Malte reviewed How to Grow Perennial Vegetables by Martin Crawford
Review of 'How to Grow Perennial Vegetables' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Again, like many of Martin Crawford's publications, there is a lot of recycled information. The most overall and general purpose publication is definitely Creating A Forest Garden. Thus, this one is really not a must-read, although it is immensely enjoyable, inspiring and a good reference tool. The list of species is larger too, so if you are still not satisfied and curious for more after CAFG, then this is a good place to go. There is a bit more theory, advice of plating patterns, using the root layers to minimize competition etc. If you really only intend to grow perennial vegetables and don't want to include bushes or trees (although the benefits really are much bigger to make use of all), I guess it makes sense to just read this one. As always the pictures are beautiful and illustrative, the order of the book very easy to navigate and most …
Again, like many of Martin Crawford's publications, there is a lot of recycled information. The most overall and general purpose publication is definitely Creating A Forest Garden. Thus, this one is really not a must-read, although it is immensely enjoyable, inspiring and a good reference tool. The list of species is larger too, so if you are still not satisfied and curious for more after CAFG, then this is a good place to go. There is a bit more theory, advice of plating patterns, using the root layers to minimize competition etc. If you really only intend to grow perennial vegetables and don't want to include bushes or trees (although the benefits really are much bigger to make use of all), I guess it makes sense to just read this one. As always the pictures are beautiful and illustrative, the order of the book very easy to navigate and most of the necessary information you need readily available. What I especially like about Crawford's writing is his way of prioritizing knowledge. Not all information of a plant is necessary to know, if you want to grow it well. Some is interesting, but given that soils and plant ecology is so complex (witness the lenght of Edible Forest Gardens) you really have to cut out some of the noise. Crawford has spent two decades sorting the noise from the important stuff and we should be very grateful for his wisdom.