The Ultimate Guide to Soil: The Real Dirt on Cultivating Crops, Compost, and a Healthier Home

Grow twice the fruits and vegetables in half the space on the farm, in the backyard, or in your window

Have you noticed the extraordinary flavors and yields emanating from even a small garden when the soil is just right? If you've ever been envious of your neighbor's dirt or just curious about homesteading, then The Ultimate Guide to Soil 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 like 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.

With an emphasis on simple techniques suitable for the backyard gardener, The Ultimate Guide to Soil gives you the real dirt on good soil. Maybe next year your neighbor will be envious of you

Anna Hess enjoys writing about her adventures both on her blog at WaldenEffect.org and in her books. Her first paperback, The Weekend Homesteader, helped thousands of homesteaders-to-be find ways to fit their dreams into the hours leftover from a full-time job. She lives with her husband in the mountains of southwest Virginia.