NEW!
The Vegan Gardener: Using Vegan-Organic Techniques for a Planet-Friendly, Wildlife-Abundant, Beautiful and Productive Garden *PRESS RELEASE*
“I’m full of admiration for this cornucopia of practical ideas, honed over many years of thoughtful, experimental gardening. John Walker opens the doors on genuinely sustainable gardening for ordinary gardeners, without using chemicals, plastics or animal products”
Joy Larkcom VMM, gardening writer, author and ‘Vegetable Queen’
HERE IS A MINDFUL, GENTLE, YET POWERFUL WAY OF GARDENING.
The natural world is undergoing profound change, and our ecology and climate are in crisis. Gardens, whatever their size, are where we can take practical action.
• A comprehensive, ethical and planet-friendly approach
• Welcome nature into your garden, then tempt it to stay there
• Reduce your gardening footprint and develop a self-sufficient ‘closed loop’ garden
• How to make garden compost and leaf mould, and harness the power of home-grown green wood chips to inject new life into soil
2022, hardback, 256 pages: £15.00 Find out more and buy.
Weeds: An Organic, Earth-friendly Guide to Their Identification, Use and Control
“This book is a hidden gem!”
IN THIS ORGANIC, earth-friendly guide, my fresh approach encourages you to see garden weeds as more than simply unwelcome invaders in your flower borders, kitchen garden, allotment, greenhouse, polytunnel, patio, courtyard, containers, lawn, path or drive. Whatever your garden’s size, Weeds will help you identify, make use of and tackle the weeds you find there.
An accessible, no-nonsense guide, illustrated with over 100 full colour photographs. This revised and updated edition will become a timeless go-to reference for every gardener’s bookshelf.
2016, paperback, 6 x 9in, 142 pages: £15.00 Find out more and buy.
How to Create an Eco Garden: A Practical Guide to Sustainable and Greener Gardening
“This is the best gardening reference book I have ever seen.”
GARDENERS HAVE A UNIQUE ROLE to play in easing the growing pressures on our natural world. Eco gardening can slow our overconsumption of natural resources, reduce waste, cut energy use, and make a positive contribution to slowing climate change. Working in harmony with nature, eco gardeners can create beautiful and resilient gardens that reduce our ‘carbon footprint’, while nurturing vibrant, biologically rich growing spaces that build soil, boost biodiversity and encourage a sense of self-reliance.
Packed with hands-on practical advice, 500 specially commissioned colour photographs and original illustrations, this eco-friendly book is for everyone who wants to have a beautiful and productive backyard that won’t cost the earth.
2020 (second edition), hardback, 21.9 x 2.2 x 26.7cm, 160 pages: £15.00 Find out more and buy.
Digging Deep in the Garden: Book Four
“There is lots of humour.”
GARDENING WITH YOUR GUT INSTINCTS… growing your own edible resilience… why money can’t buy ‘the good life’… unpicking media delusions about peat use… kicking our addiction to oil in our gardens… the compelling power of asking questions.
In this diverse, insightful and engaging collection of essays exploring gardening’s place in nature, John Walker exposes illusions, debunks myths and wipes away greenwash, rallying us to challenge and change the over-consuming, nature-indifferent approach to ‘gardening as usual’.
2016, paperback, 5 x 8in, 68 pages: £5.00
Digging Deep in the Garden: Book Three
“Incisive, witty and thought-provoking.”
THE SILENCE OF CELEBRITIES on climate chaos… growing your own biofuels to benefit bees… how to run your garden on renewable, modern sunlight… why nature-friendly organic gardening is bad news for big business… how slug pellets are polluting your cup of tea…
In this incisive, witty and thought-provoking collection of essays exploring gardening’s place in nature, John Walker challenges gardening’s status quo at a time of unprecedented environmental upheaval, while urging us to garden in ways that are truly green.
2016, paperback, 5 x 8in, 70 pages: £5.00
Digging Deep in the Garden: Book Two
“These essays are more relevant now than ever.”
PUTING THE BRAKES on runaway consumerism through ‘freegardening’… rethinking our addiction to high-dependency container gardening… exploring our growing prospects in a topsy-turvy climate… why pulling down garden fences can reboot biodiversity… how local and diverse ‘earth centres’ could help gardening communities flourish…
In this thought-provoking, cage-rattling collection of essays exploring gardening’s place in nature, John Walker burrows deep into gardening’s subsoil to uproot thorny issues, while encouraging gardeners to see their role as a force for good.
2016, paperback, 5 x 8in, 78 pages: £5.00
Digging Deep in the Garden: Book One
“An authentic voice in an often dull crowd of garden writing.”
A CELEBRITY GARDENERS ‘wobble’ over climate chaos… the effect genetically modified crops might have on our gardens and allotments… how adopting a vegan-organic approach can make growing more compassionate… why pesticides must be consigned to the history books.
In this diverse, lively and thought-provoking collection of essays about gardening and its relationship with nature, John Walker digs deep into gardening’s subsoil to challenge assumptions, raise awareness and encourage us to ponder how what we do on our plots affects our shared living world.
2015, paperback, 5 x 8in, 64 pages: £5.00
The Bed and Border Planner: Over a Million Ways to Mix and Match Perfect Borders* (also published as The Garden Planner: Over a Million Ways to Mix and Match Perfect Borders**)
*Published by Merehurst Ltd, 1999. ISBN: 978-1853917523 (out of print). **Published by Time Life Education, 2000. ISBN: 978-0737006100
THE BED AND BORDER PLANNER is the essential guide to creating brilliant beds and borders using three key planting criteria – colour, shape and texture; its revolutionary design allows you to experiment with real life examples before going ahead and buying or growing the plants yourself.
Solutions to:
• Which colours will work best in my border?
• What effect does a plant’s shape have on my plants?
• How can I use texture to enhance my planting?
If you’re not sure, then dip into the encyclopedic mix-and-match pages to sample the combined effects of 320 tried-and-tested plants and discover thousands of possible planting schemes. You’ll find the answers you need to match the plants you love to the site and soil where they will flourish.
“Of all the gardening books that I own this is the most useful.”
~
Pre-loved copies of The Bed and Border Planner/The Garden Planner (as well as my other books listed below) can often be found in second-hand bookshops, or by searching online.
Other books
Editor, A Gardener’s Guide to Annuals (Index, 2001).
Contributor, The Garden Sourcebook: The Essential Guide to Planning, Planting and Garden Style (Mitchell Beazley, 2001).
Contributor, Garden Organic Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Complete Guide to Natural and Chemical-free Gardening (Dorling Kindersley, 2008).