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 ideal time, as the bed is better if it can break down over the

winter.

I have been gardening for about 25 years, and wish had I had heard of

this method sooner. It is perfect, especially for those who are not

physically able to dig, till or do a lot of weeding or simply have very

little time for gardening.

It involves piling up and wetting down 8 -12 inches of layers of

organic matter (we used leaves and some manure) on top of a thin layer

of newspapers or cardboard, with a small amount of amendments such as

greensand, lime and rock phosphate and manure underneath the paper. On

the top is a 1-2 inch layer of mulch (we used white pine needles), to

keep in moisture and suppress weeds. Come spring, you simply push aside

the top mulch and plant seedlings.

This 'sheet mulching' method came from this wonderful book by Toby

Hemenway. We have several sheet mulch beds this

year, and they are outrageously productive. For example, one 4' x 9'

bed in a very sunny spot, contains 6 large tomato plants, 3 sweet

pepper plants, 3 cucumber vines on a trellis, a short row of

sunflowers, one summer squash plant, and 7 winter squash plants. I

find this amazing considering that the ground underneath is very poor,

sandy and barely supported grass.


With apologies to Mae West, I have learned a big lesson, it's not the soil

in your life, it's the life in your soil!

I bought this book in January and have many times over saved the price in
time, mulch and bought amendments using ONLY the sheet mulch idea.

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.

For anyone with any history with permaculture the book pretty much treads familiar paths, telling us about herb spirals, keyhole beds, native plants (with few examples), stacked functions, swales and berms, with some examples of design.

If you don't know what the previous terms mean, I think you couldn't go wrong trying this book out (there are some expensive permaculture books out there). If you are familiar with these terms, I would suggest a natural landscape book or something a little more in depth and technical which ideally is written for your region so you can start applying the general ideas of this book.

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!

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.

I have totally enjoyed this book. The principles are a little murky because apparently this is a pretty new field and not very well developed for the eastern seabord which I live but it does provide enough guidance to begin setting up your own permaculture areas and start developing areas to be more ecologically sound food producing and living environments. I would HIGHLY recommend it as a first book on permaculture and the resources section alone has been a joy.

I highly recommend this book.
It is a fun place to start, if you wish to create a sustainable garden. All the basics are covered, from grey water, to ponds, to guilds, to forest gardens, and it is enjoyable and easy reading.

I bought this book together with Patrick Whitefield's "Permaculture in a Nutshell" and read the latter first, which is a mere introduction compared to Toby Hemenway's "Gaia's Garden". Toby transmits his love for and knowledge of permaculture very well. I am trained as an agricultural engineer and did learn a lot while reading. He first teaches the basics and then rehearses them in the different chapters. The concepts sort of grow and develop while reading, which leaves you with the feeling that you don't have to open the book again to start designing your own garden. Toby's enthusiasm is also tangible and infectious.
The only thing that's missing for me is more examples and better documentation about existing permaculture gardens/farms. My design would be quite different from Toby's (I live in Spain and we have our own favourite mediterranean crops) but the book provides the tools needed to do it your own way and Toby comes over as an open minded teacher.

Sad but true. As a former library worker, I can tell you there is no better praise than when a book gets ripped off.
It is annoying mine was lifted from me but it happened and I am sad; it's a good one.
Thanks for writing it.

This book is a fascinating read, very informative, and approachable for anyone trying out sustainable living, whether experimenting for the first time or with some experience. The author is inspiring and maintains a level of hopefulness not always found in environmental literature. He balances idealism with practicality and treasures the process of growing one's own food and flowers, recognizing that this is a lifelong journey and the gardener is always learning in a dynamic process. I find myself reading a chapter or so and being drawn out into my own yard to putter around with a new idea, then rocking on my front porch while I devour another chapter. This book is life-giving on several levels!

Of all the thousands of books, magazines, pamphlets and other advice on growing food, I have only two books I recommend above all others: Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway and Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Anyone seriously interested in growing his or her own food successfully, and not burning out after a single season of disappointment, should invest the money and time to buy and read these two books. You can save yourself a whole lot of back-break, heartbreak and half-bake.

Of all the thousands of books, magazines, pamphlets and other advice on growing food, I have only two books I recommend above all others: Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway and Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Anyone seriously interested in growing his or her own food successfully, and not burning out after a single season of disappointment, should invest the money and time to buy and read these two books. You can save yourself a whole lot of back-break, heartbreak and half-bake.

Toby's book put permaculture principles into easy to understand essential characteristics of good gardenening practice. I have my own copy which I use all the time and I buy copies as gifts periodically. Everyone I've given it too has loved it and uses it as a great reference.

Toby's book put permaculture principles into easy to understand essential characteristics of good gardenening practice. I have my own copy which I use all the time and I buy copies as gifts periodically. Everyone I've given it too has loved it and uses it as a great reference.

I asked my wife, Donna (Vegie Lady) to write this review:

"After reading a library copy of this book, I was so impressed I requested a copy of my own. My husband gave me a copy for a Christmas present, and I love it! I am on my 4th reading, trying to absorb all that I can. Toby Hemenway has given very clear explanations and examples of how and why we all can and should make some changes in the garden spaces we have. He clearly explains how we can develop connections between various elements in our landscapes that reduce our labor while increasing the productivity, fertility, and beauty of the land. He includes some small-scale, easy to implement ways to explore the growing of food, creating habitat for birds and other wildlife, and conserving soil and water. I have begun trying to create my own Food Forest using this book as a guide. I really appreciate Hemenway's easy to understand style of writing. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys spending time in a beautiful garden and growing some of their own food."

This book came highly recommended and justifiably so. This is an excellent reference book about permaculture. The Why. The how.

This is applicable to many different situations, although, it would seem to be most applicable to those who have more than just a house on a typical small urban building lot. Not that you can't implement some of these changes even there to help create a great personal environment.

And before you begin any of these projects, make sure you have your family's support. I got shot down as soon as I opened by mouth.

The first thing to be aware of though, is that this will need a certain investment of time, $$, and WATER. Once started and going, pretty self-sustaining, which is the point. Wish I could get there. Wish we could ALL get there.

I've been organic gardening for several years and I find this book contains very useful information for the gardener who wants to work with Mother Nature instead of against her. As described by the author (and others elsewhere), permaculture uses organic gardening principles to deal with big as well as little problems.

Most of his ideas are worth trying. His concept "live and let-live" may work in some areas, but not in others. I can tolerate some wildness in my gardens but want to keep natural vegetation out of some parts of my yard. Overall, there are many wonderful ideas, but not all of them may work for you.

I've been organic gardening for several years and I find this book contains very useful information for the gardener who wants to work with Mother Nature instead of against her. As described by the author (and others elsewhere), permaculture uses organic gardening principles to deal with big as well as little problems.

Most of his ideas are worth trying. His concept "live and let-live" may work in some areas, but not in others. I can tolerate some wildness in my gardens but want to keep natural vegetation out of some parts of my yard. Overall, there are many wonderful ideas, but not all of them may work for you.

A friend loaned me this book and I'm ordering my own copy. Or rather a new one for her since we've used hers so much. A great book if you're starting a new garden and want to match your landscape to the surrounding countryside, as we do, especially since we have oak savannah, like the author. Super vegetable garden ideas, great landscaping ideas, good stuff on swales, windbreaks, nurse plants, lots of good concepts you can use now.

Hemenway is amazingly realistic and practical while being very inspiring. He is easy to follow and understand while including scientifically grounded and very technically sound explanations. Read this book.

It took me 6 months to read this book. I kept getting annoyed by Hemenway's writing style. It's kind of part-memoir, part-name dropping, part-teaching tool.

That said, I do use Gaia's Garden as a reference tool.

Gaia's Garden isn't about saving the world, but rather how to make your corner of it beautiful, productive and worth saving. It asks: How do you work with nature rather than against it? And Hemenway's answer is that you treat it as a partner trying to help you, rather than a foe to thwart and enslave. Written for gardeners who may have battled pests with poisons, labored with compost heaps and double-dug dry soils, the book explains how guilds, swales, sheet mulches, and succession can simultaneously lighten their workload, costs and burden on the land in the long run. As a beginner, I was overwhelmed by the detail, but the pictures are beautifully rendered, and the text inviting. I bought it last year and still find myself reading it in spare moments every week. The many success stories that Hemenway includes keep me coming back to learn, plan and be inspired.

At last! A book written for non-biologists, non-ecologists and non-tree-huggers!! I have read several books on permaculture which always left me wondering, "What the heck IS permaculture and who needs it?" This book, by Toby Hemenway, will get you so excited about the relevance and applications of permaculture that you will want to race outside with a bucket of vegetable peelings and leaf mulch before breakfast. Gardening can be a lot of hard work, but permaculture is about making it easier. Turning over compost piles every week is not for you? See his section on sheet composting. Does the very word "grey water" turn you off? Read Hemenway's description of taking a shower, then tearing outside in a towel to see the water drain out through a rocky stream. This book is full of concepts and inspirations that will not only make gardening a little easier but will also improve the land you live on, help you achieve greater self-sufficiency and create sanctuary for beneficial critters. And here is a major plus: Toby Hemenway, unlike other permaculture authors, actually has a sense of humor! An enjoyable read on the one hand and a basic gardening manual for the rest of your life.

I've been gardening (organically) for more than 20 years. Its been years since I've found a book as helpful as this one is. As is my usual habit I started this book in the middle. About halfway through that first middle chapter I realized that THIS book was one I was going to read cover to cover and more than once! I've found many innovative ideas as well as useful explanations of why I garden the way I do. This one is a keeper.

I really should buy another copy, because I lend mine out so frequently and hate to be without it for long. This book has it all - organic gardening, cover cropping, sustainable growing methods... I particularly love the tables & charts on which flowers will attract which types of beneficial insects, the advantages of different cover crops, and what plants will provide good forage/food for chickens and other small animals. The story and photos of the "desert oasis" garden in New Mexico are inspiring.

Gaia's garden is easily readable and contains ideas for sustainable gardening and edible landscaping for any size lot. It's a wonderful inspiration for the new gardener, as well as a handy reference for the more experienced. I'm not a new gardener by any means, but refer to this book frequently. My one acre is in the early stages yet (we moved in less than a year ago), but I'm confident in my plan, thanks to this terrific book.

Wow, this is a way better book than I was expecting. Startlingly relevant to what I was wanting, in fact, but not something I was looking for, because I didn't think there were any books out there like this.

The book introduces itself by talking about how most gardens just feel like an artificial mimicry of nature, with their orderly hedges, manicured lawns, and grid-like rows of flowers. Then there are some rare, special gardens that feel like they are part of nature. The difference is that the latter gardens have designed to be an ecological microcosm.

There's still a minimal amount of human interference involved, such as providing the beginnings upon which nature can build, and occasionally guiding and controlling some things so they don't get out of hand. You plan the garden not only by what colors and forms are appealing to the human eye (as artificial-looking gardens are designed) but also which plants are good "companions" to one another. Since it's a complete microcosm, animals are involved: wild birds and mammals are attracted by the plants and seeds you have there, and also predators of those animals who control their populations, and so on, so that balance is acheived without having to poison or shut out any of those animals. It's awkward to sum up all the many ideas and anecdotes involved with it, but it's an excellent book, and exactly what I was wanting.

What caught me by surprise was that it also talked about domestic animals... including chickens. It summarizes how "chicken tractors" work. (I've read about those before; basically you just have the birds scratch, weed, and till the soil of a certain patch of land, and then when that spot's done you move the birds on to the next area.) It goes on to tell the sorts of plants that are edible for chickens that you can have planted around them!

I might have to buy this. There's a lot of good stuff in it, beside that.

The funny thing is, I only checked it out because I thought it would have pretty pictures. (The sort you really start to want in the winter.) I wasn't expecting anything so intuitive.

The comment about it being inadequate on invasives has a point, but then again I wouldn't take this book as a be-all, end-all on designing your garden. It's really a jumping off point in integrating not just your plants, but your soil and water use to be as efficient and sustainable as possible. It gets you thinking about the web of relationships between pests, beneficial insects, soil bacteria, worms, plants, and so on. You will want to learn more about individual plant species from another book. If you live in the West, there's the Sunset book of course, and if you happen to live in CA, or another mediterranean climate, there's the East Bay Municipal Utility District garden book that is really quite spectatular.

But I digress. This book is well worth a read if you are new to permaculture or not. I read mine all the time to get ideas. I have a small yard so I can't use every idea in the book, but I can use some and really it's not just about gardening. It's about living more sustainably, which is something we can all try to do more of. I can honestly say this book changed my life.

The author says, You can't fight invasives, so don't bother trying. And don't worry about planting invasives such as bamboo, just keep an eye on them so they don't get out of hand. Invasives are one of the leading causes of species extinction. If the philosophy of the book is to help the biosphere through local action, this glib attitude toward invasives is counterproductive. I would still recomend the book, since it is concise and combines a handful of techniques into a powerful synthesis, but don't just accept the author's view of exotic species before checking out a book on native gardening for your region. I think it is still possible to employ these permaculture ideas while favoring the natives and keeping a close watch on invasives, which can wreak havoc on the neighborhood long after you're gone.

This book gives a wonderful introduction to permaculture. I had absolutely no idea what it was before reading the book. A one-sentence definition is worse than none. It is exciting to read about how the various parts of a garden interconnect.

I love the various shapes he suggest, such as keyhole gardens. I especially liked the way he guides you through the process of creating guilds. And it is good to know I can use all those plants I had to eliminate when planning a traditional garden. That is one of the nicest features of these gardens.

I have to admit the title is offputting. I thought this was some New Age system. Fortunately I read the reviews at this site, so that when I saw the book, I decided to give it a try. It is a very, down-to-earth, convincing book. Nothing New Age about it. I am excited and want to get started using some of these ideas.

This book has brought some fantastic ideas into my garden. The book presents some new ideas that have opened up some wonderful possibilities in my whole yard. I deeply enjoyed that the book neither addresses only those with vast horticultural degrees nor speaks only to novices. The author succinctly makes his point and backs it with interesting and insightful expamples.

I have been gardening organically for over 25 years and can handle most problems with a bit of effort. This book has changed my view and greatly decreased the amount of time needed to maintain my garden. Rather than responding to the problems as they occur, it gives ingenious ways to head them off or to turn them into positives.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs new ideas for their garden, regardless of size.

For the past few months I've been reading books and learning all kinds of new things. Sustainable agriculture. Edible landscaping. Naturalistic landscaping. Agroforestry. I learned alot, but something seemed missing. And then I found Gaia's Garden. While I was reading it the first time, I kept thinking, "This is it. This is exactly what I've been looking for."

This book combines all these other concepts, adds still more, and makes it all easy to understand. There are lots of things I loved about this book. But the most important was the way Mr. Hemenway explains guilds. He gives specific examples, which you can follow pretty much exactly. But then he gives the information to go beyond his examples and create totally new guilds specifically designed for your site.

If I had to give up all my gardening books and keep only one, this is the book I'd keep.

Toby Hemingway has taken on a large task: explaining ecological gardening in a clear, accessible manner. Having taught Permaculture Design myself, I was curious how Toby would approach the subject. I came away quite impressed. He uses his deep experience with the subject to make a complex, multi-layered concept easy to grasp and easy to implement.

Building gardens that function the way healthy ecosystems do will reduce your work load, reduce the toxins you need to control pests, and will yield both beauty and bounty. This book is the guide you have been waiting for. Like a trusted friend with dirt under his fingernails, Toby leads you gently and wisely toward a much more pleasant existence.