Milton Public Library

Grow your soil!, harness the power of the soil food web to create your best garden ever

eng

no index present

non fiction

Grow your soil!

electronic resource

dictionaries

harness the power of the soil food web to create your best garden ever

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. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA. The key to success for every gardening venture is rich soil. Achieving that basic building block is easy with this accessible soil improvement guide, which offers a broad understanding of the science of soil's microbial life in an engaging, entertaining style. Diane Miessler is the author of Grow Your Soil! She is a certified permaculture designer, a soil science enthusiast, and a gardener with more than 50 years of experience. She has a monthly column in The Union, a newspaper that serves Nevada County, California. Creating healthy soil isn't rocket science. It's easier than you think! Step away from the rototiller, stop digging, skip the fertilizers, and let microbes do the heavy lifting. Discover no-sweat soil-building steps like turning weeds into on-the-spot mulch, using cover crops and kitchen waste to feed and protect your soil food web, and brewing super-easy, super-charged compost tea to fend off soil pathogens. Then sit back, relax, and watch your garden thrive. Foreword by Elaine R. Ingham Beauty, Magic & Tomatoes: Why I Garden, and How the Soil Food Web Helps 10 Suggestions for Creating Healthy, Living Soil Making Soil: Building a "House" 1 The Skinny on Soil: What Makes Soil Good & How Does It Get That Way? What Is Soil? What Makes Good Soil Good? What Good Is Good Soil? 2 Building a House: Start with the Roof (Mulch & Cover Crops) Mulch Cover Crops 3 Build the Walls: Organic Matter & the Soil Food Web That Sticks It Together Soil Organic Matter The Soil Food Web: A Gardener's Best Friend Biodiversity 101: Microbes Biodiversity 102: Algae, Bugs, Worms, and More 4 Install Ventilation, Plumbing & a Nice Pantry: No-Till Growing, Paths & CEC Step Away from the Rototiller! Make Paths What Is CEC? How to Increase CEC 5 Feed the Inhabitants: Photosynthesis, Minerals & Soil Testing Photosynthesis: Empty but Necessary Calories Macronutrients & Micronutrients To Test or Not to Test 6 Compost and Compost Tea: It's Not Rocket Science Benefits and Tools Is It Compost or Is It Mulch? How to Build a Compost Pile Maintaining a Compost Pile: It Needs Your Love When Is It Done? Growing Pains Fungally or Bacterially Dominated? Worm Bins Frequently Asked Questions, Answered Compost Tea for a Non-Rocket Scientist with a Bucket 7 Where Do I Start? Building a Garden That Feeds Itself Step 1: Pick a Spot Step 2: Get Water to It Step 3: Decide where You'll Walk Step 4: Soften the Soil Step 5: Pull Stuff Up, Throw Stuff Down Step 6: Mulch Step 7: Plant Stuff 8 Housework & Home Repairs: How Not to Make Your Neighbors Hate You Maintenance = Mulch Putter, Don't Work ..

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