The Forest Garden Greenhouse: How to Design and Manage an Indoor Permaculture Oasis

by Jerome Osentowski

By the turn of the nineteenth century, thousands of acres of glass houses surrounded large American cities, becoming a commonplace symbol of the market garden and nursery trades. But the possibilities of the indoor garden to transform our homes and our lives remain largely unrealized.

In this groundbreaking book, Jerome Osentowski, one of North America’s most accomplished permaculture designers, presents a wholly new approach to a very old horticultural subject. In The Forest Garden Greenhouse, he shows how bringing the forest garden indoors is not only possible, but doable on unlikely terrain and in cold climates, using near-net-zero technology. Different from other books on greenhouse design and management, this book advocates for an indoor agriculture using permaculture design concepts―integration, multi-functions, perennials, and polycultures―that take season extension into new and important territory.

Osentowski, director and founder of Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute (CRMPI), farms at 7,200 feet on a steep, rocky hillside in Colorado, incorporating deep, holistic permaculture design with practical common sense. It is at this site, high on a mountaintop, where Osentowski (along with architect and design partner Michael Thompson) has been designing and building revolutionary greenhouses that utilize passive and active solar technology via what they call the “climate battery”―a subterranean air-circulation system that takes the hot, moist, ambient air from the greenhouse during the day, stores it in the soil, and discharges it at night―that can offer tropical and Mediterranean climates at similarly high altitudes and in cold climates (and everywhere else). Osentowski’s greenhouse designs, which can range from the backyard homesteader to commercial greenhouses, are completely ecological and use a simple design that traps hot and cold air and regulates it for best possible use. The book is part case study of the amazing greenhouses at CRMPI and part how-to primer for anyone interested in a more integrated model for growing food and medicine in a greenhouse. With detailed design drawings, photos, and profiles of successful greenhouse projects on all scales, this inspirational manual will considerably change the conversation about greenhouse design.

Genres: Gardening, Agriculture, Nonfiction, Nature, Horticulture

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2015

Reviews

[KB · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and extremely informative book. Be prepared to become deeply envious of the author if you choose to read "The Forest Garden Greenhouse." His is the good life toward which we should all aspire as individuals and as a society.

I borrowed this book from the library, but I now plan to acquire a personal copy for myself in the future. It is inspirational and educational, and will prove to be a very useful garden reference, whether in a greenhouse or not.

[Chinchilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The execution of this book and the writing itself were not very impressive, but the content and the ideas presented made it more than worthwhile. I did not care about the philosophical musings Osentowski incorporated in this book. I understand that he was providing reasons for his practicing of permaculture, but it really showed his weakness in writing and made the book difficult to read at places. Given that this book is quite technical in nature, he should felt comfortable enough to trust that readers would already be permaculture enthusiasts or at least familiar with the permaculture principles, hence simply focuses on the techniques of creating perculture greenhouses.

On the technical side, this is a book filled with information on plant selection, climate battery concepts, greenhouse construction and management, soil building, etc. I really liked how detailed some of topics are in this book, and I especially enjoyed all the greenhouse case studies (on-site and off-site) presented in the book.

The success presented in this book is so inspirational. Not only do I want to build a greenhouse of my own, incorporating the climate battery, but I also believe, with the proven success of this "technology", every city, municipality, neighbourhood, and schools should all have public year-around greenhouses for food production. The implications of having greenhouses as part of the basic public infrastructure similar to recreation centres and libraries are paramount; consider public fu cations such as educational programs, senior engagement programs, job creation, food production (a drastic reduction in overhead costs such as transportation and emission of greenhouse gases...), etc.

It's a great reference book for anyone who wants to grow their own food. I will certainly be purchasing a copy for myself when I am ready to build. It's a 4.5-star book for me.

[Andretta Schellinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always thought about making a greenhouse, and so when I won this book I was really looking forward to reading it. It did not disappoint and I now have a completely different path that I want to follow. It not only addresses how to take care of a plant, but also what type of plants are good, how they help, etc. This is not a book that you read once and then are done with, no you kept it as a reference because you will go back to it, many times I am sure.

I received this book free through the Goodreads giveaway in exchange for a review.

[Diann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not counting this as one of my Goodreads books for the year as it isn't a read-through sort of thing. But there is a LOT of great reference material in here, presented in a useful fashion. When I do get my greenhouse going... here I am!

[Adrian Lupescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to have a garden book for under 4 stars, since there is always some good info.

This is a great book if you want to grow bananas in Canada.

Generally speaking it is a book about Greenhouses. Mostly about building idea but also planting ideas. It does presume you will build a new large greenhouse, and they don't offer any suggestions for those that buy a smaller one. They do compensate a lot by dealing a lot with big and industrial sized greenhouses.

Besides greenhouses, they offer many insights on benefits of different plants.

[kapslok · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. There was a lot of good information unfortunately it was smashed between Jerome's philosophical POV (which admittedly is common in these types of books) and his over-sensationalized descriptions of his greenhouses.

The info on the climate battery was very interesting and useful but I feel the book could easily be condensed to about 35-40 pages.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Inspiring and informative. Great photos with descriptions.