The Minimalist Gardener brings together a series of 17 articles written by renowned grower, permaculturist and teacher, the late Patrick Whitefield and originally published in Permaculture magazine over a period of more than twenty years.

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. 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. You have the right to view these pages and where applicable, to copy these pages and any images to a cache for reference by yourself only at a later date. Patrick describes how to select plants based on what you like to eat and how to combine them in polycultures that confound would-be pests.He mixes annual hybrids, heritage varieties and perennial vegetables and has a pragmatic approach to selecting seeds and seed saving. Patrick describes an evolving system that is totally chemical free, requiring little input from outside the garden gate. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

The advice that Patrick offers through his articles is so helpful because of the way he encourages the reader to think. If you know a gardener who complains of backache, blistered hands and who has little leisure time in the growing seasons this book could be a life changer! He wrote a number of seminal books, Permaculture in a Nutshell (1993), How to Make a Forest Garden (1996), a new edition of Tipi Living (2000), The Living Landscape (2009), How To Read the Landscape (2014) and his magnum opus, The Earth Care Manual (2004), an authoritative resource on practical, tested, cool temperate permaculture. I found easy to understand instructions, examples, illustrations and loads of professional guidance passed down from Patrick’s long experience.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. 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. The following 16 chapters each cover a specific aspect in detail and I found helpful wisdom and instruction in each but especially enjoyed the chapters on seeds and plants, shady gardening, slug controlling, perennial vegetables, pruning and building paths and steps. It explores a cutting edge of permaculture gardening that is eminently practical and visionary all at the same time.

Like most people, Patrick did not have access to a huge amount of land to support himself from but, like many people, he did manage to grow an awful lot of fresh food. 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. the true significance of Whitefield's ideas was not adequately acknowledged during his lifetime, but his influence will survive him. There were plenty of other suggestions to try out as well including pink purslane, sea beet, and herb patience as well as more familiar perennial kales and broccoli. Perfect for watching and dreaming up new ideas during the winter months… As a follow-up to my Topiary Provocations video (which you can see on Youtube for free) I was asked to do a video for their Masterclass series on how to make topiary.It can be lonely being the ‘weird’ and ‘untidy’ one on an allotment and can cause bad feeling and complaints – in some sad cases councils have ploughed up long established, productive permaculture gardens because they were reported as ‘too untidy’ or ‘neglected’ and accused of being a source of weed seeds and slugs. Whether dipping into individual sections of special interest or reading from start to finish it is a very engaging and motivating read destined to become a ‘go to’ reference book for the shed with mud stained, dog eared pages rather than sitting quietly on a bookshelf.

This collection of Patrick Whitfield's pioneering writings explores the cutting edge of permaculture gardening that is eminently practical and visionary all at the same time.For example, the concepts and practice of no dig, polycultures, element placement and beneficial relationships.