The Living Soil Handbook

Principles and farm-tested practices for no-dig market gardening–for healthier, more productive soil!

From the host of the popular The No-Till Market Garden Podcast – heard around the world with nearly one million downloads!

Discovering how to meet the soil’s needs is the key task for every market gardener. In this comprehensive guide, Farmer Jesse Frost shares all he has learned through experience and experimentation with no-till practices on his home farm and from interviews and visits with highly successful market gardeners in his role as host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. 

The Living Soil Handbook is centred around the three basic principles of no-dig market gardening:

Disturb the soil as little as possibleKeep it covered as much as possibleKeep it planted as much as possible.

Farmer Jesse then guides readers in applying those principles to their own garden environment, with their own materials, to meet their own goals.

Beginning with an exploration of the importance of photosynthesis to living soil, Jesse provides in-depth information on:

Turning over bedsUsing compost and mulchPath managementIncorporating biology, maintaining fertilityCover croppingDiversifying plantings through intercroppingProduction methods for seven major crops

Throughout, the book emphasises practical information on all the best tools and practices for growers who want to build their livelihood around maximising soil health.

Farmer Jesse does not believe that growers should anguish over what does and does not qualify as “no-dig.” If you are using a tool to promote soil life and biology, that’s the goal. The Living Soil Handbook blends the idea of meeting the soil’s needs with the realities of making a living as a professional grower, no matter where you live.

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