Book Review: January

The Garden Blogger's Book Club

I was unable to get my hands on a library copy of Teaming With Microbes, so that goes on the 'future reading' list.  What I did do was rummage through my library and find a pair of books that I thought would be of a similar message and tone. 

Start With the Soil, by Grace Gershuny

A very good basic primer on the ins and outs of soil.  Published by Rodale Press, the emphasis of this book is organic methods.  Gershuny discusses the basics of soil, devotes a chapter to the microbial community that makes a soil fertile, and offers ways of building humus content to your garden's soil. 

There are some very handy charts of information leavened throughout the volume - one lists where weeds thrive, so that by identifying your weeds, you can have some idea of what your soil is like. 

She covers composting, vermicomposting and green manure crops (that are turned under before planting - usually in vegetable gardens, but also useful in preparing beds for perennials.)  She gives some information on root development and nutrient uptake, explaining why some nutrients may be present in the soil, but not available for the plants, and gives some tips on how to 'nudge' those elements back into usefulness.

There is a chapter devoted to the soil needs of differing plantings: vegetables, flowers, trees and shrubs, and potted plants.

Overall, this is an easily accessible book for the gardener who wants to know what to do, and why.

From the introduction:

...your handbook to creating and caring for healthy, productive soil.  It contains both the science you need to understand the complex cycle of life and fertility, and the practical tips on how to put your knowledge to use in the garden.

This book is a basic in my library.

Step By Step Organic Vegetable Gardening, by Shepherd Ogden. 

Looking at this book today, I am surprised to see it is published by Harper Collins.  I thought it was another in the organic Rodale library.

Yes, it's a vegetable book, but the lessons on soil are much the same.  This is another primer, and covers the very start of a garden - siting for optimal sun and rain, what tools to use, where to put the compost pile. 

Odgen provides a good background on the chemical school of fertilizing, a bit of history, a bit of chemistry. Ever wonder why potassium is indicated with a 'K'?  The Latin name is Kalium.  I didn't know that. 

An excerpt: 

What is most wasteful about manufactured fertilizers, though, is that 30 to 50 percent of the nitrogen and 20 percent of the potassium and phosphorus in them is washed away into our streams, ponds, and groundwater aquifiers before plants can use it.
...
Compost, on the other hand, with its low apparent "analysis" -- that is the official N-P-K listing with indicates the immediately available nutrients -- is a stable, slow-release fertilizer whose nutrients will not easily wash out. 

This book, too, has helpful charts, geared more to the vegetable gardener.  The one I will get the most use of shows what plants are in the same families, and therefore should not be planted in the same spot every year, but instead rotated from one area to another.

Crop rotation serves two purposes - one - it prevents the soil from harboring insect pests that target that plant group, and - two - it allows the gardener to put the crops in the best soil for that plant.  Some plants need rich soil.  Some prefer a leaner diet.  This book will set that straight, and set you up for sucess.

This is another book that has been in my library for some years, and comes out when I have a question. I'm still in the process of (re)reading it; I've progressed to the chapter on seed starts.  C'mon March.  I'm ready to start seeding!

Post Script:  One of these books had a great test for fertilizer*.  Put some of the fertilizer on one side of a plate.  Add a few worms to the other side.  If they try to flee off the plate, you might not want to use that fertilizer.  If they move toward the fertilizer, you have a winner that won't burn your beneficial organisms (large and small) out of the soil. 

*{Which of course I can't find, now that I am looking for it}

Good gardening!

Comments

[Philip Small]

By coincidence, my copy of "Teaming with Microbes" arrived in the mail just today. While I can't comment on the content with any authority yet, I can say that it is well organized, has an extensive index (8 pages), and being a soil scientist, it pleased me no end to see "soil science 28 - 42". There is also a most appreciated resources guide to labs and suppliers (4 pages). I was especially gratified to see a listing for a supplier of mycorhhizal fungi right here in Spokane. This gets me closer to pursuing my backyard terra preta nova garden project.

My favorite living-soil subject, glomalin (recalcitrant mycorhhizal fungally produced glycoprotein that accounts for 1/3 of world soil carbon) gets mentioned on page 37.

I was disappointed to see that my current soil obsession, bio-char, the foundational ingredient in terra preta nova, is not mentioned. I have gotten the impression that Elaine Ingham, who has achieved demi-goddess standing in soil-web circles, was skeptical of charcoal as a soil amendment at the time the book went to publication, so I am not particularly surprised.

[Carol]

Jenn... great info on some other books about soil. I'll include it in the Garden Bloggers' Book Club round up next week.

Carol

[Annie in Austin]

If someone is just starting out and has really bad soil, where do they get the worms to perform the fertilizer test? They'll have to borrow some from the nearest organic gardening neighbor:)

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[jenn]

Wow, Annie, that's PAINFUL. No WORMS?!? Ow.

I have to set back and think about folks in that sorry of a position. I've been blessed with always living in Michigan's dark soil croplands.

No worms. I would think you could hit the bait store - get some red wigglers. But nowadays you have to be careful to not introduce worms to areas they aren't native to. Sigh.

So hard to live 'right' and so easy to go for the easy answers.

[Annie in Austin]

Well, Jenn, we never saw a worm when we first started to plant at our previous house here in Austin, and we didn't introduce any into the landscape. We mulched and used compost, etc., and a couple of years later - the worms just appeared.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[jenn]

Wow. Behold the power of compost!

[Shepherd Ogden]

Jenn,

Thanks for the kind comments about my book. Don't know if you are aware of it or not, but there is a companion volume (also HC and also out of print, though I have a couple of dozen copies I could sell) on growing flowers, and the botany and greenhouse sections make a great complement to SxS Veg.

I recently reviewed "Teaming" for "The American Gardener" and it is indeed a great book. Jeff is a recent convert and an old friend.

BTW, my name is spelled Shepherd, not Shepard. If you are curious, I am converting my Step by Step books (slowly) to web format at Garden Smarts (you can link off the URL provided above).

{Ed: "Shepherd, not Shepard." Oops. Thank you, I will correct that!

And thank you for your link. I am always eager to read more about gardening, esp. during our long Michigan winters.}

[JLB]

Thanks for the book recommendations/reviews! I'm always on the lookout for new books. ;)