How to Make a Forest Garden: 1 Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Oct. 2012

This is a fantastic book. Just what I was looking for. Don't be concerned about the black & white photos. Like many colour photos in other books, they are a mere guide. Besides, it's the info you want, and here it's priceless.I have just started to plant up my own forest garden on 2 acres of land, with almost no money left to spare. So the right advice for the best plants (which I grow entirely from seeds, cuttings, or by grafting, or through swapping with friends) is absolutely crucial.I have no room for making any economic mistakes here!Mr Whitefield encourages you to make the most of what nature has to offer in order to create your no-dig or restricted-dig forest garden, approaching the matter of mulches, weeds and pests in a sensible way. (So nice to see a keen gardener who understands that not everyone has access to 'Gardener's World' type TV budgets).There is advice on so many other aspects of 'healthier, greener' methods of growing food and materials (such as for basketry) it is almost impossible to list them all without writing down a good part of the book. There is careful consideration given to how best to plant the forest so that it gains the maximum levels of light for better growth, water usage & collecting, pruning.Even though my own embryonic-forest is only just starting to produce the odd berry and mushroom (and that's despite the fact that it still looks little more than a rather weedy field), through this book I have come to see that there are even more ways of raising foods & materials that will not compromise the balance of nature. Indeed, your mind begins to run riot and you start to see even more ways that the book doesn't include, so it is idea-inspiring too.As I have just started to introduce fungi species, with the intention of growing many more types of edible and symbiotic fungi, I was happy to see a couple of lengthy paragraphs have been included on this newly appreciated yet essential side to successful gardening. However, perhaps, in later editions, there could be a little more emphasis on this subject? Or perhaps another book?You don't need a big garden either. That point comes across very clearly. You can begin to raise your own mini-forest in a very small space indeed, and I'm not just talking about the pocket-handkerchief gardens that are squeezed in behind modern developments. Even a productive container or kitchen windowsill is given mention here. Having lived previously in a place with a 10 x 4 foot deeply-shaded concrete yard, I know it is possible to grow a reasonable amount of food in such places, with the added benefit that you know exactly 'how' that food was grown!

This is a great book for someone who wants to design and plan a Forest Garden and to understand the concept properly.It gets lots of praise elsewhere, so let me offer some feet-on-the-ground criticism - not so much about the book but about the idea that forest gardening is a realistic route to family food self-sufficiency. I read a lot of nonsense claiming Forest Gardens can feed the nation.* My take-home message is that the Forest Garden thing is very over-hyped in terms of how much of your weekly shopping you can actually, really produce for yourself. *You can produce fruit (many types) and greens (many types, for salads and cooking) and herbs ... but not much else. And most crops are typically available only for a small portion of the year.I can hear the space-cadets: 'oh Paul, you're not being fair! what about that handful of tiny hazelnuts we can grow? and what about the foul dandelion 'coffee' we can make?'.If you are interested in genuine food production (rather than symbolic gestures) then wake up to this reality:Look at your grocery shopping list - does it contain more than fruit, greens and herbs?and do you go shopping every week or only in the spring and summer?The fact is, old-school dig-for-victory gardening is still needed if you want any carbs or any three-dimensional non-leaf vegetables: potatoes (or the more fashionable oca or yacon), carrots, parsnips, turnips - all that stuff needs digging.So yes, this is a great book on the topic, but do be realistic about what you can get from a Forest Garden. I think the main yield is the pleasure of tinkering in it and talking about it - and an incentive to make your diet more healthy because you'll be growing plenty of fresh fruit and greens (sometimes). But a substitute for other gardening and food-shopping it is not.If you still want to grow a Forest Garden, be sure to check out some other sources for your plant list (Crawford and PFAF) - Whitefield's plant list is not very balanced. That said, his overall approach is excellent so this book is a good place to start designing from.

What a fabulous book. Everything I wanted and more. Patrick gives so much information for the beginner or experienced gardener. Forest gardening is a 3 layered technique to provided maximum yield of food production all year round. This is something we should all be looking to do over the next few years as our global supplies of oil run out. By 2013 there will be no more oil - world wide - and as our whole existence at present relies totally on its production we will be facing the biggest challenge yet in producing enough food to survive. Forest gardening is possibly the only way for each individual and/or community to sustain year round supplies of food to prevent starvation. I kid you not. Buy it - read it - DO IT - NOW - whilst there is still a little time.

Clear, specific and well-written, this is a very good book. The experience of the author shows in his sensible observations and recommendations. Despite other reviews, I found the black-and-white pictures fine and effective, and don't think there is any need for colour. Colour merely uses more energy and resources for the same job.

A wonderful book on a hot topic. Really clear, really well laid out. I find it invaluable. Patrick Whitfield is a real expert and enthusiast, but the text is easy to follow and cooly written.Highly recommended.

I've recently discovered Forest Gardening and have found this an interesting read. It's a little heavy going at times but generally well written.

great book great author, simply awesome very precise and full of useful information. i Like the way the author explains thats why a bought another of his books, the one on how to read the landscape

Plein d'information... me sera très utile.

Excellent book! Gives a lot of information for planning purposes, including diagrams and things I wouldn't have considered. Goes WAY beyond simply choosing plants that work together to include the uses of walls, manners of pruning (or not pruning) trees, and how a forest garden will morph over time as larger plants mature. As someone fairly new to gardening looking for a more technical book this was perfect.

How to make a forest garden is an encyclopedic introduction to designing and maintaining a forest garden. Especially if you have a small garden, How to make a forest garden gives many interesting hints and advice. The author is a permaculturist, which permeates throughout the book. It is aimed at the Forest Gardener of Northwestern Europe. This is not the best book for Forest Gardening. The book from Crawford is much better, because it has been written 14 years later and because it is more complete.

As we are in the middle of establishing our own permaculture forest garden, this book just hits the spot. An excellent introduction to temperate permaculture and implementing it in a forest garden

Pretty impressed with this book. It is an excellent resource, and provides a very good introduction to forest gardening. This book will be most useful to people who live in the UK, but can be useful to anyone in a somewhat similar climate. My only real complaint is just that I wish it leaned more towards the use of native plants. Very glad that I own this book.