The Regenerative Grower's Guide to Garden Amendments: Using Locally Sourced Materials to Make Mineral and Biological Extracts and Ferments

by Nigel Palmer, John Kempf (Foreword)

Revitalize your garden―and go beyond compost―by making your own biologically diverse inoculants and mineral-rich amendments using leaf mold, weeds, eggshells, bones, and other materials available for little or no cost! In The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments , experimental gardener and author Nigel Palmer provides practical, detailed instructions that are accessible to every grower who wants to achieve a truly sustainable garden ecosystem―all while enjoying better results at a fraction of the cost of commercial fertilizer products. These recipes go beyond fertilizer replacement, resulting in greater soil biological activity and mineral availability. They also increase pest and disease resistance, yields, and nutrient density. Recipes Inspired by the work of many innovative traditional agricultural pioneers, especially Cho Ju-Young (founder of the Korean Natural Farming method), The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments also includes a primer on plant-soil interaction, instructions for conducting a soil test, and guidance on compost, cover cropping, mulching, measuring the quality of fruits and vegetables using a refractometer, and other aspects of sustainable gardening―making it a must-have resource for  any serious grower.  

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Science, Agriculture, Nature, Horticulture

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2020

About the author

Nigel Palmer is an author, educator, and experimental gardener. He is an instructor for the gardening portion of the holistic health education program at The Institute Of Sustainable Nutrition (TIOSN), a school founded by his wife, Joan Palmer.

After realizing that growing nutrient-dense foods is a health program in itself, he researched materials exploring the wisdom of indigenous people on how to work with nature to grow delicious, nutritous food. His research culminated in the writing of the book: The Regenerative Grower's Guide to Garden Amendments.

Reviews

[Caolan McMahon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plenty of growers use comfrey tea as a liquid feed, and the Teaming With Microbes book makes a good case for aerated compost teas to culture soil biology - so I was hoping to find similar ideas for homemade amendments and some analysis of what they contain.

I almost got what I wanted, but the data is simply not good enough. It even suggests homeopathic applications of extracts and the use of pseudoscientific 'structured water' to make them. Just to keep you off balance, though, it also contains useful suggestions like testing sap sugar content with a refractometer, or referencing a USDA phytochemical database to understand which plants might make an appropriate extract for your soil.

There are probably many more good ideas in here but I can't recommend the book because I don't trust it. It also stretches the material too thin and in places it was begging for more detail and less repetition.

[Dov Shlachter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The one highly relevant, well reasoned, well supported takeaway from this book is to use a refractometer to measure plant glucose levels as a proxy for plant health and fruit/vegetable flavor.

There is a lot to dislike in this book. It flirts with pseudoscience (structured water, homeopathy), doesn't dive into technical details describing how plants use micronutrients and how they are affected by deficiencies (or surpluses), how they become available or unavailable to plants, glosses over the important fundamentals of soil microbiology and soil science, and is generally boring and repetitious. The tables in the back describing which plants provide which micronutrients is helpful, but this is clearly a rough estimate due multiple real factors.

TL;DR: the good bits aren't new (and are few and far between) and new bits aren't good. Please do yourself a favor and read Teaming with Microbes instead.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful book with some good points (like about the Brix scale, refractometers) and helpful recipes from Korean natural farming. However, there is info/opinions from biodynamics sprinkled throughout the book that made me suspicious at times. I guess I’m okay if Palmer wanted to include biodynamics in the book, but it was confusing what came from what sometimes, and it would be nice if it was a little more explicit about where certain ideas came from.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written by an avid gardener looking for sustainable, inexpensive, local means of fertilizing his garden. He does not have a background in science, but read a number of scientific books, or others like his own of self-taught practical ideas, and put them together with a smattering of scientific measurements he made himself. His garden thrives and here he shares his thoughts and secrets.

I plan to try some of these ideas this spring, but I was left with many questions after the read (much of it was repetitive instead of enlightening) and it felt incomplete. More chemistry and soil science would certainly enhance the book, as well as data based on controlled trials. I was disappointed that many of his recipes for his biological extracts were fermentations that required fairly large amounts of brown sugar (organic of course).

Overall, it was thought-provoking to see what another gardener was experimenting with, so it was interesting to read and to try a few of his tips.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book for many reasons,
It is a very straightforward guide to creating amendments at home, it has everything you need to start out and full of tips on how to track your progress. It also has a ton of references and resources to continue the learning beyond this short book.
It is a bit repetitive but ultimately touches on a variety of topics and goals including how to identify needs, conduct tests, close the waste gap and putting intention into your garden. I got some tools that the book discussed, as well as starting some of the very accessible recipes! I cannot wait for the spring!

I would definitely recommend this book if you have a garden and would like to brew your own fertilizers

[MIchel bisson]

Excellent instructive inspiring

Mainly this book was really instructive and positive I appreciate it a lot and remind me how much we have to learn these techniques to rebuilt our souls,main challenge is to bring it to large scale and continue to learn and improve our food chain supply using bloggers and different wood venigars.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent explanation of the symbiotic relationship between soil and plant life and how to maximize both for better tasting fruit and vegetables. I will be taking his course at the end of February with hopes of improving my raised bed garden.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must have book for anyone wanting to nourish their vegetable garden, orchard, yard, flower garden and more! It clearly walks you through the steps of making your own amendments that will bring vibrant life to your soil.

[Kevin Yung Dingus Mane Holton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new Bible for gardening amendments. So much incredible information in this book. An invaluable resource for anyone looking to improve their garden / farms health through the use of harvesting local biology.

[Joost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference on making mineral and/or organic garden amendments.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book but I'm afraid it provides a level of detail that goes beyond my current skill level. Nevertheless, I'll keep it as a good future reference book.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subject of this book is an interesting concept. A bit too much science math included and not sure how practical it is for me personally. I learned some things which is always good. ;)

[A.g.]

useful recipes and detailed explanations.

[Phyllis Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part soil science textbook and part hippie dippie teachings, this book has a lot of good information about how to create an environment in which plants will thrive.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful information, but the pseudoscience and references to tap water as “bad water” didn’t sit well with me.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valuable information in making your own garden amendments. Gratitude is an important ingredient.