Books - Organic Gardening Online

Organic Gardener Essential Guide: Inspirational Gardens
ABC Organic Gardener magazine 2012 (AUS)
If you enjoy a garden tour - and who doesn't - you'll love this collection of garden stories from around Australia. The focus is on organic food production; there's advice, design tips and inspirational ideas from garden luminaries like Peter Cundall, Josh Byrne, Phil Dudman, Jerry Coleby-Williams and Penny Woodward.
Gardening legend Peter Cundall tells the story of how he developed his beautiful and productive three hectare block in Tasmania; Josh Byrne opens up the gate to his abundant permaculture backyard in Fremantle; Jerry Coleby-Williams shows how the suburbs can be sustainable and outlines 11 composting methods used in his award-winning, food-producing Brisbane property, Bellis. You can garden on a high-rise balcony with Indira Naidoo; visit organic gardening writer Penny Woodward's block in Victoria and be inspired by South Australia's successful 30-year-old permaculture farm, the Food Forest. Meet the people behind the plants in the Richmond Community Garden and take a look at the life and legacy of self-sufficiency hero John Seymour.
Inspirational and practical, this makes a good read and a great gift. Beautiful colour photos throughout. 124pp

BE129 Now reduced from $10.95

Organic Vegetable Gardening NEW EDITION
Annette McFarlane 2010 (AUS)
Just about everything you could want to grow in your kitchen garden is covered in this invaluable handbook from one of Australia's most popular gardening writers.
From Amaranth to Zucchini, Annette McFarlane provides an authoritative and comprehensive guide to growing organic vegetables as well as mushrooms, edible weeds and flowers. In this fully revised edition there is advice on soil preparation, compost making, seed saving, propagation and germination. Grow bush food, heirloom vegetables and herbs to enhance Asian, Mexican and Greek cuisine. There are also interesting snippets throughout on all aspects of organic gardening. This is both an enjoyable read and a great resource for beginners and experienced gardeners. 118pp

BO114

Annette McFarlane is a gardening writer whom we cannot recommend highly enough. Another book by her is: Organic Fruit Growing

Successful Gardening in Warm Climates
Especially recommended for new gardeners
Annette McFarlane 2008 (AUS)
This detailed new edition of an Australian gardening bestseller will show you how to create an attractive and productive garden. It is a comprehensive and essential reference to help you take an organic approach to establishing and maintaining your garden and covers flower, herb, vegetable and fruit growing, Australian natives and exotic plants. All climate zones are catered for with practical solutions to the problems that arise in each area including special chapters on green manures and cover crops, fertilisers and bed preparation, mulching, pest, weed and disease control. Full colour, 208pp

BS124

The Wilderness Garden
Jackie French 2008 (AUS)
This will become one of your favourite gardening books! Jackie French, Australia’s leading organic garden writer has experimented with hundreds of new growing strategies and has developed many creative, natural ways of growing by letting the plants - and nature - do most of the work for her. Presented in a practical, informative and easily read book, your garden will thank you. 192pp

BW115

The Earth Gardener's Companion
Jackie French 2009 (AUS)
Earth Garden magazine - fully revised 3rd Edition
This month-by-month guide to organic gardening shows you how to get closer to food self-sufficiency. 80pp

BE100

Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting
Lyn Bagnall
New Edition 2012 (AUS)
This book is an essential reference on all aspects of organic gardening for both aspiring and experienced gardeners. It provides easy-to- follow guides to drought-proofing your garden, revitalising soil, green manures, composting, worm farming, growing food and decorative plants in beds or pots. There is a monthly planting diary for all Australian and New Zealand climate zones and an easy-to-follow moon-planting routine for all aspects of gardening, with a listing of the best planting, harvesting and pruning days from 2012 to 2017. 506pp

BE105

'Lyn Bagnall has produced a reference work of incredible proportions ... It should become a benchmark book among the many smaller and and not-so-thorough ones on the subject ... Aspiring and experienced gardeners of all kinds will find the wide range of this book extremely helpful.' Pat Coleby, author of Natural Farming

'A detailed guide to organics ranging from seed germination and nutrition to practical pest and disease control ... The moon planting guide provided is simple enough to plan a year's production in advance (for all climate zones in Australia).' Organic Gardener Magazine

'This book certainly has a good crack at covering all the basics of organic gardening plus much more ... A useful reference tool for novices and experienced gardeners alike.' Gardening Australia

Best of Jackie French: A practical guide to everything from aphids to zucchini chocolate cake
Jackie French (AUS)
What a fantastic collection of information on the cultivation, growing, harvesting and uses of vegetables, flowers, herbs, fruit and trees. Specific growing facts are combined with over 400 recipes for ointments, teas, biscuits, gargles, and pest control ... you name it. This is by far Jackie's most comprehensive organic gardening book. It is like a pest control, herb and vegetable book in one. 378pp

BB101

Natural Farming: A Practical Guide
Pat Coleby 2004 (AUS)
An essential handbook for any farmer or animal carer, with detailed information on:

Understanding a soil analysis
Establishing and managing pasture
Strategies for drought
Diagnosis of diseases and deficiencies in stock and natural remedies
Alternatives to artificial fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides

It concentrates on the simple message that healthy soils make healthy plants, which in turn make healthy animals. 261pp

BN108

Queensland Planting Guide - A Basic Guide to Organic Gardening
published by Brisbane Organic Growers Inc. (AUS)
The Brisbane Organic Growers Inc. (BOGI) is a non-profit organisation based in Brisbane and dedicated to assisting gardeners develop organic gardening knowledge and skills. BOGI has now produced a revised edition of the Queensland Planting Guide. This booklet is a succinct yet comprehensive guide particularly useful for gardeners in the subtropics and tropics, though it also covers cool to frost areas. Includes detailed seed planting guides for each climate as well as instruction on maintaining fruit trees and bananas throughout the year. Simple, easy to follow instructions range in subject from raised garden beds, container growing, making compost, soil management, to pest control and more. The advice given has been sourced from BOGI members over many years of successful and productive gardening. This is a good, inexpensive booklet for novice gardeners. 34pp

BQ101

See also:
Vegetable Growing
Self Sufficiency