Books: Trees, Fruits & Edible Landscaping

Creating a "forest garden," or "edible forest," involves planting a wide variety of edible plants at different heights, inspired by forest systems.

Creating a "forest garden," or "edible forest," involves planting a wide variety of edible plants at different heights, drawing inspiration from forest ecosystems. Thanks to their mutual interactions, the chosen species require little soil work, weeding, or pest control, resulting in a productive and healthy system.

This book provides all the keys to creating a forest garden adapted to our climate, whatever the size of the project: design, planting and maintenance advice; a directory of more than 500 trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, vegetables and climbers, all edible or useful, all cultivable and available in our region, and many of which are little known.

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Author: Martin CRAWFORD
Publisher: Ulmer Editions
Publication date: 2017
Pages: 250 illustrations - 352 pages
ISBN: 978-2-7072-0906-1

Who hasn't dreamed of growing their own fruit at home: apples, pears, plums, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, hardy kiwis, etc., and thus having fresh fruit on hand all summer long?

Evelyne Leterme confirms that grafting fruit trees is quite easy when you take care to respect a minimum of rules.

In this revised and expanded edition, Évelyne Leterme confirms that grafting fruit trees is quite easy when a few basic rules are followed, particularly choosing the right technique based on the tree's growth stage and the time of year, and ensuring precise movements. However, the resulting scion, however beautiful, requires care that is sometimes neglected and neglected.
This book, enhanced with 167 color photos and numerous drawings, describes and makes accessible to everyone the different grafting techniques as well as the tree maintenance operations that allow you to achieve the final objective of these works: to obtain beautiful fruit in your orchard as quickly as possible.

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Author: Evelyne Leterme
Publisher: Rouergue
Publication date: 2011
Pages: 120
ISBN: 978-2-8126-2475-9
Language: French

Site selection, development plan, choice of plant species, budget, work organization and citizen participation: this book provides the tools to develop collective food forests in our communities.

How can we easily and abundantly grow healthy fruits and vegetables for a local community? And how can we do so in an environmentally friendly and resilient way, while also strengthening cultural ties, promoting education in sustainable agriculture, and maintaining biodiversity? The answer lies in multi-layered agroforestry systems, better known in Quebec as "food forests." Self-regulating like a natural forest and requiring minimal maintenance, these systems are valuable allies in the ongoing agroecological revolution.

In this guide, Caroline Dufour-L'Arrivée leverages her expertise to equip and support communities wishing to establish food forests in their environment, whether urban, rural, municipal, school, or institutional. In addition to offering numerous tips on plant selection and agricultural techniques, this guide:

• explains the concept of "food forest" and its importance;
• shares the experience gained by thirteen model and pioneering initiatives in Quebec in the form of detailed and illustrated portraits;
• shows how this type of development allows communities to rebuild links and develop their resilience;
• identifies the fundamental elements that must be taken into account to successfully carry out a collective food forest project;
• offers a step-by-step working method to help structure the implementation processes of this type of project and monitor their progress.

Citizens are increasingly expressing their desire to develop a new, healthy, and sustainable agriculture that is less labor-intensive and creates multifunctional green spaces. This guide will certainly meet their need for support in their collective project.

Illustrated by Mélika Bazin

Author: Caroline Dufour – The Arrival
Publication date: November 4, 2024
Publisher: ECOSOCIETE
Pages: 300
ISBN: 9782898570339
Format: printed paperback book
Illustrations: 178 color photographs, 71 illustrations
Dimensions: 21.6 cm x 21.6 cm

This concept involves creating a 3-layered garden, inspired by the forest ecosystem.

This concept involves creating a three-tiered garden, inspired by the forest ecosystem: the upper tier for fruit trees, the middle tier for espaliered and trained vegetables and berries, and finally, the lower tier for vegetables and herbs. Organized in this way, the garden is designed like a food forest, allowing for a wide variety of crops, abundant harvests, and increased productivity.

Easy to set up, the oasis garden is suitable for both small and large spaces, in the city or the countryside, and fits perfectly with your gardening style, whether it is classic or innovative (raised beds, lasagna gardening, square foot gardening...).

Author: Robert Elger
Publication date: April 2019
Publisher: Rustica
Pages: 176
ISBN: 9782815313889

This book takes a comprehensive and holistic approach to edible gardening. It's a kind of toolbox that brings together both basic principles and practical instructions for the various possibilities available to gardeners.

In practice, it is first and foremost a tool for freedom, allowing each gardener to choose the layouts that best suit their vision and expectations. Just as in nature, every ecosystem is unique, every eco-responsible edible garden should be equally so. Influenced by bioclimatic conditions and the characteristics of the land, it should above all reflect the gardener and their family.
Thanks to this book, gardeners will be able to produce healthy and tasty vegetables, fruits, herbs, and other edible plants, while protecting the environment.

To remain true to the book's theme, the author chose an eco-responsible approach. The paper format, which is 100% recycled, avoids unnecessary paper use. During the eco-design process, he selected low-ink fonts and limited the size of the photographs. These are in black and white to further reduce ink consumption. Eco-inking involved creating craters ranging from black to gray to minimize ink usage. Finally, he opted for short, easily renewable print runs to avoid inventory and the need to recycle unsold books.

Browse the first few pages of this book: The Eco-Friendly Edible Garden: Understanding Nature and Harnessing Its Benefits

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Author: Bertrand Dumont
Publisher: Horti Media
Publication date: 2023
Page: 302
Dimensions: 23 cm x 15.25 cm x 2 cm
Weight: 467 grams
ISBN: 9782924041178
Language: French

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This book offers guidance on planning, creating, and maintaining an edible garden in an eco-responsible way. From characterizing and analyzing built and living elements, through planning and shaping the vegetable garden and planting the fruit orchard, to maintaining, harvesting, and consuming vegetables, fruits, and other produce, gardeners can create a sustainable and economical edible garden.

One of the unique aspects of this book is that it offers an original overview of different types of organic gardening, both traditional and modern forms of vegetable gardens, fruit gardens, and indoor growing methods. Each gardener can therefore choose the layouts best suited to their needs and expectations, while developing an eco-responsible approach.

To remain true to the book's theme, the author chose an eco-responsible approach. The paper format, which is 100% recycled, avoids unnecessary paper use. During the eco-design process, he selected low-ink fonts and limited the size of the photographs. These are in black and white to further reduce ink consumption. Eco-inking involved creating craters ranging from black to gray to minimize ink usage. Finally, he opted for short, easily renewable print runs to avoid inventory and the need to recycle unsold books.

Browse the first few pages of this book: The Eco-Friendly Edible Garden: Designing and Cultivating with Respect for the Earth

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Author: Bertrand Dumont
Publisher: Horti Media
Publication date: 2023
Page: 310
Dimensions: 23 cm x 15.25 cm x 2.2 cm
Weight: 476 grams
ISBN: 9782924041185
Language: French

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This book reveals that the varieties are all different and that each of them has its own type of branching and fruiting.

From pruning to training fruit trees offers a new perspective on the growth and fruiting of fifteen different species (apricot, almond, cherry, chestnut, quince, fig, kiwi, hazelnut, walnut, olive, peach, pear, apple, plum, table grape).

No longer pruning fruit trees to obtain primarily a geometric and structured shape, but accompanying them in their natural development to quickly obtain good quality fruit and better behavior of the tree in the face of diseases: this is the goal that twenty-five authors and collaborators have set for themselves, under the coordination of Jean-Marie Lespinasse and Évelyne Leterme.

This book reveals that all varieties are different and that each possesses its own unique branching and fruiting pattern. Their natural structure is not only the most harmonious but also the most efficient. If we respect this natural tree structure and its fruiting method, we will no longer need to impose artificial pruning. We will act as educators, encouraging the characteristics of each variety. We can then suppress the often destructive "pruning reflex," which is disrespectful of nature and lacks any scientific or physiological justification. Let nature take its course and assist it according to its own instructions.

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Authors: Evelyne Leterme and Jean-Marie Lespinasse
Edition: Du Rouergue
Publication date: 2024
Pages: 324
ISBN: 978-2-8126-2570-1
Language: French