Teaming with Microbes

A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web

Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life — not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, 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 plants. 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 organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy, vigorous plants without resorting to chemicals.

Media reviews of this book:

"Digs into soil in a most enlightening and entertaining way."

—Joe Lamp'l, Dallas Morning News, December 28, 2007

"The story-line is important, but it is the close-up images of fungi and bacteria as they cling to soil particles that really teach the moral of the story — our soil is alive and we need to keep it thriving. Teaming with Microbes should be required reading for everyone lucky enough to own a piece of land."

—Marianne Binetti, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 3, 2007

"Should be required reading for all serious gardeners."

—Tom Karwin, Miami Herald, December 2, 2006

"[Lowenfels'] oh-so-thorough investigation has resulted in one heck of a good book. ... Teaming With Microbes is being touted as an important volume. I agree, not only because the information is, as Lowenfels puts it, 'revolutionary,' but also because he's written it in a style so on-the-spot clear and easy to grasp that my dog, Sadie, could understand it."

—Kym Pokorny, Oregonian, August 10, 2006

"Explains exactly what goes on underground that nourishes plants naturally."

—Barbara Blossom Ashmun, Portland Tribune, February 5, 2008

Customer reviews of this book:

"Very informative!"

—Carmen W. from Columbia Falls, Montana, April 17, 2007

"Interesting and informative. A nice read and easy to understand."

—Mark S. from Green Bay, Wisconsin, February 25, 2007

"Delightful! I teach research methods and environmental biology — this is a highly useful text!"

—Michael S. from Tucson, Arizona, February 22, 2007

"A very good, understandable, and important book!"

—Carolyn R. from Portland, Oregon, February 17, 2007

"Great book! I look forward to Jeff Lowenfels' books. I trust his advice."

—Donna J. from Eagle River, Arkansas, January 12, 2007

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An excerpt from this book:

Given its vital importance to our hobby, it is amazing that most of us don't venture beyond the understanding that good soil supports plant life, and poor soil doesn't. You've undoubtedly seen worms in good soil, and unless you habitually use pesticides, you should have come across other soil life: centipedes, springtails, ants, slugs, ladybird beetle larvae, and more. Most of this life is on the surface, in the first 4 inches (10 centimeters); some soil microbes have even been discovered living comfortably an incredible two miles beneath the surface. Good soil, however, is not just a few animals ...

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