Soil Science for Gardeners: Working with Nature to Build Soil Health

Perhaps the best book I have read for improving my landscape. Although it includes technical information, it is easy for the non-scientist to understand. I am treating my fertilizing/soil management differently after reading this book. It’s too early to tell if these changes will make a difference in the health of my plants, but I am hopeful that it will.

My wife purchased this for a reference guide. She loves it...great resource

Great value for money, well written and easy to read. As described.

Perfect for a deeper understanding of what is happening in the garden. You'll get a much better sense of whether a recommendation (technique, fertilizer, soil amendment, etc.) you come across has merit and why. The information about fertilizers alone is worth the price of the book.Ignore the one-star review stating its not for organic gardners. It absolutely is. He explanis both organic and non-organic approaches to gardening. The reviewer claimed that the book states Roundup breaks down in 3 months. The author made no such claim. Instead, he wrote that Roundup has a half-life of 3 months. Apparently, the reviewer didn't bother to read carefully or doesn't understand what a chemical half-life is.Also ignore the review stating that the author doesn't discuss or understand the role of fungus and bacteria in soil. Nearly half the book is about just that. To illustrate, the book contains the following chapters: 3. Soil Life, 4. Bacteria, 5. Fungi, 6. Other Organisms, 7. Organic Matter, 8. Rhizosphere, 12. Solving Microbe Issues, 13. Increasing Organic Matter. Furthermore, the author states that the most important role of a gardner is to support living organisms in the soil so that they can make plant life possible.The reviewer also says the author makes a false claim that soil is not alive. The reviewer hasnt understood what the author wrote, or, again, simply didn't pay attention. As per the author, most soil contains between 0 to 5 percent organic mattter, and some (ex. peat) may contain up to 90 percent. Of that 0 to 5 percent, only about 15 percent is living organic matter, i.e. fungus, anthropods, bacteria etc. So, soil is almost entirely mineral particles and dead organic matter. It is not itself alive or a single living organism, but rather it contains populations of living organisms. And it is the gardner's main goal to support that network of organisms and let them do what they do best: make all other life possible.I will certainly buy the author's other science-based gardening books.

Robert Pavlis does an excellent job in presenting the scientific basis for what he has as the subtitle for this book: "Working with Nature to Build Soil Health." We don't think too much about what is actually going on in the soil because it is invisible to the eye. We think that feeding our plants is all we need to do. Pavlis builds a compelling line of reasoning that there is an unseen natural world of micro- and macroorganisms that are more that capable of building a soil food system that will feed the plants and hold pathogenic organisms at bay, all the while building a better soil structure that captures carbon (for those concerned with global warming) and benefits plant root growth. He starts with a solid foundation on soil basics with an introduction to the properties of sand, silt, clay and organic material; how they relate and interplay in building soil with good tilth; and presenting ways to determine what problems you may have with your soil and how to overcome them. Informative, understandable, instructive and highly recommended by this gardener of several decades.