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!
