The Ultimate Guide to Soil

By Anna Hess

Have you noticed the extraordinary flavors and yields emanating from even a small garden when the soil is just right? If you've every been envious of your neighbor's dirt or just curious about homesteading, them this book is perfect for you.

The book begins with a personality test for your soil, then uses that information to plan a course of action for revitalizing poor soil and turning good dirt into great earth. Next, you'll learn to start and maintain a no-till garden, to balance nutrients with remineralization, and to boost organic matter with easy cover crops.

Don't forget the encyclopedic overview of organic soil amendments at the end. Old standbys such as manures and mulches are explained in depth along with less common additions such as bokashi compost and castings from worms and black soldier fly larvae. Learn when hugelkultur, biochar, paper and cardboard do and don't match your garden needs, then read about when and how to safely use urine and humanure around edible plantings.

• Personality tests for your soil
• Small-scale no-till gardening basics
• Balancing nutrients and acidity
• Organic soil amendments

Softcover. 275 pages. Skyhorse Publishing. 2016.