Steve Solomon - The Intelligent Gardener: Growing Nutrient Dense Food

Praise for

The Intelligent Gardener

A new book from Steve Solomon is reason for excitement in itself. With The Intelligent Gardener, he has re-thought one of the most basic aspects of gardening basic soil chemistry and generously supplied us with sensible, practical methods to increase the nutrient density of the food we grow. This book forces serious growers to reconsider some fundamental gardening principles, and to question much of the accepted wisdom on the subject. Its hard to imagine this book not having a significant and lasting impact on the way organic farmers and gardeners grow their crops.

Mark McDonald, West Coast Seeds

The true test of any gardening book is whether it inspires the grower to new action. The Intelligent Gardener indeed inspires me to action, to test my soils more thoroughly, to re-examine my assumptions on compost management and to seek to improve the nutritional value of our produce with a better understanding of our farms soil. Steve Solomon draws on his years of experience and research to challenge our assumptions of what is good organic soil management and to share his insights for growing the highest quality, nutrient dense food. We are what we eat, and our food is only as healthful as the soil we grow it in. The Intelligent Gardener is a valuable tool for anyone seeking to get the highest food value from their garden.

Darrell Frey, author of Bioshelter Market Garden

The Intelligent Gardener is more than just intelligent, it is bold, it is courageous, and it challenges many of our preconceptions about food, about soils, about farming, and about health. The storytelling is excellent, the science based on experience rather than some out of context lab experiment, the advice and application easy to follow. Everyone should read this, not just gardeners, as it reminds us of where we came from, where we need to go, and provides some clear direction for getting there.

Michael Ableman, farmer, author of From The Good Earth, On Good Land, and Fields of Plenty.

Gardeners in temperate climates should be very grateful to Steve Solomon for addressing the issues of soil testing for fertility in such an engaging and clear way. I look forward to spending time working with the technical methodology.

Binda Colebrook, Horticulturist and author of Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest

Steve Solomon

with Erica Reinheimer

Copyright 2013 by Steve Solomon.
All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh.
(clockwise from top left) Chinese lettuce (c) iStock (Mordolff);
Beets (c) iStock (MarcusPhoto1); Spinach (c) iStock (coloroftime);
Carrots, (c) iStock (mrod); Artichoke, (c) iStock (assalve).

Printed in Canada. First printing October 2012.

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-718-3

eISBN: 978-1-55092-513-5

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of The Intelligent Gardener should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.

To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America)
1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council-registered acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC-registered stock. New Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Solomon, Steve

The intelligent gardener : growing nutrient-dense food / Steve Solomon ; with Erica Reinheimer.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-86571-718-3

1. Crops and soils. 2. Soils and nutrition. 3. Crops--Nutrition. 4. Soil fertility. 5. Soil mineralogy. I. Reinheimer, Erica II. Title.

T oday, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, Mother Earth News is recommending select New Society Publishers books to its readers. For more than 30 years, Mother Earth has been North Americas Original Guide to Living Wisely, creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature. Across the countryside and in our cities, New Society Publishers and Mother Earth are leading the way to a wiser, more sustainable world. For more information, please visit MotherEarthNews.com

D uring the ten months it took to write this book, Erica Reinheimer was strongly behind the project. We had endless email exchanges about what might be the ideal target for manganese. She artfully restrained my reckless enthusiasms without triggering any resistance, prevented me from making a few major errors, and contributed a sense of caution that can only come from much experience as a neighborhood soil analyst. Erica read the proofs along with me, and then, re-read them. I cant thank Erica enough.

Erica and I were eagerly helped by the in-group posting at the soilandhealth forum; these people repeatedly provided insights and information. Especial thanks to Mike Kraidy, for sharing knowledge from his many years advising farmers. Thanks to John Weil, Lloyd Charles, Norm Cooper, Steve Diver, Jim Karnofski, John Slack, Edmond Brown, Hugh Lovel, Frank Eagan and Roger Martyn. Thank you Gary Kline of Black Lake Organics, for helping me improve my own Complete Organic Fertilizer. Thanks to the many gardeners who took me up on my offer of a free soil test analysis; without their help, I could not have come to appreciate how broad the diversity of soils can be. Finally, this book owes a huge debt to Justin Crawford, D.O. Not long before I began this project, Justin accepted responsibility for (and legal ownership of) The Soil and Health Library. The fact that I no longer had to answer its mail and handle its daily ongoing business liberated enough free attention to let me write The Intelligent Gardener. And we all owe Justin a big thank you for continuing the library; in that collection are most of the titles referred to in this books Bibliography; all available for free download.

Kitchen gardens come and go with the prosperity of the times. During times of emergency, when vegetables are scarce, they become a necessity, and everyone who has access to a small piece of land should feel under obligation to plant a garden. The farm garden is particularly important, because it is possible to produce so much food, for so little effort and with no additional fertilizer. During times of low prices, when farmers cash is scarce, the properly planned farm garden can supply 75 per cent of the food energy which he would ordinarily buy. This, with what he gets from animals and poultry, should carry him through any emergency.