Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
by Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne LewisEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Illustrated
Published: 2006-07-15
ISBN: 0881927775
Number of pages: 196
Publisher: Timber Press
Book Reviews of Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Book Review: Good subject, somewhat simplistic treatment
Summary: 3 Stars
The most valuable take-away's from this book is that if you look at your soil up close and can't find a single living thing, something is wrong. The more variety of buzzing, crawling, oozing, and scuttling things you can find, the better your soil is. I applaud the author for encouraging us to view the soil as a living thing instead of just a collection of particles and chemicals. Thinking in terms of fungi acidifying the soil and bacteria making it more basic is interesting as well and probably has applications with regard to liming or at least the timing of soil testing.
But reading this book, I felt a little bit like I was watching one of those 30-minute advertisements where they give you all this information before revealing what they are trying to sell you. The first half of the book is a very high-level view of soil (micro) biology. The second half basically says to add compost or compost tea and don't roto-till or use chemicals. That's great advice if your yard and garden already has a foot or more of loamy topsoil.
I'm kind of amazed that cover crops were not mentioned at all. I've heard that if you plant a legume and grass together, the grass uses up nitrogen, forcing the legume to foster more nitrogen-fixing bacteria. When it's ripe, you till the nitrogen-rich crop into the ground to decompose and nourish your next crop. Farmers have done this in one way or another for longer than I care to guess. If you use a cover-crop that doesn't winter-kill, you generally have to turn it over to kill it in the spring. It can be done lightly with a garden fork instead of a rototiller, but is that better or worse than roto-tilling? Why is none of this covered in this book?
I've done harm by roto-tilling too much, but I still think a single roto-tilling is invaluable in turning compacted sod into a garden. Also, what about the potential benefits of gently lifting the soil with a garden fork or broadfork in the winter? Advice for clay vs. sand? Hot environments vs. cool ones? Temperature has a huge effect on decomposition and I time my applications of compost differently in SC than I did in MA as a result. None of this is covered in this book.
Other reviewers mentioned lack of scientific evidence to support compost tea, and the potential to do harm, or at least waste time and energy by making poor-quality tea. I have seen a seedling trial where compost tea in poor potting soil made plants perform as well as those watered with straight water in good potting soil, but no proof that it's due to microbes, and it's no better than building good soil with compost and rock powders.
In the end, I might sell or give away Teaming with Microbes, because I already have Secrets to Great Soil (Storey's Gardening Skills Illustrated) on my shelf which is a much more well-rounded, how-to book on building soil which I read and re-read every year.
Summary of Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life ? not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life. But there is an alternative to this vicious circle: to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web ? the complex world of soil-dwelling organisms whose interactions create a nurturing environment for plants. By eschewing jargon and overly technical language, the authors make the benefits of cultivating the soil food web available to a wide audience, from devotees of organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy, vigorous plants without resorting to chemicals.Gardening & Horticulture Books
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