The Intelligent Gardener: Growing Nutrient-Dense Food

Steve Solomon's newest book, the Intelligent Gardener, will change the way you garden. His no-nonsense, ultra-practical approach will put food on the table that will nourish people as opposed to just filling their bellies. Utilizing soil tests he thoroughly explains how to interpret your own soil test and remedy soil deficiencies (or excesses). He covers a lot of ground in this book and is not afraid to go into detail or leave orthodoxy behind in the quest to grow nutrient - dense foods. This book really explains some highly technical topics in a manner that any home gardener can use effectively to increase the health benefits, and flavor of your vegetable garden. His decades of gardening experience and attention to science have produced one of the best gardening books ever. Take your vegetable garden beyond organic and start growing some real food. Along with one of his previous titles, 'Gardening When It Counts', now there are two of his books that I keep on my handiest bookshelf.

This book might not be for you if: you already have a fertilizer, system, and/or philosophy that produces tons of vegetables and produce, you have 4 small raised beds that you occasionally grow stuff in, you hate the idea of merging math and technical ideas with the free spirit of gardening, you've already read tons material by Albrecht or Tiedjens, you just want to put some Dr. Earth fertilizer in a pot and water your plants, your soil is awesome! This book might be for you if: your soil is terrible, you can't grow anything despite watering and babying your plants, you just love consuming gardening information, you get ok results with your garden but there seems to be some bottleneck in performance. Personally I have annoying clay soil that is loaded with magnesium so my soil turns into cement when it dries. This book helped me remedy that problem along with providing an entire system for understanding the inner workings of soil and so far it hasn't done me wrong. Sure, I could have just read online that you need to add gypsum to clay soil but this book will help you figure out how much, for how long, and why bother in the first place. My soil is much better already and its only been one year since I started adding gypsum, next year things might be even better. Obviously there is a lot more to the book, so much more that it forces some people to leave 1 and 2 star reviews because it can sometimes be too complicated or overwhelming. I can't promise all the ideas in this book work but many have worked for me. Good luck!

On my 5th year of intense gardening, I picked up this book and applied the methods. OMG, the results were unreal. Our yield and quality of all veggies was 2x what we ever had before. I'm in to my 2nd year of applying his methods: Soil tilth has already improved, and I have more earthworms than ever! I've had to start using large tomato cages around my pepper plants! Don't listen to the haters who are hung up on whether or not there are scientific publications proving or disproving if mineral dense soil creates mineral dense food. Do you want higher yields, healthier plants, and better soil quality? Then follow Steve's methods! It worked for me. And so what if there aren't peer reviewed publications about these methods?... use your gut and your eyes! (and your taste buds!) One Caveat: You need to enjoy science and math. It gets a little intense, and you'll need to dedicate some time to this. Think spreadsheets and basic math equations. But it's worth it IMO.

Great book!

This book is scary! Solomon points out the consequences of eating low nutrition foods, including "certified Organic" low nutrition foods. The scary part is that the effects of low nutrition food are subtle and slow to occur and be noticed, although they can be very serious. Also, it is difficult to avoid the low nutrition foods if you buy your food or if you grow your own. Commercial agriculture and much "organic" food production tends to favor yield over nutrition. Read the book to see why. Yield is easier to understand, quantify and achieve than "nutrient dense". This book will help you to understand and produce nutrient dense food. It shows how to take, and interpret, soil sample analyses. Then it shows how to calculate what amendments to use to bring the soil to it's optimum. I prefer the more mathematical, less wordy approach so am giving the book 4 stars. On the other hand many folks are scared off by mathematics... But do not worry, if you like math or not, there is an online service referenced in the book that can do the calculations for you. Note: Some folks think this is an expensive approach. Adding non-standard amendments to garden(or farm!) soil can be "expensive". It does seem that eating nutrient poor food is probably more expensive in the long run. I would rather pay the nutrient suppliers than the medical system! I do not agree with all the author's generalizations. For example, I live in Oregon on potassium poor ground (Solomon thinks there is excess potassium in Oregon). Solomon's view of Oregon is Willamette Valley-centric and Oregon's geology is very diverse. This is probably an inevitable feature of garden books that they favor the area where the author lived. You just have to keep that in mind and translate the ideas to your ground. There are some reviews that think that Solomon is too hard on Rodale's Organic philosophy. I do not think so. Solomon correctly points out that the current "Organic by omission" philosophy can produce nutrient poor "Organic" food. Rodale did a lot of good, but his methods are capable of producing poor health results. Solomon is to be commended for trying to point out an improved path. Buy this book and spread the word!

Awesome books by an experienced gardener. I'm grateful to the author for sharing his rich experience in this book. Must Read for gardners, farmers.

If you are interested in alternative methods for gardening then this is an excellent book. I really like Steve Solomons way of explaining his methodology and it is clear over his different texts he is not afraid to admit mistakes which i really admire in a writer.

libro molto interessante. Se non si hanno basi di conoscenza sul suolo e la sua chimica può risultare ostico, ma al massimo vorrà dire rileggere qualche paragrafo e riflettere su quello che si legge. Lo consiglio vivamente per coloro che hanno un orto, oppure per coloro che vivono di agricoltura su piccola/media scala

A wonderful book that is full of important information. As the saying goes "garbage in, garbage out". With the demands of agra-business providing quantity but not always quality this is the missing link of success.

Fantastic book with great information about revitalising soil. Definitely broadened my ways of putting minerals back into the soil