Originally published in the 1930s. This comprehensive book will provide under one head and at a glance all that vast amount of essential information required by the ever increasing numbers of enthusiasts who wish to derive pleasure or profit by living off the land. The illustrated contents include advice on: Poultry - Vegetable Culture - Fruit Growing - Flower Culture - Holding and Farm - Pigs - Cattle - Sheep - Land - Rabbit Keeping - Bee Keeping - Organic Methods etc. Many of the earliest farming books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

'Brilliant ... Equal parts irreverent, cheeky and vitally important ... Charming ... Much too valuable to tuck away until the zombies come ... A gardening manual that you can put to use immediately, regardless of your situation' Zombie Research Society. Climate change? Brexit? Screaming brain-biters? Don't lose the plot, this book can help! Irreverent, straightforward and useful, it shows even complete beginners how to grow enough of their own food to survive when Armageddon arrives and imports collapse. Or even if they don't. A grow-your-own guide for the generation who'd rather eat compost than watch Gardeners' World, it tells you how to sow and grow 20 key crops, whether you have two pots, a patio or a whole allotment to play with. It takes you through what seeds, tools and other kit you'll need, teaches you how to plan and plant your site for maximum nutrition, and suggests gardening projects to get underway while civilization still stands, from growing dinner in a dustbin to a juice bar on a balcony. All while sticking a garden fork in the eye of the undead. Gardening for the Zombie Apocalypse: surviving has never been so much fun.

Forest Gardening (or agroforestry) is a way of growing edible crops with nature doing most of the work. A forest garden imitates young natural woodland, with a wide range of crops grown in vertical layers. Species are chosen for their beneficial effects on each other, creating a healthy system that maintains its own fertility, with little need for digging, weeding or pest control. The result of this largely perennial planting is a tranquil, beautiful and productive space. This book is a bible for permaculture and forest gardening, with practical advice on how to create a forest garden, from planning and design to planting and maintenance. It explains how a forest garden is designed from the top down: the canopy layer first, then the shrub layer, the perennial ground-cover layer, the annuals & biennials next, the climbers and nitrogen fixers and finally the clearings, living spaces and paths. Whether in a small back garden or in a larger plot, the environmental benefits of growing this way are great. Forest Gardens are a viable solution to the challenge of a changing climate: we can grow food sustainably in them without compromising soil health, food quality or biodiversity. Forest gardens: store carbon dioxide in the soil and in the woody biomass of the trees and shrubs. enable the soil to store more water after heavy rains, minimizing flooding and erosion. boost the health of the ecosystem, ensuring a balance of predators and beneficial insects because mixed planting is crucial to the scheme. allows the soil to thrive because it is covered with plants all year round. Creating a Forest Garden includes a detailed directory of over 500 trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, annuals, root crops and climbers. As well as more familiar plants such as fig and apple trees, blackcurrants and rosemary shrubs, you can grow your own chokeberries, goji berries, yams, heartnuts, bamboo shoots and buffalo currants. Forest gardens produce fruits, nuts, vegetables, seeds, salads, herbs, spices, firewood, mushrooms, medicinal herbs, dye plants, soap plants, and honey from bees. This book tells you everything you need to create your own forest garden with beautiful illustrations and helpful tips throughout.

For decades, gardeners have approached vegetable gardening the same way: planting in square or rectangular beds or in straight rows, keeping vegetables separate from flowers, and definitely not mixing perennial plants with annual ones. According to these old rules, every insect must be killed, the garden must be tidy, and nothing should ever be allowed to go to seed. It's time to break the rules! Today's gardeners are re-envisioning the vegetable garden as a creative, playful space where the beds may be circles or spirals, beneficial insects are invited to the party, flowers for cutting grow right next to annual vegetables (which might be chosen for their curb appeal as much as their flavor), and a bit of "untidiness" simply creates a garden that more closely mimics the natural world. With The Creative Vegetable Gardener, lifestyle editor and master gardener Kelly Smith Trimble encourages readers to widen their focus, be playful, and imagine a vegetable garden that reflects their own unique aesthetic and offers a meditative sanctuary as well as a source of fresh, homegrown food. From seed selection to garden layout and regenerative gardening practices, gardeners of all levels will find Smith Trimble's liberating advice a pathway to making the garden a place of nourishment for the soul and creative spirit, while also feeding the body.

It takes just a few dollars and a few days for you to start enjoying fresh, healthy produce grown indoors in your own home. Imagine serving a home-cooked meal highlighted with beet, arugula, and broccoli microgreens grown right in your kitchen, accompanied by sauteed winecap mushrooms grown in a box of sawdust in your basement. If you have never tasted microgreens, all you really need to do is envision all the flavor of an entire vegetable plant concentrated into a single tantalizing seedling. If you respond to the notion of nourishing your guests with amazing, fresh, organic produce that you've grown in your own house, condo, apartment, basement, or sunny downtown office, then you'll love exploring the expansive new world of growing and eating that can be discovered with the help of "Indoor Kitchen Gardening." Inside, author and Bossy Acres CSA co-owner Elizabeth Millard teaches you how to grow microgreens, sprouts, herbs, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, and more-- all "inside" your own home, where you won't have to worry about seasonal changes or weather conditions. Filled with mouthwatering photography and more than 200 pages of Do-It-Yourself in-home gardening information and projects, "Indoor Kitchen Gardening" is your gateway to this exciting new growing method--not just for garnishes or relishes, but wholesome, nutritious, organic edibles that will satisfy your appetite as much as your palate.

Build healthy soil and grow better plants Robert Pavlis, a gardener for over four decades, debunks common soil myths, explores the rhizosphere, and provides a personalized soil fertility improvement program in this three-part popular science guidebook. Healthy soil means thriving plants. Yet untangling the soil food web and optimizing your soil health is beyond most gardeners, many of whom lack an in-depth knowledge of the soil ecosystem. Soil Science for Gardeners is an accessible, science-based guide to understanding soil fertility and, in particular, the rhizosphere - the thin layer of liquid and soil surrounding plant roots, so vital to plant health. Coverage includes: Soil biology and chemistry and how plants and soil interact Common soil health problems, including analyzing soil's fertility and plant nutrients The creation of a personalized plan for improving your soil fertility, including setting priorities and goals in a cost-effective, realistic time frame. Creating the optimal conditions for nature to do the heavy lifting of building soil fertility Written for the home gardener, market gardener, and micro-farmer, Soil Science for Gardeners is packed with information to help you grow thriving plants.

GARDEN MEDIA GUILD PRACTICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2012 Fruit and vegetables have formed a fundamental part of the Scottish diet for thousands of years. This fascinating and practical book explores the history of fruit, vegetable and herb growing in Scotland, and provides a contemporary guide to the best techniques for growing produce, whether in a garden, allotment, patio or window box. Packed with hundreds of colour photographs, drawings and descriptive diagrams, this is a detailed and comprehensive bible for the gardener. In addition to advice on climate and soil conditions, it has contacts for organisations, specialist societies, nurseries and suppliers, as well as a detailed bibliography and list of useful websites. This is an essential reference book for anyone aiming to get the best possible results from their garden produce north of the border.

The Fruit Tree Handbook is a clear, practical guide for both amateur and expert. It explains all you need to know in order to grow delicious fruit, from designing your orchard and planting your trees to harvesting your produce. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, apricots, peaches and nectarines, as well as less common fruits such as mulberries, medlars and figs, are covered in detail, with recommended varieties of each. The book describes all the pest and disease problems you may encounter and advises on how to deal with them. It explains about choosing rootstocks and suitable varieties for your needs, and illuminates the mysteries of pruning with step-by-step instructions and detailed diagrams. It features beautiful pictures throughout. The Fruit Tree Handbook conveys a deep respect for the natural world, showing how to cultivate healthy trees through good management, and also includes chapters on restoring an old orchard and setting up a community orchard. Whether you are planting a few trees in your garden or 50 trees in a field, this book provides the expert guidance you need to look after your trees - and be rewarded with basketfuls of luscious fruit at harvest time.

'A brilliant and inspirational starter kit for anyone who wants to make a garden to suit their own needs.' - Alan Titchmarsh Although excited by the prospect of moving into their own home for the first time, many people are mystified at the thought of what to do with their outdoor space. Frances Tophill's fuss-free, practical guide shows you how to create a space outside your own back door that's designed by you, built by you and enjoyed by you. Beginning with advice on getting to know your garden - what type of soil you have, what the drainage and light is like - then on getting to know yourself as a gardener - do you want a vegetable patch, an abundance of flowers or simply an extension of your indoor living space? - and then moving on to the practical design, including hard and soft landscaping and building materials and guidance, Frances guides you through different types of plants and how to source and plant them. There is also a section on aftercare, telling you the best way to keep your garden well cared for and easy to maintain throughout the year.

About two-thirds of Britain's small, traditional orchards have been lost since 1960. This is a loss in ecological diversity, in community knowledge and the intricacy of local distinctiveness. In 2007 the pomologist Liz Copas and cidermaker Nick Poole began a quest to find and identify old varieties of cider apple trees around Dorset. The search lasted more than a decade, taking them across the county, searching in forgotten orchards, hedgerows and the corners of gardens. The Lost Orchards follows the journey they took to find, propagate and make cider with Dorset's forgotten apple varieties: Golden Ball, Kings Favourite, Yaffle, Dewbit, Golly Knapp, Tom Legg, Best Bearer and Symes Seedlings. The book is also an illustrated guide to the apple varieties they discovered and an important history of West Country Orchards. This hopeful story will resonate far beyond Dorset and will encourage readers to look closely at their surroundings and conserve their local orchards.

This book is the first comprehensive critical analysis of the cultural politics of a new kind of British heritage discourse. Based on texts ranging from tweets to restaurant menus that tell the story of heritage vegetables, this book explores what it means to think about our food systems, and their future, through the lens of 'heritage'. From town hall seed swaps to restaurant menus and coffee table books, it has become hard in recent years for consumers to avoid the idea of 'heritage' fruit and vegetables. The British counterpart of North American heirlooms, their varied colours, strange shapes and endearing names are charming. Yet their proponents claim far more for them, arguing it is vital that we safeguard our crop heritage for global food security, social justice and consumer choice. This book examines how heritage fruits and vegetables are adopted to subvert corporate food production and take food back into our own hands, while supermarkets are eagerly adding them to their luxury ranges. The book also discusses the practice of heritage seeds being stored in secure facilities where most of the world's growers cannot reach them. Written in an accessible style, this book will appeal to those studying, and those interested in, food studies and food politics; heritage studies; geography and environmental studies; the sociology of consumption and cultural studies.

"Grow Now is an earth manual that applies to everyone, everywhere. Regenerating life begins with our hands, the soil, and our heart. Take this book and go outside, stay outside, and transform." --Paul Hawken, author of Drawdown and Regeneration Did you know you can have a garden that's equal parts food source and wildlife haven? In Grow Now, Emily Murphy shares easy-to-follow principles for regenerative gardening that foster biodiversity and improve soil health. She also shows how every single yard mirrors and connects to the greater ecosystem around us. No-dig growing, composting and mulching smartly, and planting a variety of edible perennials that attract bees and butterflies are all commonsense techniques everyone can use to grow positive change. You'll also find detailed advice on increasing your nature quotient, choosing plants that cycle more carbon back into the soil, selecting a broader variety of vegetables and fruits to improve overall soil fertility, rethinking space devoted to lawns, and adding companion plants for pollinators to rewild any plot of land. Exquisitely photographed and filled with helpful lists and sidebars, Grow Now is an actionable, hopeful, and joyful roadmap for growing our way to individual climate contributions. Gardening is climate activism!

The interest in organic fruit and vegetables has never been greater. As people grow ever more suspicious of the chemicals used in food production, more and more gardeners are keen to grow their own vegetables and fruit while steering away from synthetic insecticides and pesticides. In this book John Fedor draws on both his training as a biochemist and his extensive gardening experience to explain exactly why and how to garden organically. He includes ground plans for gardens of all sizes, all the information you need on organic techniques such as soil care and composting, and an extensive illustrated directory of fruit and vegetables, with cultural information and recommended varieties. This is a book for beginners and experienced gardeners alike and set to become the standard reference manual on organic gardening.

The SEED To PANTRY Planner is the first-ever planner that helps readers calculate everything from seed to pantry in order to grow, cook, and preserve a year's worth of food. The SEED To PANTRY Planner is a game changer. No more guessing how many tomato plants are needed to grow to feed a family. DIY farmers simply insert the number of people in their family and get the number of plants that they need to plant. The SEED To PANTRY Planner is an actual yearly planner which helps to keep everything in one place, including month-at-a-glance pages for readers to record appointments along with birthdays and week-at-a-glance pages to record daily to-do lists. Within The SEED To PANTRY Planner, there are: Charts for food preservation through home canning Charts for food preservation through home dehydrating Generous worksheet space Recipe multiplier worksheets Worksheets for prioritizing goals Graphs for planning a garden Seed starting calendars Worksheets to keep track of herbs and roots used medicinally Monthly budget planner worksheets Weekly menu planning sheets that include planning for preserving