The Beginner's Landscape Transformation Manual by Michael Hoag

I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.

"The thing with being a beginner is that we don't necessarily have the wisdom and experience to know which things are worth doing yet. But now we can do all the things. Including all the stupid ones. How do we know which to do? " --The Beginner's Landscape Transformation Manual, p.19

Hi! The above describes me, exactly.

"This book is a series of adventures designed to help your landscape grow into a well-connected permaculture paradise, while helping you grow into an expert landscape transformer." p.16

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Yes, this book is a great one for people like me who are trying to feed their family and restore the eco-system on an urban quarter-acre. This book was written by a man who transformed a northern-USA city lot--project: Lillie House Permaculture--and he thoroughly discusses and profiles this very project as an example of what can be done by home gardeners throughout the entire book.

Although mainly a book for Permaculture beginners, this is also a book for those who already know some Permaculture ideas and would like to get much better at what they do. Currently I am especially interested in learning to use perennial polycultures in my urban lot, and this book has several important sections and resources for permaculture guilds, ranging from simple to complex.  I've never seen this information broken down with instructions like this anywhere before. The passages on these things are far more than descriptions--they are practical action plans.

So many good things I found in the book, I will limit myself to enumerating just a few: 1) The author is sensitive to people having neighbors that will have to gradually get used to Permaculture, and what to do to make your beginning Permaculture garden not make them complain. 2) The Guild section doesn't just tell you what but also when and how to plant the things  described, and to get them started. I've never seen that in any other book either. There is a wonderful section on the Guild design roles for plants that folks will most likely be planting in the beginner's garden (on pages 134-135).  3) This author has high praise for crab apples, which surprised me very much, and for the value of garlic--I was immediately sold. 4) He values grasses very much in their place--wow! 5) He also values gardeners being sensitive to when doing nothing is the best action step. 5) There are Top 10 lists of techniques, and info on key plants, so many helpful charts, insets, and tips. 6) At the back of the book there is a plant profile section. I have read a lot of books with plant profiles, but not a single one before this has made me laugh out loud. I appreciate the author's sensitivity to the humor of the history and culture of gardening very much--see the Sun choke section, for example, to find out what I mean.

At the very back, Appendix 1 lists what to order--seeds or plants--for many common garden items you'll want to start your garden with, and Appendix 2 is just about worth the whole book for me--edible and useful plants with guild ideas for typical shady situations--and shade is the bane of my existence, as many of you know.

A beautiful, hopeful, practical and action-oriented book that was a joy to read, and, come spring--to implement!