Teaming with microbes

The idea of the book is nice and a lot of the material is very worth your time if you like me do not know all that much about soil microbial life. Unfortunately, the author builds his recommendations on dubious theories that lack evidence. I only learned this after having started the book, but the main theorist behind the "soil food web" doesn't publish her research in peer-reviewed journals. The author also claims all kinds of effects from so called "compost teas", which has not been backed up by evidence as well. These things simply do not work in the way their proponents say, so it seems like a lot of wasted work for gardeners. As someone said: "Leave the organic matter on the soil surface and let nature make its own tea". It's possible that most of the material in this book is actually backed by evidence, but when the author makes claims on things like compost tea and the soil food web, it's difficult as a reader to know what other claims in the book are not evidence-based. This makes me doubt this book and look for better sources.

Here's a review of the issue on compost teas: puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/