Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre, and the Making of an Edible Garden Oasis in the City Author: Eric Toensmeier | Language: English | ISBN:
B00BCLJA02 | Format: EPUB
Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre, and the Making of an Edible Garden Oasis in the City Description
"Although many of us dream of creating our ideal urban homestead from scratch, the reality is far less pristine: toxic soil, rampant exotic species, outdated codes, and all the other grit of city life. Paradise Lot is a practical manual, based on hard-won lessons, for working positively with the realities of our cities to create a sustainable, peaceful, and abundant oasis in the urban jungle. In this vivid and engaging work, Eric Toensmeier entices us with his journey as an example, explaining what to do, and what mistakes to avoid, to develop our own versions of an edible urban paradise."
—Toby Hemenway, author of GaiaÂ’s Garden
How we did it and the challenges along the way.
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.
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- File Size: 9618 KB
- Print Length: 240 pages
- Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing; 1 edition (February 7, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BCLJA02
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,307 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Horticulture > Techniques > Urban - #13
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Horticulture > Techniques > Organic - #13
in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Technique > Urban
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Horticulture > Techniques > Urban - #13
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Horticulture > Techniques > Organic - #13
in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Technique > Urban
I bought this book because I'm a budding urban gardener curious about permaculture (a sustainable, low maintenance, ecosystem-focused approach to growing food)... and I like a good story. Eric Toensmeier is a self-described "plant geek" and permaculture expert who also co-wrote "Edible Forest Gardens" a 2-volume, 1000+ page epic reference on the theory and practice of permaculture. Unlike EFG, "Paradise Lot" is a comparatively short, accessible, narrative account of Toensmeier's experience turning a barren urban lot in Holyoke, MA into a "food forest."
At the start of the book, Toensmeier and his co-gardener Jonathan Bates (who contributes short essays scattered throughout the book) are single, impoverished, lonely 30-something plant geeks struggling to start a business, find a place to settle down, and get girlfriends. Part of the fun and suspense of the book is following their personal stories, which are skillfully and unobtrusively interwoven into the central narrative of the garden. The book is also a terrific introduction to key concepts in permaculture. Toensmeier describes the entire process, from selecting and mapping a site to designing the garden, collecting seeds, working the soil, planting, harvesting and even preparing some of the unusual edibles, troubleshooting invasives and dealing with pests. There's lots of juicy details, but the technical information isn't overwhelming. If you're inspired (as I was) to learn more, there are comprehensive lists of resources (books, organizations, suppliers, etc) plus plant lists and garden maps in the book's appendicies.
Toensmeier writes beautifully, with a deeply-felt passion for plants and the natural world. In a broader sense, the book is about being creative, resourceful, and strategic in building a life and community that's both sustainable and satisfying.
Very inspiring! A wonderful book.
By Zannah Marsh
I expected more of the book to actually be devoted to the lot in question, rather than being basically an autobiography of two men who happened to garden in a small urban lot. I expected more of an in depth of: In year one, we planted x y and z and only y thrived. In year two y had grown W feet, etc. etc. I expected more before and after pictures or descriptions of the lot. That being said the book IS all about permaculture and forest gardens (even if the majority is about what happened BEFORE the lot or something tangential about their time on the lot, and not actually about the lot itself) and etc, and I learned more than I would have thought from a biography. I also appreciated that a lot of the plants described in the actual lot section appear to be available for sale on their website (Often I get frustrated about hearing of some great plant that it turns out is virtually unobtainable).
By Jennifer A. Schultz
Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre, and the Making of an Edible Garden Oasis in the City Preview
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