Organic Gardening, Oct 1997
....a valuable list of easily grown plants....useful as well as being good for the environment.
Herbs, V22, No3, 1997
....encourages us to bring more diversity into our gardens and diets. Buy one for yourself and one for a friend....
Habitat, V33, No8, 1997
Packed with information....this book adds a further dimension to gardening, conservation and ecology.
The Ecologist, V27, No6, 1997
For those concerned with food production....the very survival of our species....this book provides a ray of hope.
BBC Wildlife, Jul 1997
....a practical book for every broad-minded gardener who has ever thought there might be more to life than lettuces....
From the Publisher
This book contains information on a great many alternative food plants and otherwise useful plants. It also offers alternative methods of growing these plants in ways that are in harmony with the local environment and can help to improve the overall health of the planet.
Whilst many of the plants discussed here are reasonably well known in this country (even if their uses are not so well known), a number of the plants are much more experimental in their nature.
It is hoped that the book will stimulate interest in these plants and help people to increase the range of foods in their diet. It is also hoped that it will encourage people to experiment with some of the plants in this book and thereby help us to increase our knowledge of them.
From the Author
For the past few years I have been involved with a charity called ‘Plants for a Future’. This project has been gathering information on the many useful plants that can be grown in temperate climates and has also been gathering together a collection of these species. The intention is to become a resource and information centre that is able to supply the plants and give information on how to grow them.
About the Author
In 1974, whilst employed as a bus driver in London, Ken Fern obtained a small plot of land in Surrey with the idea of becoming self-sufficient in food and of providing a cash income with the surplus. After a couple of years of growing an acre of vegetables by hand he decided that there must be easier and more environmentally friendly ways of growing food. It was at this time that he read the book Forest Farming by Robert Hart and James Sholto-Douglas, and this convinced him that the future of food production lay in perennial plants.
This is how Ken started his experiments with alternative food crops. With this experience coupled with his travels around the gardens of Britain, he has acquired a vast wealth of knowledge about how well these plants can grow. As a result, he has now developed a database of 7,000 species of edible and useful plants.
In 1989, he moved to Cornwall and helped set up a demonstration site at Penpol. Over 1,500 different species of plant are being grown here and an educational charity, called Plants For A Future, has been established to promote and spread the work of the project.
Ken is considered to be a leading expert in his field, and has written many articles on the subject.
- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: Permanent Publications (11 Jul 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1856230112
- ISBN-13: 978-1856230117
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.6 x 2 cm
