Grow Your Soil!: 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. Table of Contents: Foreword by Elaine R. InghamBeauty, Magic & Tomatoes: Why I Garden, and How the Soil Food Web Helps10 Suggestions for Creating Healthy, Living SoilMaking 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)MulchCover Crops3 Build the Walls: Organic Matter & the Soil Food Web That Sticks It TogetherSoil Organic MatterThe Soil Food Web: A Gardener's Best FriendBiodiversity 101: MicrobesBiodiversity 102: Algae, Bugs, Worms, and More4 Install Ventilation, Plumbing & a Nice Pantry: No-Till Growing, Paths & CECStep Away from the Rototiller!Make PathsWhat Is CEC?How to Increase CEC5 Feed the Inhabitants: Photosynthesis, Minerals & Soil TestingPhotosynthesis: Empty but Necessary CaloriesMacronutrients & MicronutrientsTo Test or Not to Test6 Compost and Compost Tea: It's Not Rocket ScienceBenefits and ToolsIs It Compost or Is It Mulch?How to Build a Compost PileMaintaining a Compost Pile: It Needs Your LoveWhen Is It Done?Growing PainsFungally or Bacterially Dominated?Worm BinsFrequently Asked Questions, AnsweredCompost Tea for a Non-Rocket Scientist with a Bucket7 Where Do I Start? Building a Garden That Feeds ItselfStep 1: Pick a SpotStep 2: Get Water to ItStep 3: Decide where You'll WalkStep 4: Soften the SoilStep 5: Pull Stuff Up, Throw Stuff DownStep 6: MulchStep 7: Plant Stuff8 Housework & Home Repairs: How Not to Make Your Neighbors Hate YouMaintenance = MulchPutter, Don't Work   GlossaryBibliographyMetric ConversionsIndex 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. Storey Publishing Pub Date: February 18, 2020 0.5" H x 8.9" L x 6.0" W 176 pages paperback