Part One looks at why and how to grow these crops, and how to look after them for maximum health. Part Two features over 100 perennial edibles in detail, both common and unusual - from rhubarb to skirret; Jerusalem artichoke to nodding onions. This book offers inspiration for all gardeners, and also includes plenty of cooking tips. It features beautiful colour photographs and illustrations throughout.
Creating a Forest Garden
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"This book is a magnificiently produced and massive tome that is sure to become every forest gardener's horticultural toolkit and bible."--Grow It
"Marting has produced a book that is not only visually beautiful but very practical, offering advice on planning, designing, planting and general maintenance."--Positive News
"If you are seriously considering the creation or maitenance of a forest garden then you would do well to have this book on your shelves. Even if you are only looking for novel ground cover suggestions in shaded areas or approaches to inter-planting trees, then this book offers bountiful food for thought."--Green Prophet
"Creating a Forest Garden is a fascniating read for gardeners interested in how to plant communities that work."--Gardens Illustrated
"Martin Crawford has produced a spectacularly useful guide to new horticultural and ecological terrain of great importance."--Permaculture Activist
"This seminal piece of work is not only visually entralling, it's incredibly easy to use and it contains a level of detail and explanation that makes it, I believe, a must read for anyone who is serious about building a truly sustainable forest."--WWOOF Ireland
"Martin's book is visually stunning with beautiful photography and illustrations, accompanying very informative and well constructed text."--Self Sufficient-ish Website, June 2010
"This book is a must if you are interested in producing food from your garden, becoming more self-sufficient or just curious about plants and their uses."--The Cottage Gardener
About the Author
Martin Crawford has spent over twenty years in organic agriculture and horticulture and is director of The Agroforestry Research Trust, a non-profit-making charity that researches into temperate agroforestry and all aspects of plant cropping and uses, with a focus on tree, shrub and perennial crops. It produces several publications and a quarterly journal, and sells plants and seeds. He is the author of How to Grow Perennial Vegetables, Creating a Forest Garden, and the instructional DVD, A Forest Garden Year. See www.agroforestry.co.uk for more information.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful
By Greg
Format:Hardcover
I just finished reading "Creating a Forest Garden" cover to cover. It's one of the best books on forest gardening I've come across and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in permaculture/edible landscaping. Martin's experiences with his forest garden are concisely presented to the reader and guide you to avoid many mistakes that are often made when starting out. The book not only guides you through the process of successfully laying out the garden, but gives many specifics, has pictures and information on many, many suitable plants and has many creative ideas born from working in the forest garden for so many years. If I were new to permaculture and forest gardening I'd start here. If you've read a lot in this area (like me) this book will become one of your best finds. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
By a reader
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This was a bit of a splurge for me; having known Martin Crawford's name for years, I was really looking forward to seeing his work in print. I must say that the actual book is a bit of a disappointment. I knew that it would be aimed at a UK audience, so that's not a strike against it. In fact, it joins wonderful works by Patrick Whitefield and John Seymour to round out the picture of British forest gardening. But despite the beautiful photography, the book is neither as practical nor as detailed as Gaia's Garden or Edible Forest Gardens. This book adds very little to what they have already contributed, with the exception of a thoughtful consideration of global climate change and its presumed effect on forest gardening, and a chapter on fungi.
More damning, the text is full of typos, and several of the photographs are misplaced and mislabeled. A picture illustrating Oregon grape is actually some sort of currant, for example. Discussions of design are general to the point of frustration; the section on water use says, in essence, "in a drought you'll use more than you think" and then spends two pages on irrigation methods. Again, it's possible that a British climate requires less thought about water than the southeastern U.S., but that sort of generality pervades the book. Save your money for Jacke and Toensmeier.
More damning, the text is full of typos, and several of the photographs are misplaced and mislabeled. A picture illustrating Oregon grape is actually some sort of currant, for example. Discussions of design are general to the point of frustration; the section on water use says, in essence, "in a drought you'll use more than you think" and then spends two pages on irrigation methods. Again, it's possible that a British climate requires less thought about water than the southeastern U.S., but that sort of generality pervades the book. Save your money for Jacke and Toensmeier.
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By blackbear
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
That's right five stars. Martin has a 16 year old forest garden and talks from experience, not theory. His chapters are brief and concise. I finished the book feeling content that I actually assimilated all valuable info presented by Martin. Unlike some other forest gardening books I've read (cover to cover mind you) this one is short, easy to read and understand, and by no means intimidating. Let me reiterate; martin speaks from 16 years experience. And the icing on the cake... the photos are of an actual forest garden!
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Nicolas M.
Format:Hardcover
This book is a good companion for Edible Forest Garden. It is less comprehensive than EFG but more user friendly.
Basically, it is a presentation of all species that fit well in a forest garden, with some instructions on how to design the several layers of the garden (canopy, bush, ground cover, etc).
Basically, it is a presentation of all species that fit well in a forest garden, with some instructions on how to design the several layers of the garden (canopy, bush, ground cover, etc).
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a beautiful book. There is information here that relates directly to the long term planning needed to "build" a forest garden from scratch. The information is presented in clear terms with simple illustrations showing relationships within a garden both above and below ground - this could be a handbook for beginning any new garden and especially for intensive planting. The photos are superb and inspiring.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Packs in advice on planning, designing and maintaining a sustainable food garden with a twist
February 14, 2011
Format:Hardcover
CREATING A FOREST GARDEN: WORKING WITH NATURE TO GROW EDIBLE CROPS packs in advice on planning, designing and maintaining a sustainable food garden with a twist, working with forest gardening for minimal maintenance. A forest garden is a managed ecosystem modeled on woodland where nature does the actual maintenance work: chapters tell how to plan, design and choose trees, shrubs, root crops and more for maximum effect.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Charlie
Format:Hardcover
The color pictures are phenomenal, this will really help those who have a hard time visualizing what an actual forest garden will look like. I also learned about many new edible plants such as the yew plum.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By borjuragu
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have ordered all books written on the topic, this one is by far the best. The least scientific jargon, the most practical hints.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book to learn and -I hope- create a forest garden
I didn't give 5 stars, because I'm reading the kindle edition and it is difficult to follow some references to page numbers in the text, because page numbers are not present in the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ignacio Joannon Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars
love this book
Read this book for the first time about a year ago and immediately felt like I knew the basics about establishing a forest garden. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Nathan S
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very accessible and packed with useful data
I have a number of different food forest and forest gardening books. While they are all useful and informative, this one by Martin Crawford is my favourite. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Olmec Sinclair
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book on this topic
This is an amazing book about forest gardening in Northwestern Europe. It is beautifully illustrated, contains information on hundreds of plants and gives practical information... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Hendrik Bright
4.0 out of 5 stars
good
It's a good essential of forest gardening. Only problem is that too many pages deal with plant species. But in general -i'm satisfied.
Published 9 months ago by gellb
5.0 out of 5 stars
creating a forest garden working with nature to grow edible crops
NOTHING LIKE IT ANYWHERE-all who have seen the book stunned by the practical step by step practical "how to" information..plant by plant for small or large food forest. Read more
Published 10 months ago by delighted
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very beautiful and clearly written, well-organized book
I really love this book. The design is very appealing and logical, with clear and organized discussions of all aspects of understanding and designing a forest garden, interspersed... Read more
Published 12 months ago by tomatojane
4.0 out of 5 stars
Seems like a useful book, some of the pictures are poor quality.
The book does a pretty good job of listing the parts of a forest garden, and giving recommendations for plants for each (and has a good reference section on a wide variety of... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jennifer A. Schultz
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, nice layout
I found this book very inspiring! It has many plant describtions, with all the information you need to know about each plant and it has pictures of many of the plants too. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Savanna Puckett
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic book!
What I loved about the book - the detailed information on lots and lots of usefull plants, from trees to fungi. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Kristina
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