The Intelligent Gardener: Growing Nutrient-Dense Food

An earlier Steve Solomon book helped me greatly as a gardener and, after buying this one, I enjoyed delving deeply into soil science and even spent days building a spreadsheet to translate soil testing results into soil-amendment recommendations using the information in this book. I am sad to report that, in the end, I learned that the soil re-mineralization theory propounded in this book has no real basis in evidence and has in fact been disproved by scientific experiment over the years. The worst part is that nowhere in this book does Mr. Solomon even hint that there is any controversy about his theories, any evidence about them, or any alternative approach. This is fundamentally dishonest, and I have changed my rating based on what I learned.I already knew, based on my long career in medical research, that his health claim that "nutrient-dense" food will prevent and cure all diseases (yup, he actually says that) had to be bogus. What I did not realize was that their claims about soil fertility and its effects on plants are equally unfounded and undocumented.There is a real need for an engaging book that transmits knowledge about soils and soil improvement for avid gardeners and small farmers, especially organic growers, based on real scientific evidence. Sad to say, this ain't it.

Near the end of his new book, The Intelligent Gardener, long-time garden guru Steve Solomon makes a significant point: "There is no place on this planet that remains free of toxic residues." He then suggests we would be far better off if we quit worrying so much about toxicity and, instead, concentrated on growing and eating nutrient dense food.I've been able to follow, and participate to a degree, in Mr. Solomon's metamorphosis from expert "organic" gardener to expert "nutrient dense" gardener. Solomon, in my opinion, has long been ahead of the pack as evidenced by his books "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" and "Gardening When It Counts." Through his early gardening experiences and from starting the Territorial Seed business he devised his Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF) which was an attempt to balance garden soil. COF is still a good way to go for people who don't wish to go any farther and the formula is easily found on the internet. (Also in The Intelligent Gardener pps. 84-85).In the last half dozen years through association with Michael Astera's Nutrient Dense Project and a re-study of the work of scientists like William Albrecht and Victor Tiedjens, Steve Solomon has become a convert to the concept of "nutrient dense."The concept of nutrient dense food is pretty simple. The gardener works over time to balance the soil with the proper mix of minerals. The result will be soil that encourages the life forms (worms, bacteria, etc.) that help with soil symbiosis and soil that provides the nutrients plants need to grow properly. Balanced soil will mean healthier plants, resistant to pests. Balanced soil will result in food that is nutrient dense, providing us with the vitamins and minerals we need to be healthy.Steve Solomon spends a lot of time debunking the concept promoted by J.I. Rodale that compost would solve all problems and that by continuing to heap organic matter on a garden a garden would only get better and better. This is not the case as Solomon explains in detail in a chapter titled: SAMOA (The S*** Method of Agriculture). More important is bringing calcium and magnesium into proper balance. When garden soil is properly balanced, according to Solomon, the garden will create its own nitrates.Balancing calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulphur, sodium and other minerals is the key to nutrient dense food. Getting this balance correct begins with a $20 soil test. Then, with a copy of The Intelligent Gardener in hand, one can use the worksheets provided to come up with a prescription for a custom fertilizer designed for one's own garden. Solomon's colleague and co-author, California gardener Erica Reinheimer has developed a website where you can find copies of the worksheets found in Steve's book. On this same website you will find a link to "OrganiCalc" which allows you, for a small fee, to compute your custom fertilizer prescription on line.

If I had to choose only one book as a resource to encourage a healthy soil full of micro-organisms that enable nutrient absorption by plants, this would be it. While the viewpoint of the authors leans strongly organic, they do not neglect the important contribution minerals make to the health of the soil, including the microbes. In fact, the authors make very clear that, contrary to Steve Solomon's previous books, "strictly organic" (meaning no "artificial" fertilizer altogether) is not the most intelligent way to garden.In this book, the authors make the important connection between a healthy soil and food grown on healthy soil to promote human health. (That's in contrast to growing nutrient-deficient food on nutrient-deficient soil and making up the lack with expensive nutritional supplements which may or may not be absorbed by the human body.)The authors provide guidance not only on how to promote a healthy soil through compost and compost tea, but also how to choose mineral soil amendments wisely. Some commercial fertilizers are just bad for the soil. Others should be used sparingly, if at all. And still others are intelligent choices to use on a regular basis. To me this section of the book was most valuable. (I mean, it made sense to me that soils need mineral additives if they are low on certain minerals, but some "organic" additives are just priced out of reach. The authors provide reasonable alternatives.)The science of the soil is brought alive by the engaging writing style including a lot of personal anecdotes. The only thing missing from this book is guidance for no-till gardening.A nice supplement to this book is * Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Science for Gardeners) * which includes no-till gardening. (Unfortunately that book disappoints in not including remineralization of the soil.)

I have been applying what might be called the ‘Solomon Method’, as closely as I am able, for a couple of years now. I’m pleased with the results and I intend to go on using it.The method is based on the pioneering work of the American agronomist, Professor William Albrecht. He discovered a relationship between leaching of soils - due to high rainfall or humidity - and the nutrient content of crops grown in them. From the 1930s onward, when the accepted wisdom was that crops required just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, with lime to counteract acidity, Albrecht was demonstrating that a much wider range of elements, crucially in the correct balance with each other, were essential to the nutritional value of food crops, and those elements were likely to be deficient in leached soils.Albrecht and his followers such as Michael Astera are largely unknown in the UK, so Steve Solomon has done growers here a service by building on their findings and translating them into a method that can be used by gardeners. More than that, he has scanned a substantial number of relevant documents, including Albrecht’s Soil Fertility and Animal Health, and made them freely available on his website, soilandhealth.org.Basically the ‘Solomon Method’ shows how to determine which elements are deficient or excessive in your soil, and how to formulate a corrective prescription. It goes on to advise on sources of the necessary elements, enabling you to mix a compound fertiliser that is unique to your soil type. As long as care is exercised in sourcing the necessary ingredients there is nothing in this approach that runs counter to standard organic practice.So why have I only given The Intelligent Gardener three stars? Largely because it’s of limited practical value to UK growers, for a couple of reasons. The method requires that you get your soil analysed as a first step, and it assumes that the testing regime will be one known as Mehlich 3. The book warns that any other method will not give comparable results, and in fact it endorses a single US laboratory that uses it. I may be wrong but as far as I know no UK laboratory uses Mehlich 3 to assay the full range of elements, so the test results will be at best an approximation to the values that are to be used to formulate a soil prescription.Second, many of the fertiliser ingredients that Solomon recommends are not readily available in small quantities, if at all, in the UK. These include Azomite, langbeinite, soft rock phosphates, feathermeals and others. In their absence formulating a compound organic fertiliser is not at all easy.Finally, oh dear, there is his writing style. He’s certainly a man who can bear a grudge, as his relentless sniping at Jerome Rodale, one of the founding fathers of the US organic movement, attests. His casual sideswipes at vaccination and his assertion that the principal cause of the decline of First Nation populations in the US was a poor diet and not diseases introduced by settlers, set my teeth on edge, and I think are likely to irritate other UK readers.So, for anyone really interested in the subject and willing to work hard at the necessary soil chemistry while looking beyond his infuriating homespun whimsy, this book could be a good investment. For anyone else I would recommend Erica Reinheimer’s website, growabundant.com. It will provide much of the information in The Intelligent Gardener, in a more measured way.

Inteesting if a little crazy

If the right minerals are not present and available in your soil, they won't be in your plants or you. Anybody who is growing a significant proportion of their own food will learn a lot from this book.

If you like a dry sense of humour (I do!) this book takes a very (wordy!) intelligent look at preparing your soil for growing good tasting and nutritious food. I love how honest the author is about his previous beliefs and how new learning has changed how he approaches soil amendment. I’m excited to try his tips on my garden!

this is the first book that decodes how to grow nutritious food, it explains why even organic shop bought produce has very little nutrition in it and how you can grow your own food with all the nutrition and protein yo need.