Grow Your Soil!

Harness the Power of the Soil Food Web to Create Your Best Garden Ever

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Pub Date 18 Feb 2020 | Archive Date 18 Feb 2020
Storey Publishing | Storey Publishing, LLC

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Description

Growing awareness of the importance of soil health means that microbes are on the minds of even the most casual gardeners. After all, anyone who has ever attempted to plant a thriving patch of flowers or vegetables knows that what you grow is only as good as the soil you grow it in. It is possible to create and maintain rich, dark, crumbly soil that’s teeming with life, using very few inputs and a no-till, no-fertilizer approach. Certified permaculture designer and lifelong gardener Diane Miessler presents the science of soil health in an engaging, entertaining voice geared for the backyard grower. She shares the techniques she has used — including cover crops, constant mulching, and a simple-but-supercharged recipe for compost tea — to transform her own landscape from a roadside dump for broken asphalt to a garden that stops traffic, starting from the ground up.

Growing awareness of the importance of soil health means that microbes are on the minds of even the most casual gardeners. After all, anyone who has ever attempted to plant a thriving patch of...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781635862072
PRICE US$16.95 (USD)
PAGES 176

Average rating from 30 members


Featured Reviews

SOIL. FOOD. WEB. This is an absolutely amazing gardening resource on the science of soil biology (soil makes up 1/3 of the surface of our planet!) which I feel is often overlooked and not understood. I'm 'lazy' and thus have a great love for efficient systems that also reduce harm to the environment (hello permaculture!), and this book helps me do just that. "Work smarter, not harder.", is my lazy-girl motto after all, and let's face it, gardening is endless work often made more difficult by poor gardening practices. I want to be the manager, not the grunt as it were, so why not have the soil bear the brunt of the work for me? It's a win-win-win situation because, with kind and intentional gardening practices, the planet and those who inhabit it will benefit as well as myself and my garden. I'll also have more time to take sweet, glorious afternoon naps beneath a shady tree.

"Chop up the leaves with your machete (see chapter 8 for the how-to)."
YESSS! This sentence got me so pumped to lay down green mulch as a badass machete-wielding goddess of nature.

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A few topics to look forward to:

♥ Your responsibility to the planet as a gardener by lessening the amount of carbon dioxide floating off into the o-zone layer of space, by using microbiology and permaculture gardening practices to keep carbon in the soil. Goes into detail on why to say no to tilling, and chemical topsoil, composts, and pesticides—instead working with nature instead of against it by relying on mulching, companion gardening, and cover cropping to make your whole garden into a self-sustaining bioactive 'compost garden' that does much of the work for you with the bonus of having larger, healthier, tastier, more nutritious yields.

♥ Breakdown of what makes up soil, the ideal ratios that make a 'good' soil (N-P-K, aka Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium), how to test your soil for these elements as well as other trace elements, and how to supplement unbalanced soil. S-O-I-L.

♥ Companion gardening and cover cropping for optimal nutrients and ground cover (Moist soil! Nitrogen allies! Worms! Beneficial bugs and creatures! Pollinators!), naturally creating rich black yummy humus. Humus, not hummus, silly.

♥ Planting guidelines for cover crops by season, including flowers and edibles, and how to turn them into mulch.

♥ Green mulch vs. brown mulch and the best ways of layering and timing your mulching process to get the most out of your mulch and into your plants.

♥ Benefits of biochar (charcoal) for aiding and expanding the density of your soils nutrient storage, how to make your own, plus safety precautions and tips for best application to your garden beds.

♥ COMPOST TEA (chapter 6) using WORM BINS. Also how to make compost, how to maintain compost piles, and the difference between compost and mulch.

♥ Tips on how to plant in your newly tended-to soil, plus pruning and garden maintenance.

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The illustration with the buff microbes (page 48) is AMAZING, as well as the graphic mollusk bit (page 68); I had quite a laugh so thank you for that.

The prose of this book flows easily, filled with technical information and witty humor, written in such a balanced way that makes it suitable for all ages. I also loved the visual aesthetic of this read with its fun illustrations, clean yet trendy layout, and appealing color theme. This would be a wonderful book to request for your public library, school library, and to have in your personal library at home. This book would also make a great gift for your aspiring biologist, gardener, herbalist, and other nature-y science-y person. It was such a pleasure to read this, I definitely recommend this book.

The quotes provided were taken from an eARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Thank you to (publisher) for providing me with this eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

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