The Rodale Book of Composting, Newly Revised and Updated: Simple Methods to Improve Your Soil, Recycle Waste, Grow Healthier Plants, and Create an Earth-Friendly Garden

by Grace Gershuny (Editor), Deborah L. Martin (Editor)

Overview

An essential guide to composting for all gardeners and environmentally conscious people

This revised edition of The Rodale Book of Composting includes all the latest in new techniques, technology, and equipment. Gardeners know composting is the best way to feed the soil and turn food scraps into fresh produce, but even urbanites can get on board thanks to programs like compost pickup and citywide food waste initiatives—there’s no better way to reduce landfill waste (and subsequent emissions) and dependence on fossil fuels while nourishing the earth.

The Rodale Book of Composting offers easy-to-follow instructions for making and using compost; helpful tips for apartment dwellers, suburbanites, farmers, and community leaders; and ecologically sound solutions to growing waste-disposal problems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635651027
Publisher:	Harmony/Rodale
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	151,521
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Grace Gershuny has written extensively on soil, compost, and food system issues. As a staff member of USDA’s National Organic Program in the 1990s, she helped develop the organic regulations. She lives in Barnet, Vermont, and teaches at Green Mountain College.

Deborah L. Martin earned a BS in horticulture from Purdue University. A former extension agent in the USDA's urban gardening program, she’s edited books on gardening and contributes to Rodale’s Organic Life. She lives in Allentown, PA.

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Excerpted from "The Rodale Book of Composting, Newly Revised and Updated"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Grace Gershuny.
Excerpted by permission of Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction vii

1 Composting throughout History 1

2 The Benefits of Compost 8

3 Life inside a Compost Heap 26

4 Compost and Plant Health 45

5 The Frontiers of Composting 64

6 Materials for Composting 81

7 Using Manure 133

8 Methods 143

9 Composting with Earthworms 182

10 Compost Structures 195

11 Shredders anti Other Equipment 214

12 Using Compost 228

13 Large-Scale Composting 242

Appendix: Resources and Information 281

Index 285

Editorial Reviews

This is an update of Jerry Minnich and others' The Rodale Guide to Composting ( LJ 5/1/79), which itself updated J.L. Rodale's Complete Book of Composting (Rodale Pr., 1960. o.p.). The broad spectrum of information given will be useful from backyard urban gardening on up to industrial, municipal, and farm recycling. The first quarter of the book gives you all you ever wanted to know on the science of composting--and more--along with some history. A discussion of materials, methods, structures, equipment, and uses is followed by a brief look at large-scale composting. The writing is an uneven mix of scientific detail and the anecdotal. Chemical reactions are described in exquisite detail, and yet most quotes, while attributed, are neither dated nor their source given. Stu Campbell and Kathleen Bond Borie's Let It Rot: The Gardener's Guide to Composting ( LJ 1/91) is more readable and inviting for the individual gardener. While useful for its in-depth, detailed coverage, Rodale's almost-textbook is recommended only for comprehensive gardening collections.-- Sharon Levin, Univ. of Vermont Lib., Burlington

Library Journal

A compendium of ideas and diverse approaches. The cover identifies this edition as new and revised, but no information is given regarding the previous (first?) edition. Paper edition (991-5), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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