First published in 1986, this classic is back in print by popular demand. It is the authoritative text on edible landscaping, featuring a step-by-step guide to designing a productive environment using vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs for a combination of ornamental and culinary purposes.
It includes descriptions of plants for all temperate habitats, methods for improving soil, tree pruning styles, and gourmet recipes using low-maintenance plants. There are sections on attracting beneficial insects with companion plants and using planting to shelter your home from erosion, heat, wind, and cold.
Well used second hand copy with some damage to bottom front cover (as per image). Good reference book.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly Kourik's color photos and Massion's art effectively illustrate a text that fulfills the title's promise. The author's advice is sound and practical although the reader may bridle at his tone at times. Attempting a chatty informality, for example, he orders one to ``find a comfortable chair and leaf through the book.'' Otherwise, this is a valuable guide to the holistic approach to gardening, which relies on natural fertilizers and avoids chemicals. The author begins with suggestions for designing plots according to environment, space available, personal preferences. The pictures prove that areas featuring vegetables, herbs, fruit- and nut-bearing trees and other edibles can be beautiful. Kourik, who frequently appears on TV and lectures nationally, includes recipes that use the wide variety of foods featured here. July Library Journal Kourik espouses organic gardening methods to create beautiful edible landscapes that are compatible with other plantings as well as with the climate, terrain, and the owner's budget. Expanding upon Rosalind Creasy's The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping ( LJ 5/1/82) he makes this gardening fashion seem not only reasonable but easy. From design basics to how to grow specific vegetables, fruits, herbs, he describes his methods and theories and adds lists of books for further reference. Appendixes are voluminous and cover some unusual aids (e.g., estimating amounts of materials needed for landscaping projects). A useful addition. Louise B. Hodges, Amherst County P.L., Va.