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| List of Photos and Illustrations | |
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| List of Tables | |
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| Foreword | |
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| Preface | |
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| The Garden as Ecosystem | |
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| Introducing the Ecological Garden | |
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| Gardens that Really Work with Nature | |
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| Why Is Gardening So Much Work? | |
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| Beyond--Way Beyond--Natural Gardening | |
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| The Natives versus Exotics Debate | |
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| Making the Desert Bloom, Sustainably | |
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| How to Use This Book | |
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| Sidebar: What Is Permaculture? | |
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| A Gardener's Ecology | |
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| Three Ecological Principles | |
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| A Mature Garden | |
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| A Few of Nature's Tricks for Gardeners | |
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| Sidebar: Do Plant Communities Really Exist? | |
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| Designing the Ecological Garden | |
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| The Ecological Design Process | |
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| Natural Patterns in the Garden | |
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| Sidebars: Some Pear Tree Connections | |
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| A Summary: Designing the Ecological Garden | |
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| Building and Planting a Keyhole Bed | |
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| The Pieces of the Ecological Garden | |
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| Bringing the Soil to Life | |
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| Soil Life: The First Recyclers | |
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| Building Soil Life | |
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| Sharing the Wealth of the Soil | |
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| Sidebars: Woody Ways to Build Soil | |
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| The Ultimate, Bomb-Proof Sheet Mulch | |
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| Starting Plants in Sheet Mulch | |
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| Catching, Conserving, and Using Water | |
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| The Fivefold Path to Water Wisdom | |
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| Conserving Water with Catchment | |
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| Water Brings the Garden to Life | |
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| Sidebars: How to Make a Swale | |
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| Planning a Water-Harvesting System | |
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| Tips for Using Greywater | |
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| Creating a Backyard Wetland | |
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| Plants for Many Uses | |
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| The Many Roles of a Tree | |
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| Multipurpose Plants | |
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| The Roles of Plants in the Ecological Theater | |
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| Annuals and Perennials | |
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| Microclimates for the Garden | |
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| Nurses, Scaffolds, and Chaperones | |
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| Summary: Mixing the Many Functions of Plants | |
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| Sidebar: Weeds and Other Wild Food | |
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| Bringing in the Bees, Birds, and Other Helpful Animals | |
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| More Good Bugs than Bad | |
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| Attracting Beneficial Insects | |
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| The Gardener's Feathered Friends | |
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| Other Backyard Helpers | |
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| Sidebar: A Gallery of Beneficial Insects | |
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| Assembling the Ecological Garden | |
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| Creating Communities for the Garden | |
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| Interplanting and Beyond | |
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| Guilding the Garden | |
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| Sidebars: Ianto Evans's Polyculture | |
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| Jajarkot's Advanced Polyculture | |
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| Growing the Three Sisters Guild | |
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| Designing Garden Guilds | |
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| An Intimate Way of Guild-Building | |
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| Guilds for Bookworms | |
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| Creating a Super-Guild | |
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| Guilds Aren't Perfect | |
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| Sidebar: Using Natural Plant Communities to Guide Guild Design | |
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| Growing a Food Forest | |
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| Experimenting with Forest Gardens | |
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| The Seven-Story Garden | |
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| How the Food Forest Evolves | |
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| Sidebar: A Brief History of Forest Gardens | |
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| Pop Goes the Garden | |
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| Choosing the Right Pieces | |
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| The Garden Gets Popping | |
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| Assembling the Garden Revisited | |
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| Sidebar: Ecological Compromises, or You Can't Make an Omelet | |
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| A Sampling of Useful Plants | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Resources | |
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| Index | |