Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web

Healthy soil is teeming with life ― not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms.

When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic to humans as well as other forms of life.