The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers

by Grace Gershuny and Joe Smillie

Book Overview

Soil is the basis not only for all gardening, but for all terrestrial life. No aspect of agriculture is more fundamental and important, yet we have been losing vast quantities of our finite soil resources to erosion, pollution, and development.

Now back in print, this eminently sensible and wonderfully well-focused book provides essential information about one of the most significant challenges for those attempting to grow...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890132314
• ISBN13: 9781890132316
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

If you are a home gardener who wants to make your backyard attractive, skip this book, but if you are serious about growing things and understanding ecological principles, this is a great resource.

For master gardeners and farmers, but also good for basics

This is truly a good book. It is short, simply written, and very informative. However, it is a little technical for the average Gardner. I personally picked-up this book to gain general knowledge about soil, and I found everything I asked for and more. Nevertheless, there were things that I felt were not explained enough, but that's not the fault of the author because I am neither a master gardner nor a farmer. In the begging of the book it almost seemed like the author was one of the environmentalist extremists, however as I continued reading I found the author to be a responsible writer with no extremism. As a matter of fact, on several occasions the author offered advise to non-organic farmers. Overall, a great book and coming from my non-farmer background I would give it 4 stars.

Soil Basics and More

The Soul of SoilThe Soul of SoilUnderstanding our soil is essential to successful gardening and farming, as well as to building a sustainable future for the planet. Grace Gershuny and Joe Smillie have devoted decades to unlocking the secrets of this mysterious and often maligned substance and they share their wisdom with us here. Includes descriptions of the major soil types, nutrient cycles and physical properties of soil, as well as lessons on composting and cover cropping. This book gives us the tools we need to understand the complex interactions that take place below our feet as we work to turn the tide against the erosion, pollution and outright destruction of our precious earth.