Start With the Soil: The Organic Gardener's Guide to Improving Soil for Higher Yields, More Beautiful Flowers, and a Healthy, Easy-Care Garden [Hardcover]

Grace Gershuny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993

The organic gardener's guide to improving soil for higher yields, more beautiful flowers, and a healthy, easy-care yard and garden. From taking a soil test to applying soil supplements, Gershuny tells how to plan and implement an easy but comprehensive soil-care system for vegetables, flowers, lawns, trees, shrubs, and container plants. 75 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Good things begin with good foundations, and so gardeners need instruction in soil maintenance. Yet this book is meant mainly for the super-serious gardener who won't mind wading through a volume that addresses soil in such detail that perhaps only a farmer would need to know it, and does so in words more appropriate for readers of an agricultural journal than for the general public. But the information is all here, in a remarkably thorough discussion that ranges from producing good general soil with humus and compost to strategies of soil chemistry and fertility, as well as covering particular issues of "problem" soils and the special needs of vegetables, flowers, lawns, trees and potted plants. Gershuny brings together some fascinating and practical material--about soil mixtures that will heighten color and aroma in flowers and increase production in plants bearing fruit, nuts and berries; a listing of the amazing arrays of manures and what they can accomplish; and the surprising materials that can serve as compost. These important points of entry to the book, however, are not so easy to find in the mass of information. Still, the charts and illustrations are wonderfully useful, and may alone be worth the price of the book. Illustrations not seen by PW .
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Pr (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875965679
• ISBN-13: 978-0875965673
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #913,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding the process, September 9, 2004

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Start With the Soil: The Organic Gardener's Guide to Improving Soil for Higher Yields, More Beautiful Flowers, and a Healthy, Easy-Care Garden (Hardcover)

An organic guide to developing and maintaining healthy soil, this book is organized in two parts. "Understanding Your Soil" explores the chemistry and underground wildlife. "Managing Your Soil" is the hands-on section. Chapters offer prescriptions for problem soils (inadequate drainage, slopes, hardpan, contamination) and catering to the needs of vegetables, flowers, lawns, trees and shrubs, container plants.

While the second portion provides for immediate action, the first half is a readable discussion of the interactions of plants and soil. Gershuny shows how to recognize characteristics of your soil by observing weeds and plant growth, and enters the microscopic world of compost and humus. A valuable introduction to the world beneath our feet.