Book Review: Edible Estates
Thursday, May 7, 2009

Attack on the front lawn by Fritz Haeg

I devoured this book in one sitting totally engrossed in the prospect of converting my own front garden into an edible oasis. For a while now I'd been interested in putting edibles in the front garden so I did some research on a few books and this one came highly recommended.


Some good titbits from the book:
  • Lawns cover 30 million acres of the US (Virginia Scott Jenkins)
  • Homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops (Fish & Wildlife service news release 2006)
  • The lawns in the united states consume around 270 billion gallons of water per week enough to water 81 million acres of organic vegetables all summer long. An average size lawn of 1/3 of an acre could, while maintaining a small area for recreation, produce enough vegetables to feed a family of 6 (Heather C. Flores - food not lawns)
I will say that I wouldn't buy the book, I loaned it from the library. Why wouldn't I buy it? Well lots of the information about the gardens is available online on Fritz Haeg's website. It did however give me lots of inspiration to convert my garden and I am glad I read it. I'd have liked some more indepth information into the HOW's of converting the garden, maybe with garden plans rather than just a planting list for each. In all though a super book that will get you motivated to get out and garden!

Posted byDi Hickman at 9:45 AM  

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