Description
Chemical fertilizers will not add humus to the soil. These are merely nutritional supplements; plants and their soil need real food – organic material.You can increase soil fertility with a minimum of effort, and you don’t need to buy a lot of things — just use fallen leaves and grass clippings as the base of your soil fertility. This book covers earthworms, green manures, cover crops, mulch, composting (and extreme composting), sources of organic material you might not have considered before, humus, alfalfa, no-till gardening, and many other things to make your soil building experience as easy as possible.
Table of Contents:
SOIL BUILDING
Saving the world, one dirt clod at a time
Earthworms = earth movers
Green manures
Compost
My soil is evil!
GET TO KNOW YOUR SOIL
TAKING SOIL SAMPLES
THE SOIL FOOD WEB
EARTHWORMS: THE SUPER SOIL SAVERS
How to Protect Earthworms
A Field Guide to Earthworms
ORGANIC MATTER AND HUMUS
Mother Nature Shows Us How To Make Great Soil
Don’t Let Leaves Go To Waste!
MULCH THE WORLD
Fix Out-Of-Control Weeds With Newspaper Mulch
COMPOST – BLACK GOLD
Composting: Learn the Basics
The Ultimate in Recycling: Extreme Composting!
Sixty Weird Things You Can Compost!
ORGANIC SOIL AMENDMENTS
GREEN MANURES AND COVER CROPS
Cover crops and their benefits
Green manures and their benefits
ALFALFA: A GARDENER’S SECRET INGREDIENT
THE CASE AGAINST CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS
NO-TILL GARDENING
FIXING LOUSY SOIL
HOW TO MAKE A NEW GARDEN BED
Raised garden beds to help the soil (and your back)
Save Time and Trouble with Garden Journals
