Gaia's Garden: Table of Contents

FOREWORD by John Todd

Part One: THE GARDEN AS ECOSYSTEM

Chapter 1. INTRODUCING THE ECOLOGICAL GARDEN

Gardens that Really Work with Nature
Why Is Gardening So Much Work?
Beyond--Way Beyond--Natural Gardening
The Natives versus Exotics Debate
Making the Desert Bloom, Sustainably
How to Use This Book
Sidebar: What Is Permaculture?

Chapter 2. A GARDENER'S ECOLOGY

Three Ecological Principles
A Mature Garden
A Few of Nature's Tricks for Gardeners
Sidebar: Do Plant Communities Really Exist?

Chapter 3. DESIGNING THE ECOLOGICAL GARDEN

The Ecological Design Process
Natural Patterns in the Garden
Sidebars: Some Pear Tree Connections,
Designing the Ecological Garden, Building and Planting a Keyhole Bed

Part Two: THE PIECES OF THE ECOLOGICAL GARDEN

Chapter 4. BRINGING THE SOIL TO LIFE

Soil Life: The First Recyclers
Building Soil Life
Sharing the Wealth of the Soil
Sidebars: Woody Ways to Build Soil, The Ultimate, Bomb-proof Sheet Mulch, Starting Plants in Sheet Mulch

Chapter 5. CATCHING, CONSERVING, AND USING WATER

The Fivefold Path to Water Wisdom
Conserving Water with Catchment
Water Brings the Garden to Life
Sidebars: How to Make a Swale, Planning a Water-Harvesting System, Tips for Using Graywater, Creating a Backyard Wetland

Chapter 6. PLANTS FOR MANY USES

The Many Roles of a Tree
Multipurpose Plants
The Roles of Plants in the Ecological Theater
Annuals and Perennials
Microclimates for the Garden
Nurses, Scaffolds, and Chaperones
Summary: Mixing the Many Functions of Plants
Sidebar: Weeds and Other Wild Food

Chapter 7. BRINGING IN THE BEES, BIRDS, AND OTHER HELPFUL ANIMALS

More Good Buys than Bad
Attracting Beneficial Insects
The Gardener's Feathered Friend
Other Backyard Helpers
Sidebar: A Gallery of Beneficial Insects

Part Three: ASSEMBLING THE ECOLOGICAL GARDEN

Chapter 8. CREATING COMMUNITIES FOR THE GARDEN

Interplanting and Beyond
Guilding the Garden
Sidebars: lanto Evans's Polyculture, Jajarkot's Advanced Polyculture, Growing the Three Sisters Guild

Chapter 9. DESIGNING GARDEN GUILDS

An Intimate Way of Guild-Building
Guilds for Bookworms
Creating a Super-Guild
Guilds Aren't Perfect
Sidebar: Using Natural Plant Communities to Guide Guild Design

Chapter 1O. GROWING A FOOD FOREST

Experimenting with Forest Gardens
The Seven-Story Garden
How the Food Forest Evolves
Sidebar: A Brief History of Forest Gardens

Chapter 11. Permaculture Gardening in the City

Chapter 12. POP GOES THE GARDEN Choosing the Right Pieces

The Garden Gets Popping
Assembling the Garden Revisited
Sidebar: Ecological Compromises, or You Can't Make an Omelet . . .

Appendix: A Sampling of Useful Plants Glossary
Bibliography
Resources
Index

Just out! The revised, expanded, all-color Second Edition!
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to
Home-Scale Permaculture

by Toby Hemenway

Chelsea Green, 2009.

“The world didn’t come with an operating manual, so it’s a good thing that some wise people have from time to time written them. Gaia’s Garden is one of the more important, a book that will be absolutely necessary in the world ahead.”

—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and Hope, Human and Wild