Living Soil: A Grower's Guide

by Jean-Martin Fortier, Pierre Nessmann (Editor), Flore Avram (Illustrator), Laurie Bennett (Translator)

Overview

Build and sustain fertile, living soil—the essential foundation for thriving crops—with Jean-Martin Fortier's biointensive techniques.

Living Soil: A Grower's Guide reveals the secrets to creating fertile, healthy soil—an essential foundation for abundant, nutrient-rich harvests. With Jean-Martin Fortier's biointensive methods, gardeners and farmers alike can improve soil health while supporting thriving ecosystems.

This richly illustrated, full-color guide includes:

• An overview of "The Market Gardener Method"—a proven formula for small-scale, high-yield farming
• A deep dive into soil composition, including humus, microbes, and mineral content
• Simple DIY assessments and advanced tests for understanding soil biology and structure
• Low and no-till techniques to enhance soil fertility, including composting, mulching, crop rotation, and green manures
• Strategies for regenerating and sustaining soil over time.

Living Soil is part of the Grower's Guides from the Market Gardener series, offering practical knowledge for all growers. From beginner gardeners to seasoned farmers, these guides equip you with the tools and insights needed to grow sustainably using principles of biointensive, regenerative agriculture on a human scale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781774060186
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	09/16/2025
Series:	Grower's Guides from the Market Gardener , #3
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Jean-Martin Fortier, a distinguished farmer, author, and educator, has been spearheading a movement in ecological agriculture for over twenty years. Since 2004, he and his wife have been operating Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an efficient and productive 2-acre microfarm. This farm is often referred to as a blueprint for effective human-scale organic farming.

In 2015, Jean-Martin established La Ferme des Quatre-Temps, a research farm dedicated to training apprentices and developing new strategies for market gardening, including year-round production. His pioneering methods are taught worldwide through the Market Gardener Institute, which is present in more than 90 countries.

Jean-Martin is the author of The Winter Market Gardener and The Market Gardener, which have sold over a quarter of a million copies in nine languages. His contributions to organic farming and regenerative agriculture have earned him the Meritorious Service Cross from the Governor General of Canada. He farms and lives in Quebec, Canada.

Pierre Nessmann was born to a family of Strasbourg market gardeners and holds a degree from the École d'Horticulture de Genève, in Switzerland. He has worked as a landscape gardener and a journalist for over 40 years. He is the assistant editor of the popular French gardening magazines Rustica Pratique and Rustica Weekly, covers gardening and DIY stories for the French television Network TF1, and currently hosts a gardening segment on the show Nous Voilà Bien, on the French radio station RTL. He is the author of several books about vegetable growing, gardening, and landscaping. Pierre lives in Paris, France.

Flore Avram is a freelance artist and graphic designer specializing in scientific and botanical illustration. She has collaborated extensively with the French language children's publisher KiloWatt Editions, and with Inserm Magazine, a quarterly journal which explores health and biomedical research. Flore has earned several professional certifications in graphic design and scientific illustration from L'Ecole Estienne, the Municipal Graduate School of the Arts and Printing Industry. She also works as a Médiatrice en botanique at Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil, a unique French natural heritage site and eco-garden. She is based in Paris, France.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Preface: Good Soil for Beautiful Vegetables

Chapter 1: What is Living Soil? We
    What is soil made of?
    The mineral composition of soil
    Organic matter in soil

Chapter 2: Know Your Soil
    Do-it-yourself experiments
    Identifying plant needs

Chapter 3: Work and Your Soil
    Prepare your soil
    Protecting your soil
    Nourish and enrich your soil

Acknowledgments