All We Need PublishingReseñas

I’ve dabbled in gardening here and there. I get excited when I start, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Most gardening books are very technical, which is great, when you need information. I’ve gotta say though … this fun, motivating take on teaching gardening was a pleasant surprise and an awesome change of pace!

It has all the information you’d need to start a garden, and you’ll have fun while you’re learning. For me, information sticks better that way (when I’m having fun), so it was right up my alley!

I am so excited to start my garden, *and* to keep going. And to fail, and learn, and laugh, and try again, and do better next time! All thanks to Josie Beckham.

If you’re new to gardening, or seasoned, and want to have a blast while learning some more about permaculture gardening … this is your book!

I have never had a garden before, although both my parents were avid gardeners. We always had plenty extra to share with neighbors and lots of healthy veggies for the family. So, as an adult, I have wanted to live that healthy lifestyle again, but the basic row-by-row garden plan has been daunting for me. Way too much work with the busy life I live.

BUT I AM EXCITED NOW that I have this CLEARLY WRITTEN and WELL-ORGANIZED book. Gardening is doable now that I have a guidebook. I am on the road to a healthier life!

THANK YOU, JOSIE BECKHAM. I am getting pots this week. I can do this!

Dig into Sustainable Success with "Permaculture Gardening for the Absolute Beginner"
Josie Beckham's "Permaculture Gardening for the Absolute Beginner" is a delightful guide for anyone, regardless of experience, who wants to cultivate a thriving, organic garden.

Beckham's approach is both encouraging and practical. She breaks down the core principles of permaculture in a clear and engaging way, making them accessible even to complete novices. The book goes beyond simply teaching you "how to" garden; it empowers you to design a garden that works in harmony with nature, fostering a sense of connection to the local ecosystem.

Whether you have a sprawling backyard or a tiny balcony, Beckham's practical tips and techniques equip you with the knowledge to create a productive and sustainable garden space. From seed starting to harvest, the book covers all the essential aspects, empowering you to grow your own delicious and healthy food with confidence.

"Permaculture Gardening for the Absolute Beginner" is more than just a gardening guide; it's an invitation to embark on a journey of learning, self-reliance, and environmental stewardship. So, grab your gloves, get ready to get your hands dirty, and discover the joy of sustainable gardening with this informative and inspiring book.

This is a basic gardening book probably good for beginners. The language is a bit too casual for my liking for this type of book, but that may appeal to others. I'm not sure it really differentiates permaculture from regular organic/sustainable gardening.

This is a very comprehensive introduction to the topic. While I'm new to permaculture, I'm an experienced gardener, so many of the topics I already knew about, such as seed starting, companion planting, and container gardening. The illustrations are helpful and well rendered. For someone new to gardening and permaculture, this would be very helpful. If this ever becomes available in a book format (I received a PDF), I would definitely buy a copy.

As others have mentioned, the author does have a conversational, chatty tone to her writing, which can be time-consuming when trying to get to the heart of the information I'm seeking. That said, there are many gems hidden between the cliches; creative suggestions that will save time and money. I enjoyed the step-by-step details provided and will be returning to this very complete guide often as I begin my first permaculture garden this spring.

This is, as promised, a good introduction to permaculture gardening for absolute beginners. The author aims to fill the beginner with confidence to ‘have a go’ and to feel able to start in small ways in any size of garden space.

I found the chatty style too ‘folksy’ and sometimes condescending. I could have done with fewer jokes and more facts, presented in a more coherent structure. The tables at the end are useful.

What this book does well is to give an overview of the ethos, possibilities and methods of permaculture and give you simple, practical ways of getting started. I now approach this as a happy journey of exploration at my own pace and I have already created a new ‘no dig’ vegetable bed.

This book give a very thorough overview of permaculture gardening, beginning with its history and principles and taking the reader step by step through the techniques and tools. I am not an absolute beginner, so if I hadn't read it to review, I probably would have skipped around more. The author does a good job of making you feel like you can do this and keeps it low pressure--you don't need to do everything at once or perfectly. No offense, I would have preferred less jokes, the book is pretty upbeat and doesn't really need them. I really like the section on companion planting and plant guilds and the charts in the appendix to explain how to group everything. For anyone who is ready to take a step away from the traditional lawn and bland flower beds and work on healing our world naturally, this book is a good starting point.

My first reaction after several pages of text is that the author uses the term “permaculture” too many times before defining it. There’s lots of examples of the reasons for it, but a clear definition is difficult to extrapolate and the reader loses interest. I think a simple addition (near the beginning) of two or three examples of what a farmer/gardener would actually physically do would really help the reader get a mental picture of the practice, right from the start.

I understand this book is meant to appeal to those who are more laid back, but the “down home” sort of talk (“this ain’t just...” Starting sentences with, “Well,…” or “And hey,…”) got a little too clunky after a bit. I appreciate the conversational tone; but too many times it read like Tom and Huck on the boat, which was distracting.

This is a topic I’m very interested in but the over-chattiness is making me feel like I can probably find a better way to learn about this as a beginner. While the author is trying to engage her audience, I think someone who is brand new is not going to feel this same passion and is going to be frustrated that it takes so long to just get to the facts.

I want to emphasize that I think the information given here is valuable. I just think the author needs to cut to the chase a little quicker and cut out a ton of unnecessary chattiness to keep a newbie moving through the volume.

An enjoyable read and quite informative with tips and solid information to help gardeners get started on permaculture and developing skills needed for your own garden. Highly recommended!

This book does have a lot of details for the beginner. I found myself skimming over a lot of the material because it was just telling me what I already understood. I appreciated the information in the book but I did not enjoy the "chatty" type of writing. The first part of the book spends a lot of time explaining the vocabulary and reasons to garden. I wanted to read this more for methods since I already knew the reasons and vocabulary. But I do think there is a lot of valuable information and worth checking out.

Thanks to this book, I feel as though I have a clear understanding of what a permaculture garden is and how to create one.

This book was easy to read with the author's conversational style but I feel like the title and focus should not have mentioned permaculture. Or, if it did, only had it as a chapter within the book which was more or less an intro to organic, mostly vegetable, gardening. Key elements of permaculture gardening were missing but the focus on basic elements of various styles of organic gardening were covered briefly.

I received this through the Early Reviewers scheme.

The Good
The book covers permaculture as a style of gardening really broadly. It covers the core and lots of other common topics. It's a lot of content in a single book, and the sections give a really good view of the breadth of permaculture gardening.

It also has some lovely aspects to it. Considering insects first in the section about integrating animals is great!

The Bad
It's hard to tell if the author is actually experienced with permaculture and/or actually understands it. There is nothing in here about her own experience, there are some mistakes (equating no dig and lasagne gardening, for example), and sometimes she just doesn't sound very permaculture (the soil section, for example, is very trad gardening and has a couple of big sections about "problems", something I wouldn't expect in a permaculture book). Perhaps she has just read some permaculture books, got excited, and summarised them into a new book.

It also focuses exclusively on permaculture as a style of gardening, which feels very un-permaculture to me. I expect a focus on ways of living not just ways of gardening. There's nothing in here about community, neighbours, ethics and so on. It's pretty heavily focussed on annual food crops too - more homesteader than permaculture. Perhaps it would be better titled _What gardeners can learn from permaculture_.

The Ugly
And this is awkward, but... the style of writing is very love it or hate it. She pads all the sections with jokes and chatter. There are several exclamation marks every page, plenty of paragraphs and heaps of sentences that are unnecessary except for, I guess, trying to sounds friendly. It's a weird feeling combined with her telling us nothing about her experiences or knowledge. To me, it felt like being lectured at by an over-excited 20-something who is trying to simultaneously prove their intellectual understanding and that they're still a fun friend.

If you're interested in the book as a broad summary of what vegetable gardeners can learn from permaculture, I'd suggest reading a sample first and seeing if the style is something you love, because it is a strong thread throughout.

Excellent resource for anyone looking to expand their gardening knowledge. Includes a lot of foundational info to get you started as a beginner but is also useful for those more seasoned and looking to try something new.

This is a masterpiece, combining chapters with step-by-step methods and advice on implementing home gardening techniques in any and all available locations, while also providing vision and mission statements based on the core principles of permaculture, adapted to include both personal and community benefits, as well as encouraging the entrepreneur and innovator in all of us. The practical is well outlined, and the needed details are abundant. The author’s humor bridges insight and information in a compelling style.