Sustainable Gardening For Dummies

by Ellis, Donna

• ISBN13: 9781742169453
• ISBN10: 1742169457
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-19
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Climate change means we all have to start changing the way we live and how we use the Earth's finite resources -- and it's no different for gardeners. Sustainable Gardening For Dummies teaches both experienced gardeners and those new to the hobby how to enjoy the fruits of their labour and benefit the planet at the same time. Learn how to design a sustainable garden, using mulch, compost and other environmentally friendly practices; choose drought-tolerant plants to see your garden through tough conditions; find alternatives to traditional water-guzzling lawns; and minimise your carbon footprint while encouraging biodiversity.

Author Biography

Donna Ellis lives and breathes anything horticultural! Her passion is obvious as she willingly shares her knowledge and experience with whoever will listen - and this group grows larger as more people have the opportunity to hear her words of wisdom. She challenges, provokes and empowers her listeners to make changes in their gardening practices so those changes will eventually become the ordinary, everyday procedures everyone employs.

The stories she inevitably tells make people connect to the subject, whether it is about botanical gardens or backyard vegetable patches. You name it, she has a story about it, and these stories keep her audiences enthralled to the very end. Ask any of her students, community members or colleagues and they'll vouch for this.

Donna's work experiences at the start of her horticulture career, when chemicals and disregard for the natural environment prevailed, led her to believe there had to be more-sustainable alternatives. A fi rm believer in common sense and practical solutions to everyday garden problems, Donna has been a leading light of the sustainability movement since the early 1980s.

She is a horticulture teacher at South West Institute of TAFE in Warrnambool, Victoria, a sustainable garden consultant, a garden designer, a writer for newspapers and a speaker to community and professional groups.

She works with Sustainable Gardening Australia, delivering seminars on sustainable management of parks and gardens in metropolitan Melbourne, and with Greening Australia, developing and delivering community workshops on backyard biodiversity throughout western Victoria. In addition to her usual teaching, Donna also develops and delivers sustainable horticulture training programs at TAFE to Special Developmental Schools, a labour of love.

She is a member of a number of organisations and networks, including Sustainable Gardening Australia, the Australian Garden History Society and the Friends of Warrnambool Botanic Gardens. She is a past president of the Friends of Hamilton Botanic Gardens and was a founding committee member of Encouraging Women in Horticulture Australia.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Understanding the Basics of Sustainable Gardening

Introducing Sustainable Gardening

Soils Ain't Soils

Water: Liquid Gold

Designing a Sustainable Garden

Understanding Your Existing Space

Creating a Garden Plan

Making a Statement

Developing Healthy Habits in Your Yard

Returning Biodiversity to Your Backyard

Keeping Plants Healthy

Compost and Mulch

Worms: Slimy but Good

Growing Plants Sustainably

Selecting Sustainable Plants

Vegies and Herbs, Fruit and Nuts

The Impossible Dream? Installing a Sustainable Lawn

Containers and Other Gardens for Small Spaces

Other Schools of Thought

Organic Gardening

Permaculture

The Biodynamic Movement

The Part of Tens

Ten Ways Your Sustainable Garden Rewards You

Ten Facts about Weeds

Ten Tips for Maintaining Your Sustainable Garden

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.