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Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
 
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Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web [Hardcover]

Jeff Lowenfels (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Hardcover CDN $19.75   -- --
Hardcover, Aug 1 2006 --   -- --
There is a newer edition of this item:
Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
CDN$ 19.75
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Review

"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." Kym Pokorny, The Oregonian (The Oregonian )

"For years, we've thought of the 'food chains' in our environment. Lowenfels and Lewis explain an even more wonderful idea: the 'soil food web.' Read Teaming with Microbes and keep it or give it to the library so others may learn of this astounding way to grow vegetables, trees, lawns." (Rockland Courier-Gazette )

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. Debra McKinney, Anchorage Daily News, September 14, 2006 (Anchorage Daily News )

"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." (Anchorage Daily News )

"The authors have given gardeners an inside scoop on the scientific research supporting organic gardening." (Washington Gardener )

"This book has all the best dirt on all the best dirt. It...explains the basics of good soil practices, and it's written especially for home gardeners." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer )

"[This book] is a must read for any gardener looking to create a sustainable, healthy garden without chemicals." (Detroit News )

It is exciting that the revelations herein are the tip of the iceberg in the complex, microscopic world of our soil that will unfold in the coming decades. (B & B Magazine )

Product Description

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.
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5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars le savoir, Dec 6 2011
This review is from: Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web (Hardcover)
le savoir de ce qui ce cache sous le sol, de la manière de donner les conditions optimales pour devenir en symbiose avec son potager
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The dirt on dirt, Mar 15 2010
This review is from: Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web (Hardcover)
I just read this book and found that it brings together in one place much of the information I have been reading in bits and pieces elsewhere about the soil food web. It describes in detail what makes healthy (for plants) soil, what role the various organisms and elements have in creating healthy or unhealthy soil and what is required to sustain a healthy growing environment for plants. Easy to read, not too scientific in its details, but enough for your average soil/compost geek. I'm not a scientist but have enough gardening experience to know that most of what they claim rings true. I would like to see some studies and experiments that back up some of the claims, though.

All in all, this book will help any grower or steward of land/forest to understand the complexities of soil; the micro-organisms, the chemistry, and the relationship of plants to the soil food web. Good illustrations and photos. Not a gardening picture book or how-to-plant book!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.8 out of 5 stars (95 customer reviews)

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally an answer to my questions, April 17 2007
By Deirdre NYC - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web (Hardcover)
I've always known that there was more than meets the eye in all that dirt, and now I know what it is. It's life. Between the tiny pieces of rock (minerals) and the decaying plant matter, right next to the roots of plants and the above the clay level, lives billions of organisms. Each one, be it bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, worms, grubs or rodents, has a function in the soil.

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis is bursting with information helpful to gardeners. Using a science-based approach they characterize the roll of each inhabitant and component of soil and explain its contribution to the "soil food web." They even include 19 helpful rules to keep your soil fertile without fertilizers and to recover the life in damaged soil.

Questions about the type of compost (brown or green) needed to rebuild damaged soil are fully answered. They make a compelling argument against rototilling soil have step by step recipes for producing healthful compost teas.

I loved their thorough approach and because I've only been gardening for a few years, I finally feel like I have a place to go for definitive answers that eluded me before. My veggie garden needed something and I hope that the I can boost my soil and my output this year based on the information in this book. Time will tell, but this was a great book to point me in the direction that I hope fills my freezer and my stomach with food from my garden this summer.

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Teeming with Daffodils, Feb 20 2008
By Ladybug - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web (Hardcover)
When you start "teaming with microbes" you'll soon want a tomato patch that is "teeming with daffodils." This book will show you how!

I've heard about "no-till gardening" for years, but it seemed to be practiced by the slightly-flighty. This book explains in scientific terms why no-till is the best option for your garden. If you have an extensive knowledge of biology, you can skip to Part 2, but I recommend reading Part 1 so you can understand the biology of the soil. Don't be intimidated by this, though, the science is explained in an easy-to-understand manner (the authors weren't your high school teachers!).

"Teaming with Microbes" has completely changed the way I think about my garden. When you follow their procedures, gardening becomes easier (no more turning the soil every spring) and cheaper (no need to buy fertilizers when you have almost everything you need right in your back yard!) and your garden, whether vegetable or flower or perennial, will become more productive.

Best of all, you can plant daffodils in your tomato patch.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource, Nov 9 2006
By M. Pulse - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web (Hardcover)
This book is revolutionizing the way I garden. I have learned so much about how to work with the soil and not be concerned about the bugs I see there. I am composting with knowledge and a purpose instead of composting just because. Highly recommend this book for beginners or long-term gardeners. This will challenge the way you have gardened...in a good way.
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