Edible Landscaping With a Permaculture Twist by Michael Judd

Great, a climate close to my own. I'm having real difficulty imagining good designs for an east coast, suburban garden. My wife keeps yelling at me because it's not cute. Basic ideas, but those typically are the biggest epiphanies. Have you found a solid source for the hard to find seeds like comfrey or chicory?

I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.

So...I have been thinking about whether to give this book 9 or 10 acorns all day. I wanted to give it 10 because I honestly cannot find anything wrong with it, BUT I also just feel like 10 is the unattainable number that no book can actually get.. Anyway, back to the review. This book was absolutely phenomenal. I am going to break my review up into two different parts. Aesthetics and Content.

As much as I'd like to think that the content of a book is the most important part, sometimes I think that aesthetics play an almost equal role. This book is beautifully put together with nice quality shiny pages that have tons of amazing pictures. The pictures play a HUGE part in this book because they make so many of the 'how to' parts SO easy to understand. The animations are cute and often quite humorous! Even though the pages are really nice quality, Michael makes a point at the beginning of the book that this book is supposed to and meant to get dirty and used in the garden and it better not get left on the coffee table and I loved that! I have already drug my copy out to my backyard to start planning.

For the content, boy where do I start? This book is PERFECT for someone trying to transform their backyard into a permaculture food forest and even more perfect for someone who hasn't even started yet, like me. He goes over herb spirals, rainwater harvesting, fungi, food forests, uncommon fruit, hugelkultur, and earthen ovens. And honestly, he convinced me that I could do each and every one of those things without a doubt. I know some of these processes are not THAT easy but he really explained them so simply that it gave me confidence to ACTUALLY try these things instead of just read about them. I seriously cannot wait to use this to revamp my backyard next spring.

Another thing I think is worth noting is how fun this guy is. He writes with such energy and humor that it makes reading this book so easy and entertaining. I loved it and one hundred percent reccomend it to anyone, especially those in more urban or suburban settings.

10 out of 10 Acorns.

This book kept me interested the entire time. The varied types of odd fruits and nuts is awesome. Some of which I had as a child and have not had since.

Fungi was totally new to me. I was unaware of the ease in which it is to grow your own.this book gives you great info as well as resources to get the starting spores and equipment.

Uncommon fruits is another area this book nailed home for me. We have persimmons on our property, and love them. However it's been long ago since I have had a gooseberry pie.

Mr. Judd also gives you a few recipes for the excesses of fruit you will produce.

Overall I was very impressed with the simplicity of the book, and how it was in a tone which I can understand and with all the resources to find where to get everything he talked about, and free recipes to boot!

Picked up my copy from Amazon.com 👍👍

HOW timely - we have been talking about putting some swales on our sloped yard, and love the chapter on rainwater harvesting!

I know this is an old thread so you may have already found your answer but I just received both comfrey and chicory seeds that I ordered on Esty. Hope this helps

This was one of the first books I purchased about permaculture years ago after attending mother earth news fair at Seven Springs.  One of my favorites, and a fantastic introduction to the concept. I discovered the existence of pawpaws and persimmons from this book and will be growing many of each in my yard. I also incorporated an herb spiral into the retaining walk beside my driveway because of this book (a work in progress).

I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.

I realize this is an older book (2013), however in reading it, it is just as relevant today as it was almost 10 years ago. I borrowed a copy from my local library, and there are 3 reserves in line for it, which is also a great sign.

I'll also mention that Michael Judd's writing style is fun to read, as if you're having a conversation with a friend about how to improve your garden. Tidbits of humorous banter break up the harder bits that teach new gardeners ideas they may not have been exposed to elsewhere.

This is *not* a book about "what is permaculture"? It is a book that lives real-life permaculture with concrete building/planting ideas, rather than the underlying theory. There are lots of other books written about the theory, so although encouraging people to look at a project in isolation may seem like putting the cart before the horse for purists, I believe it's a great way to get people to dip a toe into the idea of sustainable, self-supporting gardens which will get them down the rabbit hole to future sustainable food growing.

In fact, the first two projects in his book are Chapter 1,  Herb Spiral and Chapter 2, Rainwater Harvesting. That latter chapter has a side bar labeled "The Starter Swale". Thirty years ago when I was living in a new residential area, I'd have had the perfect place for that small project, had I ever heard of such a thing!

He then has chapters covering the importance of fungi, food forests, and uncommon fruits. All of these are actually introducing important concepts that support healthy soil-building in a great introductory way. This is followed up by what my neighbors 10 years ago would have thought was weird and crazy - hugelculture - a superb way to build soil, hold water, grow food, and generally help Mother Nature heal the world. He does only introduce the common concept of a big mound with wood in the center and one picture of a hugel combined with a swale, but that is suitable for his ecosystem. Once people realize "burying wood" is a good thing to do, there are plenty examples out there on adapting the concept to other ecosystems, or variations on the theme. A totally conservative friend of mine is having health problems. When she had her husband build her a 30" tall raised bed last year, she realized she needed to take a page from all the books I quoted from and put punky wood at the bottom (not to mention, her chopped up Christmas tree!) Her husband is putting the finishing touches on a second one this week and she's already planning what to plant in it on top of all the wood at the bottom.

He finishes the book with a chapter about building an earthen oven. This will give people the idea that they can build, but maybe if he writes an update to this book, he could get people building an RMH to make an even bigger impact on our sustainability and resiliency? All in all, this is a fun book to read and is full of pictures to inspire even the most experienced permaculture practitioners, although I would suggest it's aimed more at newbies.