Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

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Teaming With Microbes

Teaming with Microbes
With organic gardening, it’s all about soil microbes. What we do to enrich our soils with organic matter and humus helps to feed this population of invisible organisms. Their presence enhances fertility to help plants grow healthier with a stronger root and immune system. To truly understand how important this microbe-plant relationship is to your food garden, read Jeff Lowenfels’ outstanding book: Teaming with Microbes (Timber Press). It is the modern gardener’s guide to the soil food web, what it is, how to protect it and why it’s essential to use organic fertilizers, amendments and potting soils that support this vital population.

About Maureen Gilmer

Maureen Gilmer is celebrating her 40th year in California horticulture and photojournalism as the most widely published professional in the state. She is the author of 21 books on gardening, design and the environment, is a widely published photographer, and syndicated with Tribune Content Agency. She is the weekly horticultural columnist for the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs and contributes to Desert Magazine, specializing on arid zone plants and practices for a changing climate. She works and lives in the remote high desert for firsthand observations of native species. Her latest book is The Colorful Dry Garden published by Sasquatch Books. When not writing or photographing she is out exploring the desert on her Arabian horse. She lives in Morongo Valley with her husband Jim and two rescue pit bulls. When not writing or photographing she is usually out riding her quarter horse.

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