Download or read book Building Soil A Down to Earth Approach written by Elizabeth Murphy and published by Quarto Publishing Group USA. This book was released on 2015-02-15 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is your down-to-earth, complete manual for achieving great gardening results with your own rich, organic soil.How do you recognize healthy soil? How much can your existing soil be improved? What are the best amendments to use for your soil? Let Building Soil answer your questions and be your guide on gardening from the ground up. Fertilizing, tilling, weed management, and irrigation all affect the quality of your soil. Using author Elizabeth Murphy’s detailed instructions, anyone can become a successful soil-based gardener, whether you want to start a garden from scratch or improve an existing garden.If you want methods that won’t break your back, are good for the environment, and create high-yielding and beautiful gardens of all shapes and sizes, this is the book for you! Create classic landscape gardens, grow a high-yielding orchard, nurture naturally beautiful lawns, raise your household veggies, or run a profitable farm.A soil-based approach allows you to see not just the plants, but the living system that grows them. Soil-building practices promote more ecologically friendly gardening by: ·Reducing fertilizer and pesticide use ·Sequestering greenhouse gases ·Increasing overall garden productivityWith a detailed discussion and comparison tables on a range of organic fertilizer choices, Building Soil is a simple book full of practical, up-to-date information about building healthy soils. Simple methods perfect for the home gardener’s use put healthy, organic soil within everyone’s reach. You don’t need a degree in soil management to understand this book; you only need a yard or garden and the desire to improve it at the most basic level.
Download or read book Building Soil A Down to Earth Approach written by Elizabeth Murphy and published by . This book was released on 2015-03-27 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you want methods that won't break your back, are good for the environment, and create high-yielding, beautiful gardens of all shapes and sizes, this is the book for you!
Download or read book Grow Your Soil written by Diane Miessler and published by Storey Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book High Value Vegetables written by Mel Bartholomew and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Which vegetables should you plant in your garden? The answer really comes down to maths. It doesn't matter where you garden - in an allotment, in containers, in raised beds or straw bales, or in a Square Metre Garden - deciding which vegetables to plant is perhaps the biggest factor in whether or not your garden succeeds. While success means many things to many gardeners, there's no avoiding the issue of cost versus payback. Does it make sense to spend GBP3 and use up almost a metre of garden space to grow one cabbage when you can buy a beautiful one at the farmers market for GBP1? Author Mel Bartholomew has been a gardener and engineer for many years and he has learned this: Even in the garden, maths is your friend. In Square Metre Gardening: High-Value Vegetables, Bartholomew describes how to apply basic maths (and a little economics) to any vegetable garden and get some objective answers about which vegetables give you the best return on investment. In this latest book in the Square Metre Gardening family, Bartholomew ranks the vegetables that are most common for home-growing and concludes which ones give you the most value for your investment. He looks at many factors and makes hundreds of calculations, and the answers all become clear. And in the process he finds some surprises (tomato lovers will be pleased, but if you grow potatoes, you're in for a shock). In the end, though, there are so many things to think about when you're choosing plants - whether or not they are edible - but the truth is, you'd be a bit foolish not to think about ROI. With Bartholomew's new book, you can do it without ever taking out a calculator. You'll find the information incredibly valuable when it's time to plan your own vegetable garden. Plus, you'll find plenty of great tips along the way for maximizing the value you get from each and every crop you plant.
Download or read book Square Foot Gardening High Value Veggies written by Mel Bartholomew and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We've learned that anyone can have a garden, regardless of space constraints, now learn to make your garden work for you!
Download or read book The Resilient Farm and Homestead written by Ben Falk and published by Chelsea Green Publishing Company. This book was released on 2013 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Resilient Farm and Homestead is a manual for developing durable, beautiful, and highly functional human habitat systems fit to handle an age of rapid transition. Ben Falk is a land designer and site developer whose permaculture-research farm has drawn national attention. The site is a terraced paradise on a hillside in Vermont that would otherwise be overlooked by conventional farmers as unworthy farmland. Falk's wide array of fruit trees, rice paddies (relatively unheard of in the Northeast), ducks, nuts, and earth-inspired buildings is a hopeful image for the future of regenerative agriculture and modern homesteading. The book covers nearly every strategy Falk and his team have been testing at the Whole Systems Research Farm over the past decade, as well as experiments from other sites Falk has designed through his off-farm consulting business. The book includes detailed information on earthworks; gravity-fed water systems; species composition; the site-design process; site management; fuelwood hedge production and processing; human health and nutrient-dense production strategies; rapid topsoil formation and remineralization; agroforestry/silvopasture/grazing; ecosystem services, especially regarding flood mitigation; fertility management; human labor and social-systems aspects; tools/equipment/appropriate technology; and much more, complete with gorgeous photography and detailed design drawings. The Resilient Farm and Homestead is more than just a book of tricks and techniques for regenerative site development, but offers actual working results in living within complex farm-ecosystems based on research from the "great thinkers" in permaculture, and presents a viable home-scale model for an intentional food-producing ecosystem in cold climates, and beyond. Inspiring to would-be homesteaders everywhere, but especially for those who find themselves with "unlikely" farming land, Falk is an inspiration in what can be done by imitating natural systems, and making the most of what we have by re-imagining what's possible. A gorgeous case study for the homestead of the future.
Download or read book A Soil Owner s Manual written by Jon Stika and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are many books that have been written about how to manipulate, amend, and control the soil to enable high-yield crop production. This is not one of those books. This book will empower you to restore the capacity of your soil to function to produce crops while reducing your dependency on expensive inputs. Soil health is about restoring the capacity of the soil to function. Currently, most agricultural and garden soils are essentially dysfunctional. This book will open your eyes to the truth about how soil is supposed to function and help you restore it to full health.
Download or read book Pacific Northwest Month by Month Gardening written by Christina Pfeiffer and published by Cool Springs Press. This book was released on 2017-02-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pacific Northwest Month-by-Month Gardening is the definitive guide to successful gardening year-round in the Pacific Northwest -- states include Washington, Oregon, British Columbia (Canada), and Northern California. Do you live in the Pacific Northwest? Do you care about landscaping and gardening? Say no more--we've got the perfect book for you! Pacific Northwest Month-by-Month Gardening takes the guesswork out of gardening for anyone living in the region (Northern California, Oregon, Washington, or British Columbia). This garden guide is full of critical gardening when-to's and how-to's, along with illustrated step-by-step instructions that will keep your garden thriving all year round. Authors Christina Pfeiffer and Mary Robson are Pacific Northwest gardening experts. They know this cool, wet, vivacious region inside and out and have written extensively on the subject. Pacific Northwest Month-by-Month Gardening combines the shared knowledge of Pfeiffer and Robson in one easy-to-read guide. Here, you will find brilliant Pacific Northwest garden photography and the most current growing information available. Complete with specific advice on growing: Gorgeous annual and perennial flowers Strong trees Flowing groundcover Flowering shrubs Verdant lawns You won't find a better, more complete reference book for your region, so look no further!
Download or read book The Soil Will Save Us written by Kristin Ohlson and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thousands of years of poor farming and ranching practices—and, especially, modern industrial agriculture—have led to the loss of up to 80 percent of carbon from the world’s soils. That carbon is now floating in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, it would continue warming the planet. In The Soil Will Save Us, journalist and bestselling author Kristin Ohlson makes an elegantly argued, passionate case for "our great green hope"—a way in which we can not only heal the land but also turn atmospheric carbon into beneficial soil carbon—and potentially reverse global warming. As the granddaughter of farmers and the daughter of avid gardeners, Ohlson has long had an appreciation for the soil. A chance conversation with a local chef led her to the crossroads of science, farming, food, and environmentalism and the discovery of the only significant way to remove carbon dioxide from the air—an ecological approach that tends not only to plants and animals but also to the vast population of underground microorganisms that fix carbon in the soil. Ohlson introduces the visionaries—scientists, farmers, ranchers, and landscapers—who are figuring out in the lab and on the ground how to build healthy soil, which solves myriad problems: drought, erosion, air and water pollution, and food quality, as well as climate change. Her discoveries and vivid storytelling will revolutionize the way we think about our food, our landscapes, our plants, and our relationship to Earth.
Download or read book Cows Save the Planet written by Judith D. Schwartz and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-20 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Cows Save the Planet, journalist Judith D. Schwartz looks at soil as a crucible for our many overlapping environmental, economic, and social crises. Schwartz reveals that for many of these problems—climate change, desertification, biodiversity loss, droughts, floods, wildfires, rural poverty, malnutrition, and obesity—there are positive, alternative scenarios to the degradation and devastation we face. In each case, our ability to turn these crises into opportunities depends on how we treat the soil. Drawing on the work of thinkers and doers, renegade scientists and institutional whistleblowers from around the world, Schwartz challenges much of the conventional thinking about global warming and other problems. For example, land can suffer from undergrazing as well as overgrazing, since certain landscapes, such as grasslands, require the disturbance from livestock to thrive. Regarding climate, when we focus on carbon dioxide, we neglect the central role of water in soil—"green water"—in temperature regulation. And much of the carbon dioxide that burdens the atmosphere is not the result of fuel emissions, but from agriculture; returning carbon to the soil not only reduces carbon dioxide levels but also enhances soil fertility. Cows Save the Planet is at once a primer on soil's pivotal role in our ecology and economy, a call to action, and an antidote to the despair that environmental news so often leaves us with.
Download or read book Soil Science for Gardeners written by Robert Pavlis and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Build healthy soil and grow better plants Robert Pavlis, a gardener for over four decades, debunks common soil myths, explores the rhizosphere, and provides a personalized soil fertility improvement program in this three-part popular science guidebook. Healthy soil means thriving plants. Yet untangling the soil food web and optimizing your soil health is beyond most gardeners, many of whom lack an in-depth knowledge of the soil ecosystem. Soil Science for Gardeners is an accessible, science-based guide to understanding soil fertility and, in particular, the rhizosphere – the thin layer of liquid and soil surrounding plant roots, so vital to plant health. Coverage includes: Soil biology and chemistry and how plants and soil interact Common soil health problems, including analyzing soil's fertility and plant nutrients The creation of a personalized plan for improving your soil fertility, including setting priorities and goals in a cost-effective, realistic time frame. Creating the optimal conditions for nature to do the heavy lifting of building soil fertility Written for the home gardener, market gardener, and micro-farmer, Soil Science for Gardeners is packed with information to help you grow thriving plants.
Download or read book The Soul of Soil written by Joseph Smillie and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 1999-06-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soil is the basis not only for all gardening, but for all terrestrial life. No aspect of agriculture is more fundamental and important, yet we have been losing vast quantities of our finite soil resources to erosion, pollution, and development. Now back in print, this eminently sensible and wonderfully well-focused book provides essential information about one of the most significant challenges for those attempting to grow delicious organic vegetables: the creation and maintenance of healthy soil. Chapter 2, "Understanding the Soil System," is alone worth the price of admission. Gershuny and Smillie give lay readers and experts a clear explanation of subjects--soil life and nutrient cycles--that have confounded most authors. Nowhere will the reader find simpler and more coherent descriptions of key concepts including cation exchange capacity and chelation. There are other books about soil available, including Grace Gershuny's comprehensive Start with the Soil, and there are books that feature chapters on soil building. What distinguishes The Soil of Soilis the authors' concise presentation; they give readers important information, including technical essentials, without getting bogged down in scientific or quasiscientific mumbo-jumbo. In addition, useful tables list specific compost materials, green manures, and other resources that allow growers to translate into action the more general information provided by the book. The soil-building techniques featured include: Organic matter management Building and maintaining humus On-site composting Green manures and rotations Cultivation and weed control Nutrient balances and soil testing Using mineral fertilizers Planning for organic certification Updates to the 1999 edition include analysis of Proposed Rules for the National Organic Standards, and expanded recommendations for private testing services and soil-testing equipment for home gardeners and organic farmers. All of us involved in the cultivation of plants--from the backyard gardener to the largest farmer--need to help regenerate a "living soil," for only in the diversity of the soil and its creatures can we ensure the long-term health of ourselves and our environment. The Soul of Soil offers everyone a basic understanding of what soil is and what we can do to improve our own patch of it. Seen in this light, this practical handbook will be an inspiration as well.
Download or read book Healing Grounds written by Liz Carlisle and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2022-03-10 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful movement is happening in farming today—farmers are reconnecting with their roots to fight climate change. For one woman, that’s meant learning her tribe’s history to help bring back the buffalo. For another, it’s meant preserving forest purchased by her great-great-uncle, among the first wave of African Americans to buy land. Others are rejecting monoculture to grow corn, beans, and squash the way farmers in Mexico have done for centuries. Still others are rotating crops for the native cuisines of those who fled the “American wars” in Southeast Asia. In Healing Grounds, Liz Carlisle tells the stories of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian American farmers who are reviving their ancestors’ methods of growing food—techniques long suppressed by the industrial food system. These farmers are restoring native prairies, nurturing beneficial fungi, and enriching soil health. While feeding their communities and revitalizing cultural ties to land, they are steadily stitching ecosystems back together and repairing the natural carbon cycle. This, Carlisle shows, is the true regenerative agriculture – not merely a set of technical tricks for storing CO2 in the ground, but a holistic approach that values diversity in both plants and people. Cultivating this kind of regenerative farming will require reckoning with our nation’s agricultural history—a history marked by discrimination and displacement. And it will ultimately require dismantling power structures that have blocked many farmers of color from owning land or building wealth. The task is great, but so is its promise. By coming together to restore these farmlands, we can not only heal our planet, we can heal our communities and ourselves.
Download or read book The Rodale Book of Composting written by Deborah L. Martin and published by Rodale. This book was released on 1992-01-15 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explains what composting is and how it works, provides instructions for making and using compost, and offers ecologically sound solutions to waste disposal problems
Download or read book Soil and Sacrament written by Fred Bahnson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-08-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recounts the author's experiences founding a faith-based community garden in rural North Carolina, and emphasizes how growing one's own food can help readers reconnect with the land and divine faith.
Download or read book Making Your Small Farm Profitable written by Ron Macher and published by Storey Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2010-11-18 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Turn your farm into a cash cow! Ron Macher offers a host of simple strategies for increasing your farm earnings, from purchasing durable equipment to growing economically viable crops. A seasoned expert in farm efficiency, Macher shows you how to locate a lucrative niche market for your products, optimize sales, and minimize costs. Whether you’re buying a new farm or jump-starting an old one, Macher’s savvy tips will help you turn your enterprise into a profitable business.
Download or read book Floret Farm s Cut Flower Garden written by Erin Benzakein and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 Amazon Best Seller — Welcome to the farm! The Cut Flower Garden: Erin Benzakein is a florist-farmer, leader in the locaflor farm-to-centerpiece movement, and owner of internationally renowned Floret Flower Farm in Washington's lush Skagit Valley. A stunning flower book: This beautiful guide to growing, harvesting, and arranging gorgeous blooms year-round provides readers with vital tools to nurture a stunning flower garden and use their blossoms to create show-stopping arrangements. Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden: Cut Flower Garden is equal parts instruction and inspiration—a book overflowing with lush photography of magnificent flowers and breathtaking arrangements organized by season. Find inspiration in this lush flower book: Irresistible photos of Erin's flower farm that showcase exquisite blooms Tips for growing in a variety of spaces and climates Step-by-step instructions for lavish garlands, airy centerpieces, and romantic floral décor for every season If you liked Paris in Bloom, you'll love Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden.
