Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition

by Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis

Overview

“A breakthrough book. No comprehensive horticultural library should be without it.” —American Gardener

When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains plants, and then become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of toxic substances. Teaming with Microbes offers an alternative to this vicious circle, and details how to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web. You’ll discover that healthy soil is teeming with life—not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. This must-have guide is for everyone, from those devoted to organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy plants without resorting to chemicals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604691139
Publisher:	Timber Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/24/2010
Pages:	220
Sales rank:	132,813
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jeff Lowenfels is the author several of award-winning books on plants and soil, and he is the longest running garden columnist in North America. Lowenfels is a national lecturer as well as a fellow, hall of fame member, and former president of the Garden Writers of America.

Wayne Lewis is a lifelong Alaskan gardener. He has worked with Jeff Lowenfels on many projects over the past 25 years, including the now national Plant a Row for the Hungry program, which encourages gardeners to donate a portion of their harvest to charitable organizations in their community.

Read an Excerpt

The images in this book have forewarned you: you may find things in your soil that, upon closer examination, will scare the daylights out of you. (In general we advise against putting anything under an electron microscope. At that level, all life has teeth!) The point is, when you get a good look at some of the microarthropods present in soil, you may never want to put your hands in the soil again. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss; however, in this instance a little knowledge is not going to hurt you and will actually help you be a better gardener. Just remember, you put your hands in the soil before you knew what was there and never got hurt.

You will want to repeat the following procedures with soils from each of your gardens and lawn areas, and even around specific trees and shrubs. We have done this dozens of times in our own yards, and what we find never fails to astonish us.

Start by digging a hole in the soil at issue, about 12 inches (30 centimeters) square. Use a spade or trowel — it doesn't matter, and measurements don't have to be exact. Put all the soil you dig up onto a tarp or in a box so you can then sift through it, looking for the bigger animals you might find in the soil: worms, beetles, insect larvae — any living organism you can see with the naked eye and pick up without having to resort to tweezers. Keep track of what you are finding.

None of us are trained at identifying all the organisms in our soils, and frankly the variety of them is so great as to be beyond the scope of this book. Do your best in making identifications. Seek help from others. In time you will become sufficiently proficient for the purpose. This is new stuff, and just being exposed to it will make the learning experience easier. It didn't take us very long, and it won't take you long to become familiar with soil food web organisms.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
 
Part 1. The Basic Science
Chapter 1. What Is The Soil Food Web and Why Should Gardeners Care?
Chapter 2. Classic Soil Science
Chapter 3. Bacteria
Chapter 4. Archaea
Chapter 5. Fungi
Chapter 6. Algae and Slime Molds
Chapter 7. Protozoa
Chapter 8. Nematodes
Chapter 9. Arthropods
Chapter 10. Earthworms
Chapter 11. Gastropods
Chapter 12. Reptiles, Mammals, and Birds
 
Part 2. Applying Soil Food Web Science to Yard and Garden Care
Chapter 13. How the Soil Food Web Applies to Gardening
Chapter 14. What Do Your Soil Food Webs Look Like?
Chapter 15. Tools for Restoration and Maintenance
Chapter 16. Compost
Chapter 17. Mulch
Chapter 18. Compost Teas
Chapter 19. Mycorrhizal Fungi
Chapter 20. The Lawn
Chapter 21. Maintaining Trees, Shrubs, and Perennials
Chapter 22. Growing Annuals and Vegetables
Chapter 23. A Simple Soil Food Web Garden Calendar
Chapter 24. No One Ever Fertilized an Old Growth Forest
Appendix. The Soil Food Web Gardening Rules
 

Editorial Reviews

A breakthrough book. . . . well worth owning and reading. No comprehensive horticultural library should be without it.” —American Gardener

“Digs into soil in a most enlightening and entertaining way.” —Dallas Morning News

“Required reading for all serious gardeners.” —Miami Herald

“The authors have given gardeners an inside scoop on the scientific research supporting organic gardening.” —Pacific Horticulture

“This intense little book may well change the way you garden.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Exceptional. . . . A brief, clear overview of scientific information with which every gardener should be familiar.” —Monterey Herald

“Sure, it’s a gardening book, but it has all the drama and suspense of an extraterrestrial thriller. A cast of characters without eyeballs or backbones. Battle scenes with bizarre creatures devouring one another. Only this book is about as terrestrial as it gets.” —Anchorage Daily News

“All good gardeners know healthy plants start with healthy soil. But why? And how? In Teaming with Microbes Lowenfels and Lewis reveal the new research in the most practical and accessible way.” —The Oregonian

“Read this book and you’ll never think of soil the same way.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Sure, it’s a gardening book, but it has all the drama and suspense of an extraterrestrial thriller. . . . Read this book and you’ll never look at soil the same way.” —BB Magazine

“A must read for any gardener looking to create a sustainable, healthy garden without chemicals.” —Virginian-Pilot

“It takes readers underground to meet the critters that live if you let them under the garden.” —Rockland Courier-Gazette

“[Teaming with Microbes] was one of those ‘aha’ moments for me, where I realized I had been growing wrong this whole time.”  —Matthew Frigon (Founder of Lazy Bee Farms) in Dope Magazine

From the Publisher

“If you want to get a good understanding of how soils really work, and learn how to really feed your soil (and thus, your plants), there is a great book that explains it all very well, and also explains how to make really good compost and compost tea. It is concise and uses nonscientific terminology. The book isTeaming With Microbes; A Gardener's Guide To The Soil Food Webby Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis.”

DrWeil.com News - Jared R. McKinley

"All good gardeners know healthy plants start with healthy soil. But why? And how? In Teaming with Microbes Lowenfels and Lewis reveal the new research in the most practical and accessible way."

The Oregonian - Kym Pokorny

"This is the most complete book on the market about biological or organic methods in horticulture...highly recommended for all gardeners, landscapers, or anyone taking care of a lawn or garden."

Nature's Way Resources

It is exciting that the revelations herein are the tip of the iceberg in the complex, microscopic world of our soil that will unfold in the coming decades.

B & B Magazine

"For years, we've thought of the 'food chains' in our environment. Lowenfels and Lewis explain an even more wonderful idea: the 'soil food web.' Read Teaming with Microbes and keep it or give it to the library so others may learn of this astounding way to grow vegetables, trees, lawns."

Rockland Courier-Gazette

"The authors have given gardeners an inside scoop on the scientific research supporting organic gardening."

Washington Gardener

"This is sure to gain that well-thumbed look than any good garden book acquires as it is referred to repeatedly over the years."

Pacific Horticulture

"It takes readers underground to meet the critters that live if you let them under the garden."

Virginian-Pilot

"Read this book and you'll never think of soil the same way."

Anchorage Daily News

"This book has all the best dirt on all the best dirt. It...explains the basics of good soil practices, and it's written especially for home gardeners.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"All good gardeners know healthy plants start with healthy soil. But why? And how? In Teaming with Microbes Lowenfels and Lewis reveal the new research in the most practical and accessible way." Kym Pokorny, The Oregonian

The Oregonian

"[This book] is a must read for any gardener looking to create a sustainable, healthy garden without chemicals."

Detroit News

"[This book] is a must read for any gardener looking to create a sustainable, healthy garden without chemicals."

Florida Survival Gardening

"This is the most complete book on the market about biological or organic methods in horticulture...highly recommended for all gardeners, landscapers, or anyone taking care of a lawn or garden."

DrWeil.com News

This very well illustrated hardback is a scientific view of many different kinds of soil microbes which include bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, nematodes and many others.”

The Desert Sun - Maureen Gilmer