Edible Perennial Gardening · Growing Successful Polycultures in Small Spaces by Kelsey, Anni -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Copyright Page Contents The Author Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Anticipation Chapter 1 Setting an Objective – find and grow as many perennial vegetables as possible

Starting points Be realistic but push the boundaries of possibility Definitions What is special about perennial vegetables? Are there any disadvantages? Find and grow as many perennial vegetables as possible Principles

Permaculture Edible forest gardening Masanobu Fukuoka and natural farming Synthesis A wider context What are we “transitioning” towards?

Chapter 3 Living Soil and Plant Nutrition

The basics of soil structure Healthy soil is alive Soil food webs Dead food web Living food web Plants need the right nutrients The gardener”s part

Chapter 4 Growing in Polycultures – Diversity by Design

What is a polyculture? The advantages of polycultures The elements of polycultures Plant size, shape and form

Chapter 5 Choosing Perennial Vegetables – Part One

Selecting suitable perennials Perennial leafy greens and shoots Perennial green vegetables – cabbage family Other perennial kales Perennial green vegetables – other plant families Perennial onions Perennial roots and tubers

Chapter 6 Choosing Perennial Vegetables – Part Two

Annuals that can be grown as perennials Annual greens as perennials Other useful annual greens Annual roots grown as perennials Perennials I would have liked to be able to grow better Miscellaneous other perennial vegetables Flowers

Chapter 7 Cooking with New Foods

Eating your perennial vegetables Hearty chick pea and kale soup Kale and leek colcannon Kale with ginger, garlic and chilli Wild rocket soup Roasted perennial root vegetables

Chapter 8 Plants to Complete a Polyculture

Tall plants Medium height plants Ground cover and low plants Climbers Nitrogen fixers Flowers

Chapter 9 Pathways to Polyculture

Starting points and general principles Planning a polyculture Creating edible polycultures Size and scale

Chapter 10 Site Selection and Preparation

Where to grow perennial vegetables Site preparation and initial fertility Establishing the patch and ongoing fertility Raising plants from seed Fruit trees, bushes and forest gardens Potted polycultures Storing produce

Chapter 11 “Managing” a Polyculture

On balance Principles How does this work in practice? “Weeding” Mineral accumulators Nitrogen fixers Pests and diseases Fertility The “do nothing” vegetable patch Productivity Edible landscaping Resilience

Chapter 12 Reflection Appendix 1 Table of perennial vegetable plants Appendix 2 Suppliers of seeds and perennial vegetable plants Appendix 3 Books, websites and blogs Appendix 4 Dynamic accumulator plants Appendix 5 Enzyme co-factors in physiological processes Index