Gardening

The 2025 Maria Thun Biodynamic Almanac adapted for North American (EST) times. The original, and still the best, biodynamic sowing and planting calendar, trusted by farmers and gardeners for over 60 years.

The simple, two-week-to-view layout features detailed planting, tending and harvesting information to help both seasoned biodynamic farmers and beginner gardeners maximise the yield and vitality of crops and plants. Trusted by generations of growers, the ultimate biodynamic almanac features:

• An easy-to-view layout making it simple to plan what to do and when
• Space to add your own notes
• Clear headings and sections for fast look-ups
• A lay-flat spine makes it easy to consult the Almanac, keep your place and add notes
• Information on solar and lunar events and planetary aspects
• A pull-out wallchart that can be pinned up in a barn, shed or greenhouse as a handy quick reference
• Eco-friendly printing with recycled FSC paper using plant-based inks

Biodynamic agriculture first originated in central Europe but is now practiced in farms, vineyards and gardens all over the world. At the heart of the biodynamic approach are the eight preparations -- Horn manure, Horn silica, Yarrow, Chamomile, Nettle, Oak bark, Dandelion and Valerian -- which are often produced by local biodynamic practitioners using well-established recipes. But as the biodynamic approach expands across the world, its methods have been increasingly adapted to meet the needs and challenges -- climates, fauna, seasons and regulations -- of different regions around the globe.

This fascinating book presents the results of a unique study, carried out by the Agricultural Section at the Goetheanum, Switzerland, into how the biodynamic preparations are used in fifteen countries worldwide, including Egypt, Brazil, New Zealand, India and across Europe. The detailed case studies explore how the preparations are modified to suit their locations, as well as offering an insight into the work of each practitioner and how their understanding has evolved over the years.

This book is a valuable reference into the production and application of the preparations around the world and an inspiring endorsement of how biodynamic principles hold true in such varied environments.

The 2018 Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar, now in its 56th year, adapted for North American (Eastern Standard Time) dates and times.

This useful guide shows the optimum days for sowing, pruning, and harvesting various plant-crops, as well as working with bees. It includes Thun's unique insights, which go above and beyond the standard information presented in some other lunar calendars. It is presented in color with clear symbols and explanations.

The calendar includes a pullout wall chart that can be pinned up in a barn, shed or greenhouse as a handy quick reference.

Whether you're growing delicious vegetables for home cooking or cultivating beautiful flowers, a flourishing plot fills any gardener with joy and satisfaction.

Every gardener knows there's no magic spell for a thriving garden, but did you know that by planting in harmony with lunar rhythms you could grow better tasting and more plentiful veggies, and stronger, healthier plants and flowers? And it doesn't involve sowing seeds by the light of the full moon!

The Moon Gardeners' Almanac is a practical guide to harnessing the moon's positive influence over plants and flowers as part of your normal gardening work.

This essential month-by-month guide makes it easy to plan your gardening. Fully illustrated with easy-to-follow diagrams and space for your own notes, The Moon Gardeners' Almanac will be a welcome addition to any gardener's shelf.

It has long been observed, by farmers, gardeners and botanists alike, that from time to time certain plants seem to affect certain other plants growing their near them -- both favorably and unfavorably. By taking account of these relationships, farmers and gardeners can improve the quality of food and flowers, reduce losses from pests and disease, drought and frost, and enhance both satisfaction and pleasure in their work and financial profit.

Years of experimentation by Richard Gregg and subsequently Helen Philbrick and others resulted in this unique reference book. It offers a detailed and comprehensive A-Z of plants and how they affect each other and their surrounding environment, including the soil, insects and birds.

Children need to experience nature, and gardening is a good way to encourage them to engage with the earth, plants and animals.

Gardening classes, as taught in Steiner-Waldorf schools from Class 6 to Class 10, help children develop many important skills, including sensory perception and motor skills, as well as an understanding of ecology and agriculture. How can such a complex subject be taught well and effectively?

In a clear structure -- which includes the history of school gardens, aspects of child development, and practical help on teaching methods, lesson planning for different age groups, and maintaining the garden itself -- Birte Kaufmann offers many useful tips and suggestions for new or developing gardening teachers.

This book brings together the best advice for cultivating fruit trees, berries and shrubs using biodynamic methods, with the aim of harvesting healthy fruit free of pesticides.

Ehrenfried Pfeiffer discusses the principles of tree biology before describing the measures that can be taken to develop a pest-free orchard without the use of chemicals, including soil preparation, the selection of trees for planting, issues of transplanting and pruning, the application of pastes, green cover crops, and pest control.

Michael Maltas ran fruit tree experiments on his biodynamic farm in Missouri for four years. The results are recorded in a highly practical annual spraying schedule for orchards, which is reproduced in this book. A month-by-month calendar gives information on specific methods and controls, based on Maltas's extensive experience.

This is an invaluable book with practical advice on all aspects of planning and maintaining a healthy orchard.

This is a thoroughly revised and updated combined edition of Biodynamic Treatment of Fruit Trees, Berries and Shrubs by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and Orchard Pest Management and Spray Schedule by Michael Maltas.

Published in association with the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association of North America.

A colour illustrated introduction to everything a beginner needs to know about biodynamics.

Any gardener who already works with biodynamics will tell you the difference it has made to his or her garden. From crispier lettuce to more intensely-flavoured onions, biodynamics is a great way to get your garden to produce tasty, nutrient-packed fruit and vegetables.

The ideas behind biodynamics can sometimes be difficult to explain, however, and appear rather strange to those who are new to the technique. Hilary Wright, an experienced and passionate biodynamic gardener, guides the novice through the key points, whilst never losing sight of the ultimate goal: a healthy, abundant garden.

Easy-to-follow step-by-step illustrations, explanatory diagrams and color photographs show how biodynamic techniques can work for any gardener.

Can we imagine a world without flowers? Flowers are beautiful, offering us delight in their color, fragrance and form, as well as their medicinal benefits. Flowers also speak to us in the language of the plant form itself, as cultural symbols in different societies, and at the highest levels of inspiration.

In this beautiful and original book, renowned thinker and geometrist Keith Critchlow has chosen to focus on an aspect of flowers that has received perhaps the least attention.   This is the flower as teacher of symmetry and geometry (the 'eternal verities', as Plato called them). In this sense, he says, flowers can be treated as sources of remembering -- a way of recalling our own wholeness, as well as awakening our inner power of recognition and consciousness. What is evident in the geometry of the face of a flower can remind us of the geometry that underlies all existence.

Working from his own flower photographs and with every geometric pattern hand-drawn, the author reviews the role of flowers within the perspective of our relationship with the natural world. His illuminating study is an attempt to re-engage the human spirit in its intimate relation with all nature.