City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Integrated forest gardening, the complete guide to polycultures and plant guilds in permaculture systems, Wayne Weiseman, Daniel Halsey, and Bryce Ruddock

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Integrated forest gardening

Wayne Weiseman, Daniel Halsey, and Bryce Ruddock

the complete guide to polycultures and plant guilds in permaculture systems

Permaculture is a movement that is coming into its own, and the concept of creating plant guilds in permaculture is at the forefront of every farmer s and gardener s practice. One of the essential practices of permaculture is to develop perennial agricultural systems that thrive over several decades without expensive and harmful inputs: perennial plant guilds, food forests, agroforestry, and mixed animal and woody species polycultures. The massive degradation of conventional agriculture and the environmental havoc it creates has never been as all pervasive in terms of scale, so it has become a global necessity to further the understanding of a comprehensive design and planning system such as permaculture that works with nature, not against it. The guild concept often used is one of a functional relationship between plants beneficial groupings of plants that share functions in order to bring health and stability to a plant regime and create an abundant yield for our utilization. In other words, it is the integration of species that creates a balanced, healthy, and thriving ecosystem. But it goes beyond integration. A guild is a metaphor for all walks of life, most importantly a group of people working together to craft works of balance, beauty, and utility. This book is the first, and most comprehensive, guide about plant guilds ever written, and covers in detail both what guilds are and how to design and construct them, complete with extensive color photography and design illustrations

What is integrated forest gardening? -- The structure of a plant guild -- Selecting plants for guild design -- Trees: the essence of the plant guild -- Designing for optimal species integration -- Guild project management -- Case studies: fifteen plant guilds

adult

Complete guide to polycultures and plant guilds in permaculture systems