Member Reviews
Great guide to sustainable container gardening. Great tips, helpful plant advice, overall a very well done book.
I only was able to get about 20% into this book before it expired (it's difficult to read on the net galley app instead of the kindle app). I felt that maybe this book is meant more for the European market? I didn't get a whole lot extra out of this then other gardening books.
Container Gardening―The Permaculture Way is a tutorial and informational guide to sustainable and restorative gardening in small areas by Valéry Tsimba. Originally published in French in 2021 as Mon balcon nourricier en permaculture, this reformat and re-release in English translation from The Experiment is 160 pages and is available in flexibound and ebook formats.
This is a well photographed and accessible record of the author's tiny (2 x 22 feet!) balcony garden and her experiences and challenges utilizing the space with permaculture techniques to provide edible fruits and vegetables in her very urban (Paris) area.
The book has a logical and easy-to-follow format. She covers permaculture and restorative agriculture in the introduction, gives a good how-to overview of container gardening including setup and planting, followed by a short almanac of examples of what to plant and when to plant it, and a nice chapter on community and sharing the information and love of gardening with others.
The author/publisher have included an abbreviated links list and bibliography for further reading, and a cross referenced index.
The translation work is seamless, and it doesn't read like a book which was translated.
Four and a half stars. The author's philosophy of restorative gardening and "do what you can with what you have where you are" resonate very deeply. This would be an excellent choice for public or school library acquisiton, for makers' groups, gardening/allotment/community garden libraries, for suburban and urban gardeners, and for gift giving (maybe bundled with some seeds and simple tools).
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review.
Gardening is something that can relieve stress and produce delicious food. When one has a small space or can only grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers in containers, it can be new adventure for those wanting to try gardening. Valery Tsimba has proven it to be a worthwhile venture that can produce long-term. Tsimba shares her tips and tricks in Container Gardening: The Permaculture Way, which she says she started in the COVID-19 lockdown. Permaculture is where the garden is growing all year round, no matter the season. Tsimba does say in the book that this will work in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5 and under; zones 6 and 7 will need to bring their containers inside to keep the plants alive over winter. Since I am in zone 6a, this book has less application to me; however, I know that there are many others who live south of where I live that could use these tips and tricks to grow a garden in containers year round. Tsima showed how to transplant plants and save seeds. There was also a very handy chart about the average period of viability for seeds so anyone saving seeds can know how long they are good to plant. Tsima also shared the value of gardening as. a community. Container Gardening: The Permaculture Way is a valuable resource for the gardener who wants to start small. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
What a great resource on container and permaculture gardening. It is well written and contain many beautiful photos! The author gives details of everything you need to get from started, for every level of gardener, from fruition to the finish product. I really got a deep dive into permaculture and the idea of letting nothing go to waste. This is all new to me and is so fascinating to learn about. My favorite part of the book was the list of plants with English and Latin names, botanical plant families, with her description of what she does.
Needless to say, I loved it very informal book and highly recommend it!
#ContainerGardeningThePermacultureWay #NetGalley
I learned so much reading this book, on container gardening & permaculture.
Yes, I had to google permaculture just to make sure I was ahead of the game before picking up this awesome advanced copy. Reading about renewable resources, seed ancestry, and biodiversity were just a few of my favorite covered topics.
What really hit home was really taking the deeper dive into permaculture and the idea of letting nothing go to waste. I am so excited to use these tips and start implementing this in my daily life, not just my garden.
Thank you for a chance to read and review Container Gardening - The Permaculture Way
A great resource filled with photos, information and personal experience. Lovely to see permaculture embraced even in a container garden on a balcony in Paris. Detailed growing and sowing information on a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers beyond the usual tomatoes and basil. Highly recommended.
I read a temporary digital version of this book for review.
A book that I wanted to read that while I have some great space to grow and am not contained to containers and I enjoyed reading to get more ideas on small space gardening and learning more about permaculture which I don't know much about. I would recommend this book to readers who are limited on their space and want to be challenged to use their limited space to the max.