Teaming with ents: The Gardeners Guide to Optimising tition

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Review ------ "If you really want to get a sense of how little we know about how s use fertilizers -- and I count myself in this league -- you should read Teaming with ents, which gets deep into the weeds, so to speak, of the microscopic architecture of s and the bio processes at play." --The Washington Post "Useful and practical information on soil testing, natural and synthetic fertilizers, factors influencing availability of ents, and the importance of proper fertilizing." --Pacific Horticulture "Lowenfels offers everyone else a c course in discovering soil structure, fertility, and microbial actions powerful enough to turn a dry wash into a productive source of clean, slow, ally grown food, without a single bag of potting soil." --The Desert Sun "Lowenfels offers a deeper understanding of the major and minor ents and delivers the necessary science in a conversational style that most gardeners will appreciate." --The Monterey County Herald "You'll never garden the same old way again." --Muskogee Phoenix "Colorful illustrations, plentiful and readable diagrams, and a well-executed chapter structure make this an indispensable resource." --Publishers Weekly From the Back Cover ------------------- Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. y soil is teeming with life--not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains y s, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life. But there is an alternative to this vicious circle: to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web--the complex world of soil-dwelling organisms whose interactions create a nurturing environment for s. By eschewing jargon and overly technical language, the authors make the benefits of cultivating the soil food web available to a wide audience, from devotees of gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow y, vigorous s without resorting to s. This revised edition updates the original text and includes two completely new chapters--on mycorrhizae (beneficial associations fungi form with green-leaved s) and archaea (single-celled organisms once thought to be allied to bacteria).