Gardening for the Future of the Earth [Paperback]

Howard-Yana Shapiro Ph.D. (Author), John Harrisson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2000

"The key to the future of the world lies in gardening."

So begins this inspiring book from the pioneering organic seed company Seeds of Change, which has introduced millions of gardeners to a cornucopia of luscious, unusual fruits and vegetables--all bred by methods that preserve the irreplaceable resources of water, soil, and genetic diversity for future generations.

Gardening for the Future of the Earth brings together for the first time the techniques of the great pioneers of organic gardening, creating a program that can easily be used by home gardeners. Whether you have a sunny windowsill, a backyard plot, or a country garden, you can apply the principles of leading-edge systems such as permaculture, biointensive, biodynamic, and kinship gardening. The results? More beautiful flowers, vegetables, and fruits than you would have believed possible--and deeper satisfaction for you, the gardener, because you will be working in harmony with nature.

Here is expert advice from the masters on:

Garden planning and design that saves work and water
Composting and other methods to build soil without chemical fertilizers
Planting and pruning techniques for dramatically increased yields
The pleasures of seed saving--and even breeding your own varieties
Exploring the richness of biodiversity through kinship gardening
And much more

Illustrated with color photographs that bring the techniques to life, this is both a practical garden companion and essential reading for anyone interested in preserving the precious resources of our home planet.

One individual with a digging fork and a small garden can make a difference.


So begins this inspiring book from the pioneering organic seed company, Seeds of Change, which now reaches more than one million households annually with its catalog of luscious, unusual fruits and vegetables--all bred by methods that preserve the irreplaceable resources of water, soil, and genetic diversity for future generations.

The authors combine the major techniques of organic gardening--including Permaculture, Biointensive, Biodynamic, and Kinship systems--to create a program that can easilybe used by home gardeners.  We learn from the masters: among others, Bill Mollison on garden planning and design; John Jeavons on soil building and planting; Alan Kapuler and Carol Deppe on seed saving and do-it-yourself plant breeding; and Masanobu Fukuoka on growing without pesticides or fertilizers.

Illustrated with beautiful four-color photographs and diagrams, this is both a practical garden companion and essential reading for anyone interested in building a sustainable future. -->

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Editor Shapiro, director of the organic seed company Seeds of Change, and writer Harrisson combine the techniques and philosophies of great pioneers of organic and sustainable gardening. Gardeners who have learned to work with rather than against nature include Bill Mollison, an Australian devotee of permaculture, and John Jeavons, who discusses how to create good soil, the most important element of gardening. Wes Jackson advocates perennial polyculture to increase produce yield without using toxic chemical fertilizers that upset nature's balance, while Carol Deppe explains how to save seeds for breeding to create disease-resistant plants. The authors stress the critical need for restoring earth that has been badly damaged by current agricultural practices. Despite a tenfold increase in insecticide use in the U.S. since 1945, the editors note, crop loss due to insects has doubled. If the depletion of the earth isn't halted, they argue, it may be a mere 15 to 25 years before modern commercial agriculture crashes. Hope balances the doom, however, as each author carefully and enthusiastically explains how ordinary gardeners and homeowners can tip the balance toward a healthier earth and food supply. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Author and BBC organic gardening expert Flowerdew's book, beautifully illustrated with color photographs, introduces organic gardening principles, techniques, and pest controls. He also demonstrates how to grow flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruit organically. The fruit and vegetable sections include specific cultural information and recommended cultivars, while less information is available on flowers, shrubs, and herbs. Because of its British slant and the relatively brief cultural information included, North American gardeners may prefer books from Rodale's "Successful Organic Gardening" series, which cover everything from perennials to herbs to vegetables in separate volumes. Beginners will also find Maria Rodale's Organic Gardening (Rodale, 1998) or Karan Davis Cutler's Burpee: The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener (IDG, 1998) good introductions to the organic method. Shapiro, agricultural director of Seeds of Change (an organic seed company), and Harrisson, a freelance writer, introduce a selection of ecologically sensitive methods of farming applicable to home gardeners. Biointensive, kinship, biodynamic, and permaculture gardening systems are profiled. The authors also include suggestions on how to conserve soil and water and stress the need to preserve genetic diversity through growing plants and saving their seeds or plant breeding, offering techniques for both. There is also an interesting discussion of the problems created by current chemical-based farming practices and the techniques that can be used to alleviate these problems. Recommended for those interested in alternative organic farming and gardening practices.ASue O'Brien, Downers Grove P.L., IL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (January 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553375334
• ISBN-13: 978-0553375336
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sustainable Gardening - We've all got to do it!, April 3, 2000

By 

Dick Pierce (Gardener, Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gardening for the Future of the Earth (Paperback)

Howard Shapiro has done the organic gardener and the "thinking about it someday" armchair novice a great favor. He has read most of the good books for you; extensively interviewed and visited with the giants of the subject; and, he has added his own considerable wisdom and experience with Seeds of Change, to provide us with a great, concise volume on sustainable gardening and systems. "Gardening for the Future of the Earth" is also very serious about its title; Shapiro sprinkles the text with anecdotes and data about the huge genetic, environmental, health, and cultural impacts of modern chemical factory farming - his personal time line is 20 years until the world, all of it, is in serious trouble.

It has taken me over 7 years (and several hundred dollars) of intense interest and reading: to be exposed to Bill Mollison, the Tasmanian curmudgeon and genius who coined the term permaculture; to find his mentor/idol, Massanobu Fukuoka, the author of the "One Straw Revolution" and pioneer of intercropping rice and barley in Japan; to heed the teachings of John Jeavons and his Bio-Intensive, double digging techniques- a savior in the gumbo clay soil of Austin, TX; to uncover the amazing, successful, and almost occult practices of the Biodynamic techniques from the brilliant but difficult writings of Rudolph Steiner in the 1920's; to kindle an interest in perennial farming systems, which was Nature's way in our Midwest (prairie) until two centuries ago from Wes Jackson of the Land Institute in Salina, KS; and, to just start to fathom the import of Alan Kapuler's words on the crisis that is upon us in bio-diversity and the declining gene pool.

A whole library in one volume! A pleasant read! You will have no doubt that there is a problem, but there are solutions......and they are not coming out of our major research labs and campuses. They are coming from the grass roots. To quote Shapiro: "gardeners know a lot more about soil than laboratory scientists!'

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gardening for the Future of the Earth, March 14, 2000

By 

Susannah Faith (California, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gardening for the Future of the Earth (Paperback)

A MUST READ! This book should be required reading for all people everywhere! Gardening for the Future of the Earth is very easy to read and very easy to implement. It tells us not only what is wrong, but actually gives ways (easy, do-able ways) to do our part in helping and healing the earth. We all to need to do our part and we need to do it **before** we don't have any parts left. I hope everyone enjoys this book as much as I have.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lighting one candle..., October 20, 2001

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gardening for the Future of the Earth (Paperback)

Day after day many of us read about the destruction of our planet: farm land covered over with environmentally unfriendly golf courses and asphalt or destroyed by huge pesticide driven agribusinesses; water supplies contaminated with arsenic and ecoli; air polluted with everything from asbestos to zinc; wetlands destroyed by pesticides and developers; dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico; old growth forests pillaged by greedy corporations; and thousands of species of plants and animals on the brink of extinction including the Orca Whale symbol of the West Coast Indians.

GARDENING FOR THE FUTURE briefly describes these destructive practices (and cites Al Gore's EARTH IN THE BALANCE) but it also shows us a better way. You should continue to support those organizations waging the good fight in Washington and elsewhere -- AND buy this book, read this book, and light one candle by turning your own yard into a living example of a better way. You can do it. I've done it and it works. Not only that, once you get your yard converted you will never have to mow grass again.

I've been farming organically for ages and had encountered and put into practice many of the ideas put forth in this book but this book brings all these ideas together. The authors have assembled thoughts of the "experts" in fighting the environmental battle on the homefront--your yard. Think Victory Gardens. Each of us can make a contribution to the "war" effort. Each of us can begin to turn our garden plots, no matter how big or small, into a "piece of the action" -- gardening for the future of the earth.

You can grow vegetables organically and replenish the soil and eschew the use of pesticides and herbicides and other killers -- I know I've done it. And, I've done it in on a several acre spread out in the countryside. My neighbors who had abandoned the "old ways" for modern chemcial solutions looked on in awe as the bad bad bugs beat a hasty retreat from my garden to theirs.

But most important, as Paul Mueller, one of the experts cited in this book says, "Gardening is not just about having tomatos and peppers and flowers -- Gardening is about empowering -- planting a seed and watching it grow -- no matter who you are it makes you richer and deeper and more understanding of all the cycles of the universe and of your relationship to them."

The authors describe their contributors as the "Dream Team" Bill Mollison (Tasmanian permaculture expert); John Jeavons (soil growing in very small spaces); Masanobu Fukuoka (a plant pathologist promoting natural farming); Alan York (a viniculturist involved in biointensive gardening); Alan Kapuler (a biologist and Seed Exchanger); and Wes Jackson of the Land Institute.

This book is filled with ideas and plenty of practical examples. Everything from garden design to plant breeding is covered by numerous experts. You don't have to be a genius or work 12 hours a day to make this happen. The only thing you give up is that awful environmentally unsound lawn. I've done it. My neighbors are doing it. You should see the birds who come to our place.