The Soul of Soil: A Guide to Ecological Soil Management

by Joe Smillie, Grace Gershuny

This handbook, now in its third edition, tells the serious home or market gardener how to manage soils for long-term productivity. It offers practical concepts that facilitate sound management decisions based on ecological principles.In The Soul of Soil, the reader learns how soil organisms supply plants with the necessary nutrients at the right time, in the right form, and in the right amount. The goal of ecological soil management is to enhance conditions for the billions of microbes found in every gram of healthy soil. The authors are experienced farmers, writers, and teachers. In The Soul of Soil they establish that the medium of earth is an essential contributor to the healthfulness of what we consume.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Agriculture, Food, Science

174 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1986

Reviews

[Anna]

I hate to say it, but the first half of this book was flat-out boring. The information (or at least some of it) is important for gardeners to know, but the author writes it in such a textbook type of way (and without the fun photos you'd expect in a textbook) that I had to read in ten-page increments and take breaks to get through it.

Then you hit the second half, which is full of hands-on tips for building up the organic levels of your garden soil. Excellent! I wonder how many people get bogged down in the first half and never get to the useful parts, though?

[Chloe Moon]

Super informative, but scattered presentation. It felt more like "fact, fact, fact, fact..." than the name "The Soul of the Soil" would lead me to believe.

I wish the details of how nutrients and microorganisms worked together was presented in a more interesting, organized, memorable, or even poetic way.

That said, there is tons of info in here, and I think I'll be using it a reference and problem solving book; but I'm still looking for a book that presents all this information in a more enjoyably organized and digestible way.

[Jonathan Johnson]

Overall great book
I am trying to grow my knowledge of good soil to apply towards the land at my home and also future land that I purchase and this book added to that knowledge
I began by listening to the audio on the book, but I had to stop it ever 10 pages or so to research concepts that were being presented, including soil ph, different types of soils, the type of soil most common to where I live, etc
Overall, I enjoyed the book and it seems like one that I can read over again and game some new insight

[Sujana]

A thorough read on improving your gardens and on cultivating healthy crops and soil. I recommend this book to those who wish to read about soil improvement and management tactics because this has opened my eyes to a number of sustainable methods of farming that I wish every household and businesses in this continent and more can adopt. Who knew dirt was so useful and waste was not wasteful?

[Warren]

Great resource for soil related research. For me it helped bring together and explain different aspects of what goes on down there and the impacts of changes to our soil. It emphasized the importance of how we treat this precious resource.

[BJ]

Great details for maintaining health of soil focusing on an organic approach.

[Pupak Haghighi]

Excellent and enlightening about the science and soul of soil.

[Joe Rothberger]

An interesting read on the overall soil ecology topic. Some interesting looks at how society views agricultural land.

[Belle Meade School]

631

[Mike]

Very informative but densely dry.

[Cassandra Carico]

I rather enjoyed this book. The author is very knowledgeable and shared an excellent amount of scientific information and research. Often with books meant for gardeners and small farms you get a slight overview and don't get in depth information. Thankfully, this book has textbook information. I recommend it for those ready to take their gardening to the next level, or improve upon their farming techniques.

[Megan]

Super helpful and quick read for gardeners.

[Philippa]

Great in-depth information for gardeners who want an understanding of soil science to improve the growth and health of their plants.

[Anna]

A very informative, yet not overly dense manual to which I will likely return.

[Jesse]

Actually, I didn't finish it.

[Bobbettylou]

I picked up this 1995 edition at a thrift store. It was probably worth the 75 cents but not much more.

[Justin]

This seems more for the professional than the amateur gardener. Lots of good details but not interesting to me.