Low-Maintenance Eco-Gardens Book
Explore Low-Maintenance Ecological Gardening
Learn how this book weaves design, ecology, and self-care into practical steps for resilient gardens.
Low-Maintenance Eco Gardens helps you design and tend beautiful, resilient spaces that care for you while caring for Earth. It offers step-by-step guidance for creating eco-friendly gardens that stay joyful and realistic over time.
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Written by staff members Fred Meyer and Jen Kardos. It will be available March 2026.
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Signed copies of the book will be available at a discount when you purchase our coaching services, and can be included when organizations host classes with us.
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You can also pre-order the book through Bookshop.org, where a portion of the proceeds supports our nonprofit work.
Who This Book Is For
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New or Busy Gardeners: People who want a garden that feels manageable, not overwhelming.
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Households and Families: Anyone hoping to grow food, pollinator habitat, or play spaces that still look good when life gets busy.
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Community: Neighborhoods or teams designing shared courtyards, teaching gardens, or small public spaces.
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Healthcare Professionals: Helpers who want to weave nature-based practices into client work or self-care.
What You’ll Learn
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Read Your Space: How to understand sun, shade, water, and soil so plants thrive.
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Design with Nature: Simple steps for laying out beds, paths, and outdoor rooms that work together.
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Reduce Chores: Ways to cut mowing, weeding, and watering while keeping what you enjoy.
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Grow Food and Habitat: Ideas for herbs, veggies, fruit, and native plants that support people and wildlife.
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Build Resilient Systems: Low-effort irrigation, composting, and plant combinations that care for themselves.
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Support Well-Being: Practices for using your garden as a place to rest, reflect, and reconnect with nature.
Peek Inside the Book
Low-Maintenance Eco Gardens is different from most garden books. It weaves practical design with well-being and covers a wide range of projects, all through a low-maintenance lens.
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Container Gardens: Create flexible, beautiful plantings for patios, balconies, and tight spaces.
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Raised Beds: Establish beds that are easy to tend and gentle on your body.
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In-Ground Gardens: Design nutrient-dense, low-care beds that reduce maintenance and support healthy soil life.
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Mini-Orchards: Plan small fruit guilds and edible edges that fit into everyday yards.
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Wild Edible Foraging: Safely recognize and enjoy common wild foods that may already be growing in your yard or nearby park.
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Sensory Gardens: Grow spaces that invite touch, scent, sound, and visual calm.
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Composting Systems: Set up simple systems that recycle kitchen and yard waste with minimal fuss.
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Curious how it all fits together? Browse a few sample pages to see the layouts, illustrations, and step-by-step guidance from the introduction.
"This is the future of landscape design. A blueprint for all to follow if they want to support nature!"
Mary Reynolds
Reformed landscape designer, bestselling author and founder of the global movement We are the ARK - Acts of Restorative Kindness to the Earth
"Having worked with Fred and Jen for many years, I deeply respect their ability to make gardening both fun and restorative—physically and mentally. Low-Maintenance Eco Gardens is a practical, inspiring guide built on principles they helped me apply in my own yard, which provides nourishing food for my family. Anyone seeking to restore the health of their landscape—and their well-being—will benefit from this easy-to-follow approach."
​Dr Terry Wahls MD, FACP, IFMCP
Author of The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles
"If someone offered you a passport to paradise, right on your doorstep, would you take it? Rich with crisp illustrations, clear writing, and a handsome layout, this pleasing package unrolls an easy on-ramp to the sophisticated design science of permaculture."
Peter Bane
Author of The Permaculture Handbook, and President of the Permaculture Future Foundation