Full name: Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web

Authors: Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Gardening, Non Fiction, Science Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780881927771 9781604691139 0881927775 1604691131

Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life -- not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life. But there is an alternative to this vicious circle: to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web -- the complex world of soil-dwelling organisms whose interactions create a nurturing environment for plants. By eschewing jargon and overly technical language, the authors make the benefits of cultivating the soil food web available to a wide audience, from devotees of organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy, vigorous plants without resorting to chemicals. Similar books: Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway Permaculture by Bill Mollison The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control by Fern Marshall Bradley Gardening Without Work by Ruth Stout Crockett's Victory Garden by James Underwood Crockett The New Self-Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour Trowel and Error by Sharon Lovejoy Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison The Edible Garden by Alys Fowler The New Seed Starter's Handbook by Nancy Bubel Martha's Flowers by Martha Stewart The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces by Patricia Lanza The Rodale Book of Composting by Grace Gershuny