Building Soils Naturally

Author: Phil Nauta
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781601730336
Category : Garden soils
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Outlines proven, sustainable methods for growing healthy food and plants that contribute to a healthy planet and a healthy you. Grow vigorous, more pest-resistant vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants by using complete and balanced nutrients -- far beyond the simplistic, imbalanced concept of NPK. Healthy soil doesn't happen just by composting, fertilizing or companion planting. It happens by using a holistic approach -- outlined in this book and crafted right in your garden.

Building Soil: A Down-to-Earth Approach

Author: Elizabeth Murphy
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 1627886125
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 203

Book Description
This is your down-to-earth, complete manual for achieving great gardening results with your own rich, organic soil.How do you recognize healthy soil? How much can your existing soil be improved? What are the best amendments to use for your soil? Let Building Soil answer your questions and be your guide on gardening from the ground up. Fertilizing, tilling, weed management, and irrigation all affect the quality of your soil. Using author Elizabeth Murphy’s detailed instructions, anyone can become a successful soil-based gardener, whether you want to start a garden from scratch or improve an existing garden.If you want methods that won’t break your back, are good for the environment, and create high-yielding and beautiful gardens of all shapes and sizes, this is the book for you! Create classic landscape gardens, grow a high-yielding orchard, nurture naturally beautiful lawns, raise your household veggies, or run a profitable farm.A soil-based approach allows you to see not just the plants, but the living system that grows them. Soil-building practices promote more ecologically friendly gardening by: ·Reducing fertilizer and pesticide use ·Sequestering greenhouse gases ·Increasing overall garden productivityWith a detailed discussion and comparison tables on a range of organic fertilizer choices, Building Soil is a simple book full of practical, up-to-date information about building healthy soils. Simple methods perfect for the home gardener’s use put healthy, organic soil within everyone’s reach. You don’t need a degree in soil management to understand this book; you only need a yard or garden and the desire to improve it at the most basic level.

Profound Guide on Soil Building Process

Author: Scott Wilson, MD
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Book Description
Soil buіldіng іѕ a рlаnt drіvеn рrосеѕѕ whеrеbу саrbоn is ѕеԛuеѕtеrеd frоm thе atmosphere аnd lосkеd іntо thе ѕоіl аnd in ѕо dоіng, changes the оvеrаll bіоlоgісаl, chemical and physical рrореrtіеѕ оf the ѕоіl - in a bеnеfісіаl way. Soil organic mаttеr саn bе divided into 3 parts - thе lіvіng, thе dеаd and the vеrу dead. Thе lіvіng раrt - huge dіvеrѕіtу of mісrо-оrgаnіѕmѕ, ѕuсh аѕ bасtеrіа, viruses, fungі, protozoa, аlgае аnd nеmаtоdеѕ; аlѕо, рlаnt rооtѕ, іnѕесtѕ, еаrthwоrmѕ, аnd larger аnіmаlѕ. Thе dеаd раrt - dеаd рlаnt roots, сrор residues, root еxudаtеѕ, dесеаѕеd mісrо and mасrо organisms, аnd animal manures. Thіѕ is the active, оr еаѕіlу dесоmроѕеd, frасtіоn оf оrgаnіс mаttеr thаt іѕ thе main supply оf fооd fоr thе vаrіоuѕ оrgаnіѕmѕ. The vеrу dеаd раrt - humuѕ - very ѕtаblе, соmрlеx аnd wеll-dесоmроѕеd оrgаnіс mаttеr. Humus іѕ аn оrgаnо-mіnеrаl соmрlеx соmрrіѕіng аbоut 60% саrbоn аnd bеtwееn 6 and 8% nіtrоgеn, рhоѕрhоruѕ аnd ѕulрhur. Proportionally, it has a hugе ѕurfасе аrеа and can store bоth саtіоnѕ аnd аnіоnѕ аnd is аn еѕѕеntіаl fасtоr іn ѕоіl fertility. Thеѕе organo-mineral complexes fоrm a stable аnd inseparable раrt of the ѕоіl matrix thаt саn rеmаіn intact for hundrеdѕ оf years.

Building Soils for Better Crops

Author: Fred Magdoff
Publisher: Sare
ISBN: 9781888626131
Category : Humus
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
"'Published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, with funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture."

Grow Your Soil!

Author: Diane Miessler
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 1635862078
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
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.

No Dig

Author: Charles Dowding
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0744077753
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 631

Book Description
Work in partnership with nature to nurture your soil for healthy plants and bumper crops - without back-breaking effort! Have you ever wondered how to transform a weedy plot into a thriving vegetable garden? Well now you can! By following the simple steps set out in No Dig, in just a few short hours you can revolutionize your vegetable patch with plants already in the ground from day one! Charles Dowding is on a mission to teach that there is no need to dig over the soil, but by minimizing intervention you are actively boosting soil productivity. In fact, The less you dig, the more you preserve soil structure and nurture the fungal mycelium vital to the health of all plants. This is the essence of the No Dig system that Charles Dowding has perfected over a lifetime growing vegetables. So put your gardening gloves on and get ready to discover: - Guides and calendars of when to sow, grow, and harvest. - Inspiring information and first-hand guidance from the author - “Delve deeper” features look in-depth at the No Dig system and the facts and research that back it up. - The essential role of compost and how to make your own at home. - The importance of soil management, soil ecology, and soil health. Now one of the hottest topics in environmental science, this "wood-wide web" has informed Charles's practice for decades, and he's proven it isn't just trees that benefit - every gardener can harness the power of the wood-wide web. Featuring newly- commissioned step-by-step photography of all stages of growing vegetables and herbs, and all elements of No Dig growing, shot at Charles’s beautiful market garden in Somerset, you too will be able to grow more veg with less time and effort, and in harmony with nature - so join the No Dig revolution today! A must-have volume for followers of Charles Dowding who fervently believe in his approach to low input, high yield gardening, as well as gardeners who want to garden more lightly on the earth, with environmentally friendly techniques like organic and No Dig.

Building Soils for Better Crops

Author: Fred Magdoff
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781888626193
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description

Dirt

Author: David R. Montgomery
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520933168
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Book Description
Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

The Ann Lovejoy Handbook of Northwest Gardening

Author: Ann Lovejoy
Publisher: Sasquatch Books
ISBN: 157061878X
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Book Description
The organic gardening movement has been long established among vegetable growers. With the mainstreaming of ideas about environmental and ecological preservation, the organic movement has come to ornamental gardening. And one of the primary spokespeople for that movement is Sasquatch’s longtime author Ann Lovejoy. This new book is a complete handbook for ornamental gardening follows the principles and techniques of organic and sustainable gardening. Gardening naturally does mean going without products like Roundup, Weed and Feed, and chemical fertilizers. It also means that gardeners may opt for a selection of native plants that are compatible with local climate and soils. Some of the paradigm shift has to do with getting over the notion that one’s garden needs to be as spotless and tidy as something on a magazine cover. Gardening is all about process, and the methods that Ann Lovejoy explains in this book emphasize good soil preparation, composting, drainage, mulching, and right plant selection. This comprehensive book covers the steps from landscaping and designs to soil preparation to planting beds. She covers all of the elements of the garden: ground covers, lawns, shrubs, bulbs, trees – all with an eye to building a sustainable garden that grows without chemical fertilizers and pest control. You can try to make an Arizona backyard look like a Connecticut estate, but it’s going to take a lot of work, constant maintenance, more water than all the other gardens on your block, and a fat checkbook. There’s a simpler, more gratifying way to garden that is also good for people, pets, and wildlife. This practical book tells gardeners how to achieve that.

A Soil Owner's Manual

Author: Jon Stika
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530431267
Category : Soil exhaustion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
There are many books that have been written about how to manipulate, amend, and control the soil to enable high-yield crop production. This is not one of those books. This book will empower you to restore the capacity of your soil to function to produce crops while reducing your dependency on expensive inputs. Soil health is about restoring the capacity of the soil to function. Currently, most agricultural and garden soils are essentially dysfunctional. This book will open your eyes to the truth about how soil is supposed to function and help you restore it to full health.