Secrets to Great Soil: A Grower's Guide to Composting, Mulching, and Creating Healthy, Fertile Soil for Your Garden and Lawn

by Elizabeth Stell

Overview

Good soil leads to thriving gardens, and it's easy to create! Elizabeth Snell shows you how to properly use composted plant materials and animal manure to make soil that is perfectly suited to your growing goals. She provides all the information you need to give your garden a healthy foundation of rich, nutrient-filled soil that will ensure bountiful harvests and beautiful plants. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580170086
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	01/02/1998
Series:	Gardening Skills Illustrated Series
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	442,879
Product dimensions:	8.44(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

A life-long avid organic gardener, Elizabeth Stell was a childhood composter who persuaded her parents to turn over a few square feet of suburban yard to her trench composting experiment. This success at an early age led to her interest in botany, soil science and environmental studies in college. She has managed the herb gardens at the Hancock Shaker Village, worked in the Comstock, Ferre greenhouse, volunteered at San Francisco's Strybing Arboretum, and has edited many projects. Stell contributed to the Holt Dictionary of Ecology and Environmental Science as well as Rodale's Landscaping with Perennials. Her Storey title is Secrets to Great Soil. She is currently a horticultural consultant and editor for the IMP Gardening Made Easy project.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 Get to Know Your Soil

2 Creating Fertile Soil

3 Soil-Building Techniques

4 Making and Using Compost

5 Mulches, Amendments, and Green Manures

6 How to Choose and Apply Fertilizers

7 Improving New Sites and Problem Soils

8 Fine-Tuning Tips for Specific Plants

9 A Soil-Care Calender

Appendixes

Earthworm Suppliers

Soil Analysis Laboratories

Recognizing Nutrient Deficiencies

Additional Reading

Useful Conversions

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