Principia, Inc.

Garden catalogs are arriving, the days are getting longer. My gardening neurons are beginning to fire.

I have been spending a good deal of time reading about soil. My experience has shown me, that the better one cares for soil, the more it will reward you with plant and lawn performance and reduced need for maintenance, water and fertilizer.

Emerging information confirms what organic farmers have known for ages, that soil is a complex system, and that many common practices from tilling, chemical fertilizer to leaf blowing degrade the system. A degraded soil is weedy, needy and plants under perform.

I recommend a couple of very good books on this subject:

Up By Roots, by James Urban, (ISA Press 2008)

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, by James Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis, (Timber Press 2006)