener looking for inspiration, you will find it here. If you are a garden historian searching out old traditions, read on. If you are a professional hoping to learn new tricks, you have come to the right place. Or if you are an armchair gardener looking to escape to a magical realm behind high garden walls, where no one but you will be invited, this book is for you.' - Gregory Long, President, New York Botanical Garden. The productive garden at Lord Rothschild's private house, Eythrope in Buckinghamshire, is legendary in the garden world for the excellence of the gardening and as a haven for traditional techniques that might otherwise be lost.

When Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates moved into a duplex in a run-down part of Holyoke, Massachusetts, the tenth-of-an-acre lot was barren ground and bad soil, peppered with broken pieces of concrete, asphalt, and brick. The two friends got to work designing what would become not just another urban farm, but a "permaculture paradise" replete with perennial broccoli, paw paws, bananas, and moringa—all told, more than two hundred low-maintenance edible plants in an innovative food forest on a small city lot. The garden—intended to function like a natural ecosystem with the plants themselves providing most of the garden's needs for fertility, pest control, and weed suppression—also features an edible water garden, a year-round unheated greenhouse, tropical crops, urban poultry, and even silkworms. In telling the story of Paradise Lot, Toensmeier explains the principles and practices of permaculture, the choice of exotic and unusual food plants, the techniques of design and cultivation, and, of course, the adventures, mistakes, and do-overs in the process. Packed full of detailed, useful information about designing a highly productive permaculture garden, Paradise Lot is also a funny and charming story of two single guys, both plant nerds, with a wild plan: to realize the garden of their dreams and meet women to share it with. Amazingly, on both counts, they succeed.

The author offers a wealth of simple, beautiful solutions to common gardening difficulties. Whether a garden is too small or too big, too shady or too exposed, too empty or too cluttered, Rebecca explains how to overcome its limitations to create a unique and inviting garden paradise.

Presents a guide to creating a garden in such unused spaces as land beside a driveway, next to steps, or between the sidewalk and the street curb, discussing how to prepare the soil and listing the varieties of plants suitable for these conditions.

“Get ready, the garden you’ve always longed for is at your fingertips. With images and ideas, Cultivating Garden Style releases your inner designer and helps you create a landscape that is yours and yours alone!” —Ivette Soler, author of The Edible Front Yard In Cultivating Garden Style, Rochelle Greayer shares ways to create outdoor areas that are charming, comfortable, appealing, and reflect individuality. It features twenty-three unique garden styles accompanied by advice on how to recreate the look. Simple step-by-step projects, like how to make a macramé plant hanger, help the reader personalize the space. Helpful tips and tricks, including how to pick the right tree and pick the right combination of plants and containers, offer essential lessons in gardening and design. More than 1,500 dazzling color photographs give the book a visual punch.

From window sills and balconies to small town gardens and country estates, vegetable gardens that are both beautiful and productive have their roots in ancient tradition but are as relevant and fresh today as Marylyn Abbott traces the history of the potager around the world and discusses its interpretation by contemporary designers. As well as inspirational photography, there is practical advice on planning, designing and using a potager that is both productive and beautiful, as well as clever advice on making the most of smaller spaces such as patios and containers. A glossary of details gives information on the many decorative and useful aspects that can be incorporated into a potager.