Soils: A Practical Guide for Organic Farmers and Gardeners

by Valerie Dantoin

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This textbook is for farmers and gardeners who want to understand and improve soil. It approaches soil from a practical viewpoint on how to conserve, improve, and build it. It covers the physical/structural characteristics, soil chemistry, soil organic matter, carbon, and nutrient flows/cycles, soil sampling/testing, both organic and conventional fertilizers, living soil biology, compost, livestock/manure’s role on the farm, and farm-scale and garden-size solutions to soil problems.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
Subjects
Geosciences
Licence
CC BY-NC 4.0, as LibreTexts states it. Non-commercial use only.
Who can read
Teens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

LibreTexts writes equations in TeX, and here they show as TeX; the PDF has them typeset.

  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. 1: Getting Grounded in Soil
  7. 1.1: Introduction
  8. 1.2: Thoughts on Soil
  9. 1.3: Naturally-Made Soil
  10. 1.4: Good Soil Characteristics
  11. 1.5: Balanced Soil
  12. 1.6: Bread baskets
  13. 2: Physical Properties of Soil
  14. 2.1: Soil Physical Properties - Texture, Structure, Tilth
  15. 2.2: Water, Pore Space, Compaction
  16. 2.3: Soil Tilth
  17. 3: Soil Chemistry
  18. 3.1: Linking Physical Properties To Nutrient Availability
  19. 3.2: Soil pH and Liming
  20. 3.3: Relationship of pH to Nutrient Availability
  21. 3.4: Cation Exchange Capacity
  22. 3.5: Percent Base Saturation
  23. 4: Organic Matter Results in Healthy Soils
  24. 4.1: What is Organic Matter?
  25. 4.1.1: Why Soil Organic Matter is So Important
  26. 4.1.2: Organic Matter And Natural Cycles
  27. 4.1.3: Summary
  28. 4.1.4: Sources
  29. 4.2: Amount of Organic Matter in Soils
  30. 4.2.1: Natural Factors Affecting Soil Organic Matter
  31. 4.2.2: Human Influences
  32. 4.2.3: Organic Matter Distribution Within Soil
  33. 4.2.4: Active Versus Passive Organic Matter
  34. 4.2.5: Amounts of Living Organic Matter
  35. 4.2.6: How Much Organic Matter Is Enough?
  36. 4.2.7: Organic Matter and Cropping Systems
  37. 4.2.8: The Dynamics of Raising and Maintaining Soil Organic Matter Levels
  38. 4.2.9: Sources
  39. 4.3: Amendments - Physical Fixes
  40. 4.4: Soil Health Tests
  41. 4.4.1: Introduction
  42. 4.4.2: General Field Observations
  43. 4.4.3: Field Indicators
  44. 4.4.4: Laboratory Soil Health Testing
  45. 4.4.5: Sources
  46. 5: Nutrients from the Soil into the Plant Body
  47. 5.1: What is a Nutrient?
  48. 5.2: Nutrients in the Plant Body
  49. 6: Carbon Flows and Nutrient Cycles
  50. 6.1: How Carbon Flows
  51. 6.1.1: Carbon and Nutrient Flows in History
  52. 6.1.2: Cycling and Flows in Modern Agriculture
  53. 6.1.3: Flow Patterns at Farm Scale
  54. 6.1.4: Flow Patterns at Large Scale
  55. 6.1.5: Summary
  56. 6.1.6: Sources
  57. 6.2: How Nutrients Flow
  58. 6.3: Nitrogen Cycling
  59. 6.4: Phosphorus Cycling and Flows
  60. 6.5: Improving Nutrient Cycling on the Farm
  61. 6.6: N and P Movement in the Environment
  62. 7: Soil Sampling, Testing, Reading Results
  63. 7.1: How to Submit Soil Samples for Testing
  64. 7.2: Ideal Soil Test Numbers
  65. 7.3: Analyzing Your Soil and Crop
  66. 7.3.1: Introduction
  67. 7.3.2: Taking Soil Samples
  68. 7.3.3: Accuracy of Recommendations Based on Soil Tests
  69. 7.3.4: Sources of Confusion About Soil Tests
  70. 7.3.5: Soil Testing for Nitrogen
  71. 7.3.6: Soil Testing for P
  72. 7.3.7: Testing Soils for Organic Matter
  73. 7.3.8: Testing Soils for pH, Lime Needs
  74. 7.3.9: Interpreting Soil Test Results
  75. 7.3.10: Adjusting a Soil Test Recommendation
  76. 7.3.11: Making Adjustments to Fertilizer Application Rates
  77. 7.3.12: Managing Field Nutrient Variability
  78. 7.3.13: Testing High Tunnel Soils
  79. 7.3.14: Nutrient Recommendations without Soil Analyses
  80. 7.3.15: Summary
  81. 7.3.16: Sources
  82. 7.3.17: Chapter Appendix - The Basic Cation Saturation Ratio System
  83. 8: Fertilizers
  84. 8.1: Organic Fertilizers
  85. 8.2: Conventional Fertilizers
  86. 8.3: Management of Nitrogen and Phosphorus
  87. 8.4: OMRI Approved
  88. 8.5: How Much Do I Apply?
  89. 9: Compost
  90. 9.1: The Dirty Little Secret of Compost
  91. 9.2: Making Composts
  92. 9.3: Using Composts
  93. 9.4: Advantages of Composting
  94. 9.5: A Case Study, Cam Tabb
  95. 9.6: Sources
  96. 10: Living Soil
  97. 10.1: Introduction
  98. 10.2: Soil Microorganisms
  99. 10.3: Small and Medium-Size Soil Animals
  100. 10.4: Large Soil Animals
  101. 10.5: Plant Roots
  102. 10.6: Biological Diversity, Abundance, Activity and Balance
  103. 10.7: Summary
  104. 10.8: Sources
  105. 11: Integrating Livestock (and Manure) with Crop Fields
  106. 11.1: Introduction
  107. 11.2: Types of Crop-Livestock Farms
  108. 11.3: Manure
  109. 11.4: Manure Handling Systems
  110. 11.5: Effects of Manuring on Soils
  111. 11.6: Using Manures
  112. 11.7: Estimating Manure Nutrient Availability
  113. 11.8: Grazing
  114. 11.9: Manure as a Pollutant; stewardship farming.
  115. 11.10: Summary
  116. 11.11: A Case Study, Darrell Parks
  117. 11.12: Sources
  118. 12: Helping Soil
  119. 12.1: How We Care for Soil
  120. 12.2: How We Lose Soil
  121. 12.2.1: Introduction- Wind and Water
  122. 12.2.2: Losing the Soil
  123. 12.2.3: Off-Site Effects
  124. 12.2.4: Reducing Runoff and Erosion
  125. 12.2.5: Other Practices and Structures for Soil Conservation
  126. 12.2.6: Sources
  127. 12.3: Cover Cropping
  128. 12.3.1: Introduction
  129. 12.3.2: Benefits of Cover Crops
  130. 12.3.3: Types of Cover Crops
  131. 12.3.4: Cover Crop Management
  132. 12.3.5: A Case Study, Gabe Brown
  133. 12.3.6: Sources
  134. 12.4: Addressing Compaction
  135. 12.4.1: Introduction
  136. 12.4.2: Diagnosing Different Types of Compaction
  137. 12.4.3: Relieving and Preventing Compaction
  138. 12.4.4: Summary
  139. 12.4.5: Sources
  140. 12.5: Minimizing Tillage
  141. 12.5.1: Introduction
  142. 12.5.2: Tillage Systems
  143. 12.5.3: Which Tillage System is Right for Your Farm?
  144. 12.5.4: Summary
  145. 12.5.5: A Case Study, Steve Groff
  146. 12.5.6: Sources
  147. 12.6: Putting It All Together
  148. 12.6.1: Introduction
  149. 12.6.2: General Approaches
  150. 12.6.3: Practices to Help Remedy Specific Constraints
  151. 12.6.4: Some Final Thoughts
  152. 13: The Long View - Conventional, Sustainable, Organic
  153. 13.1: Two Paths, One Sustainable Road
  154. 13.2: An Ethical Predicament
  155. 13.3: Soil Comes Full Circle
  156. 14: Soils for Urban Farms, Gardens and Green Spaces
  157. 14.1: Introduction
  158. 14.2: Common Challenges with Urban Soils
  159. 14.3: Testing for Soil Contaminants
  160. 14.4: Soil Reconditioning Strategies
  161. 14.5: Urban Green Infrastructure
  162. 14.6: Other Construction Concerns
  163. 14.7: Summary
  164. 14.8: A Case Study, City Slicker Farms
  165. 14.9: Sources
  166. Back Matter
  167. Index
  168. Glossary
  169. Detailed Licensing
  170. Detailed Licensing