Teaming with Microbes

The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition

Contributors

By Jeff Lowenfels

By Wayne Lewis

Formats and Prices

Price

$24.95

Price

$30.95 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Hardcover $24.95 $30.95 CAD
  2. ebook $11.99 $15.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around February 24, 2010. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

“A breakthrough book. No comprehensive horticultural library should be without it.” —American Gardener

When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains plants, and then become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of toxic substances. Teaming with Microbes offers an alternative to this vicious circle, and details how to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web. You’ll discover that healthy soil is teeming with life—not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. This must-have guide is for everyone, from those devoted to organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy plants without resorting to chemicals.

Excerpt

The images in this book have forewarned you: you may find things in your soil that, upon closer examination, will scare the daylights out of you. (In general we advise against putting anything under an electron microscope. At that level, all life has teeth!) The point is, when you get a good look at some of the microarthropods present in soil, you may never want to put your hands in the soil again. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss; however, in this instance a little knowledge is not going to hurt you and will actually help you be a better gardener. Just remember, you put your hands in the soil before you knew what was there and never got hurt.

You will want to repeat the following procedures with soils from each of your gardens and lawn areas, and even around specific trees and shrubs. We have done this dozens of times in our own yards, and what we find never fails to astonish us.

Start by digging a hole in the soil at issue, about 12 inches (30 centimeters) square. Use a spade or trowel — it doesn't matter, and measurements don't have to be exact. Put all the soil you dig up onto a tarp or in a box so you can then sift through it, looking for the bigger animals you might find in the soil: worms, beetles, insect larvae — any living organism you can see with the naked eye and pick up without having to resort to tweezers. Keep track of what you are finding.

None of us are trained at identifying all the organisms in our soils, and frankly the variety of them is so great as to be beyond the scope of this book. Do your best in making identifications. Seek help from others. In time you will become sufficiently proficient for the purpose. This is new stuff, and just being exposed to it will make the learning experience easier. It didn't take us very long, and it won't take you long to become familiar with soil food web organisms.

Genre:

  • “A breakthrough book. . . . well worth owning and reading. No comprehensive horticultural library should be without it.” —American Gardener

    “Digs into soil in a most enlightening and entertaining way.” —Dallas Morning News

    “Required reading for all serious gardeners.” —Miami Herald

    “The authors have given gardeners an inside scoop on the scientific research supporting organic gardening.” —Pacific Horticulture

    “This intense little book may well change the way you garden.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    “Exceptional. . . . A brief, clear overview of scientific information with which every gardener should be familiar.” —Monterey Herald

    “Sure, it’s a gardening book, but it has all the drama and suspense of an extraterrestrial thriller. A cast of characters without eyeballs or backbones. Battle scenes with bizarre creatures devouring one another. Only this book is about as terrestrial as it gets.” —Anchorage Daily News

    “All good gardeners know healthy plants start with healthy soil. But why? And how? In Teaming with Microbes Lowenfels and Lewis reveal the new research in the most practical and accessible way.” —The Oregonian

    “Read this book and you’ll never think of soil the same way.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

    “Sure, it’s a gardening book, but it has all the drama and suspense of an extraterrestrial thriller. . . . Read this book and you’ll never look at soil the same way.” —BB Magazine

    “A must read for any gardener looking to create a sustainable, healthy garden without chemicals.” —Virginian-Pilot

    “It takes readers underground to meet the critters that live if you let them under the garden.” —Rockland Courier-Gazette

    “[Teaming with Microbes] was one of those ‘aha’ moments for me, where I realized I had been growing wrong this whole time.”  —Matthew Frigon (Founder of Lazy Bee Farms) in Dope Magazine

On Sale
Feb 24, 2010
Page Count
220 pages
Publisher
Timber Press
ISBN-13
9781604691139

Jeff Lowenfels

Jeff Lowenfels

About the Author

Jeff Lowenfels is the author several of award-winning books on plants and soil, and he is the longest running garden columnist in North America. Lowenfels is a national lecturer as well as a fellow, hall of fame member, and former president of the Garden Writers of America.

Learn more about this author