Sustainable Backyard Polyculture: Designing for ecological resiliency

This book presents an ecological how-to approach to polyculture gardening organized around a core set of design and production principles that maximize the potential for growing healthy plants, primarily edible, in small spaces. The reader will explore garden design, techniques of soil-building, composting, making backyard no-soil or minimum soil mixes, learn more about integrated organic pest management (IOPM) and what plants to grow to reduce the expense of fertilizer and pesticide purchases. Sustainable Backyard Polyculture: Designing for ecological resiliency introduces a definition of sustainability and the role that plants have in supporting the resilience of a landscape. Step-by-step guides and best practices are provided in each chapter to aid in the implementation of the various methods. Polyculture gardening is not dependent on access to land. This book also reviews the innovations in the hydroponic family of technologies--hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics, and garden towers--that has led to the integration of gardening and high-tech at economies of scale not possible in earlier decades. For those gardeners new to biointensive, polyculture gardening, a glossary of agronomic and farmscape concepts and practices is appended to aid in their understanding.