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The Minimalist Gardener: Low Impact, No Dig Growing

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If you love lawns then sweep away the flowerbeds that clutter up your precious gardening time and go, tend your lawn. The advice that Patrick offers through his articles is so helpful because of the way he encourages the reader to think. After Patrick's death, there were obituaries in The Telegraph, The Guardian and on BBC Radio 4, and tributes to him from all over the world on social media. Patrick Holden from The Sustainable Food Trust wrote, "It is only towards the end of his life that the wider significance of permaculture ideas began to emerge.

If you asked 100 gardeners the same series of questions about how to grow vegetables, or manage the soil, or make good compost, you would get 100 different sets of answers.Patrick taught many permaculture and other practical courses with his wife, Cathy, and was one of the first teachers in the world to develop an online Permaculture Design Course. The Minimalist Gardener brings together a series of 17 articles written by renowned grower, permaculturist and teacher, the late Patrick Whitefield and originally published in Permaculture magazine over a period of more than twenty years. If this was his aspiration, he came fairly close at times, with his modest suburban garden looking something like a miniature Garden of Eden. It can be lonely being the ‘weird’ and ‘untidy’ one on an allotment and can cause bad feeling and complaints – in some sad cases councils have ploughed up long established, productive permaculture gardens because they were reported as ‘too untidy’ or ‘neglected’ and accused of being a source of weed seeds and slugs.

The following 16 chapters each cover a specific aspect in detail and I found helpful wisdom and instruction in each but especially enjoyed the chapters on seeds and plants, shady gardening, slug controlling, perennial vegetables, pruning and building paths and steps. The Minimalist Gardener makes it all possible – we can all benefit now from the depth of experience and wisdom handed down to us by Patrick. So much has happened in a decade, from studying topiary with Charlotte Molesworth, to clipping all over the UK (and eventually in the USA and Sweden) to selling shears and secateurs at garden shows and hiding away my reticence to give talks about gardening and topiary to Horticultural Societies across the UK. The Minimalist Gardener has the potential to regenerate some of these plots and re-enthuse the disillusioned as once a minimalist design is implemented that is the end of hard labour and the beginning of abundant harvesting with minimal management.He used to tell students that the ultimate permaculture design would require one simply to get out of bed in the morning, walk into the garden, lay on the ground and allow the food to fall into your open mouth! terraces are well-built, paths lead somewhere and sculpture has a sense of scale and grandeur that fits in with the rest of the garden. In the last chapter Patrick takes a look at permaculture beyond our own gardens and plots and gets us thinking about how we can move toward collaboration and integration with neighbours and wider communities. While the home had a garden, since they were only staying a short time, not too much was done with it. Minimalist gardening appeals to all gardeners – every grower is excited by the prospect of increased yields and decreased effort – it’s a dream for anyone trying to combine food growing with a busy life or ageing body.

Chapter one succinctly describes permaculture approaches to minimalist gardening with very clear, simple explanations that completely demystify the terms whilst gently and convincingly introducing some of the more revolutionary permaculture techniques that newbies can find a bit dubious. The key is knowing the right questions, examining what you want from your garden and knowing how to understand the unique characteristics of the space. For example, the concepts and practice of no dig, polycultures, element placement and beneficial relationships.Big thanks are due to Permanent Publications for bringing these articles together into this very accessible and easy reading new reference book. There is also a whole section on fruit that could be a great time saver, learning from others’ experience.

Patrick describes how to select plants based on what you like to eat and how to combine them in polycultures that confound would-be pests. Especially if neighbouring growers have spent years putting huge effort into digging, clearing, weeding, eliminating undesirables and feel proud of their efforts to keep their plot one of the most exemplary for well dug neatness. Patrick describes his minimalist ways – and the sometimes mysterious sounding permaculture principles and tactics – in simple, common sense, gardening terms. Patrick was a contributor to Permaculture Magazine and wrote quarterly seasonal articles about gardening, particularly drawing upon his own gardening experience and the wealth of experienced gained from his years as a permaculture teacher and consultant. Growing our own food is not only a satisfying and enjoyable thing to do, but it’s also one of the most positive actions we can take to turn our negative ecological impact into a beneficial one.Putting the right plant in the right place, so that it thrives rather than looking ill because the conditions don’t suit it. At the same time, more people are becoming aware of the destructive and toxic nature of industrial farming practice, health and environmental impacts, monopolies and questionable ethics of agrochemical and seed companies and the big land owners. Audiobooks from Chelsea Green Publishing | We have partnered with Glassboxx to bring Chelsea Green books in audio formats, easily and securely.

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