CON T E N T S • • • Chapter One: What Is Integrated Forest Gardening?
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The Permaculture Design System The Design Process Essential Templates of Good Design • What Is Forest Gardening? • Perennials and Polycultures • Climate and Scale • Climate Change and the Importance of Integrated Crop Production • Capturing, Storing, Cycling, and the Sustainable Homestead • A Word About Compost: Extending the Life of a Resource • Water and Earthworks • What Is a Plant Guild? • The Scientific Basis for Plant Guilds • The Importance of Plant Diversity • Applications of Plant Guilds in Permaculture and Forest Gardening • How Guilds Work • Designing for the Niche • Studying Guilds in Their Natural State •
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Chapter Two: The Structure of a Plant Guild
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Perennial Polycultures • Defining Your Niche • Nutrient Cycling • Carrying Capacity • Understanding the Context of Your Site • Start from Scratch or Follow Nature’s Lead? • The Integrated Living System • Niche Dynamics • Designing for Cooperative Competition • The Importance of Sunlight • The Position of Plants • Determining the Quality of Your Soil • Building for Nutrient Cycling • Needs of a Forest Garden • Five Considerations for Sustainable Design • Permaculture Principles to Apply to Guild Design • Yeomans’s Scale of Relative Permanence • Constructing the Plant Guild • Questions You May Be Asking
C hapter Three: Selecting Plants for Guild Design
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Understanding the Biome • Functions of Plant Guilds and Polycultures • Covering the Soil with a Blanket of Vegetation • The Soil Regime • Soils and Salt Tolerance • Catastrophic Occurrences • Agricultural Toxins • When the Wind Doth Blow • Terra Preta: The Dark Earth • Growing Zones • Selecting Plants for Resilience • Understanding Sun Exposure • Determine Your Soil Types • Understanding a Plant’s Tolerances • Guild Design Basics • Roots: Anchors and So Much More • The Fabulous Fungi • Nitrogen-Fixing Plants • Seasonal Considerations • Bloom Times • Fruit Set • Patterns of Growth • Populating the Guild • The Natural Range of Plants • The Importance of Diversity
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