The Minimalist Gardener: Low Impact, No Dig Growing

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Next I turned to the pruning section, an area I have yet to learn and practice myself, I was not really sure why people pruned fruit trees but now I understand how pruning increases crops, reduces diseases and makes harvesting easier. He was a consulting editor of Permaculture magazine, featured on BBC, and taught permaculture design courses with his wife, Cathy.

Patrick Whitefield (1949 – 2015) was an early pioneer of permaculture, adapting Bill Mollison’s teachings with a strong Southern Hemisphere bias to the cooler, maritime climate of the British Isles. The key is knowing the right questions, examining what you want from your garden and knowing how to understand the unique characteristics of the space. Minimalist gardening appeals to all gardeners – every grower is excited by the prospect of increased yields and decreased effort – it’s a dream for anyone trying to combine food growing with a busy life or ageing body.Get yourself secateurs, a piece of hessian for collecting prunings and weeds, a spade and a fork, a hand trowel, some shears, a hoe and a scythe and a stone to sharpen it. The best thing we can do as gardeners is to experiment, keep on watching and learning, and most of all enjoy the garden and the fruits of our labour. Written by an acknowledged expert, this friendly guide will help you grow food in whatever space you have – large or small, rural or urban – with minimal purchased inputs, and maximum satisfaction. They look as though they would just need a good scrubbing to prepare and are apparently very tasty, sweet and a good source of carbs cooked or raw.

Patrick appeared in several BBC TV programmes, popular gardening videos, and taught many permaculture and other practical courses, throughout the UK. Especially if neighbouring growers have spent years putting huge effort into digging, clearing, weeding, eliminating undesirables and feel proud of their efforts to keep their plot one of the most exemplary for well dug neatness. Chapter one succinctly describes permaculture approaches to minimalist gardening with very clear, simple explanations that completely demystify the terms whilst gently and convincingly introducing some of the more revolutionary permaculture techniques that newbies can find a bit dubious. A few weeks ago we wrote about ‘the minimalist garden’ – and this got us thinking not so much about the features a minimalist garden has, but about how minimalism can be applied to the way we garden. At the same time, more people are becoming aware of the destructive and toxic nature of industrial farming practice, health and environmental impacts, monopolies and questionable ethics of agrochemical and seed companies and the big land owners.He qualified in agriculture at Shuttleworth College, Bedfordshire and after several years working in agriculture in the Middle East and Africa, he settled in central Somerset. And I don’t think it really lives up to the title, there’s stuff about permaculture and raised beds and perennial vegetables but overall it’s the authors personal garden experience and specific way of doing things that he’s passing on. His apparent excitement in showing off his splendid leeks, while casually grazing on some perennial broccoli was contagious, and the series of short films he made about growing vegetables leave one in no doubt of his passion for it. Patrick describes his minimalist ways – and the sometimes mysterious sounding permaculture principles and tactics – in simple, common sense, gardening terms. While the home had a garden, since they were only staying a short time, not too much was done with it.

Patrick Holden from The Sustainable Food Trust wrote, "It is only towards the end of his life that the wider significance of permaculture ideas began to emerge. Patrick Holden from The Sustainable Food Trust wrote, "It is only towards the end of his life that the wider significance of permaculture ideas began to emerge .Packed with design principles and examples for small gardens, Patrick's down-to-earth legacy continues to inspire. In the last chapter Patrick takes a look at permaculture beyond our own gardens and plots and gets us thinking about how we can move toward collaboration and integration with neighbours and wider communities. Discount Codes cannot be combined with any other offers (books on sale or multiple discount codes, for example). His minimalist approach uses techniques such as no-dig, raised beds, perennial vegetables and self-seeding salads as ground cover, and mulching when appropriate. So much has happened in a decade, from studying topiary with Charlotte Molesworth, to clipping all over the UK (and eventually in the USA and Sweden) to selling shears and secateurs at garden shows and hiding away my reticence to give talks about gardening and topiary to Horticultural Societies across the UK.

This book could be a catalyst for such gardeners to explore out of their comfort zone and into the heady wilds of minimalism. The introduction of the book talk how friends were visiting the author and his wife at a rented home. Patrick was born on 11th February 1949 in Devizes, Wiltshire and brought up on a smallholding in Somerset. This is low maintenance, year round, no dig gardening that provides your kitchen with delicious fresh food, whilst not breaking your back.

It’s only when tidy gardeners are encouraged and supported to look past current norms and gaze deeper into the tangled web of nature that they begin to see the promise, the beneficial relationships, ability to regenerate healthy soil naturally that they come to understand that it’s not lazy gardening but totally practical – many will gradually develop a preference once they have the opportunity to study permaculture practice and visit demonstration sites. He mixes annual hybrids, heritage varieties and perennial vegetables and has a pragmatic approach to selecting seeds and seed saving. Putting the right plant in the right place, so that it thrives rather than looking ill because the conditions don’t suit it. It’s like having your own expert gardener on hand for whenever you have a ‘how could I do better, more easily, naturally, abundantly or sustainably?