The Intelligent Gardener: Growing Nutrient-Dense Food (Mother Earth News Books for Wiser Living)

The Intelligent Gardener is a practical guide for gardeners seeking to grow produce with maximum nutritional quality. It addresses how intensive agriculture has depleted essential minerals from soil and explains how to restore them through detailed soil re-mineralization techniques. The book challenges conventional and organic agricultural practices, moving beyond standard composting and NPK fertilizers to establish the connection between healthy soil, healthy food, and human health. It includes customizable web-based spreadsheets to support the process. Centuries of intensive farming have reduced soil mineral content to historic lows. Modern vegetables, fruits, and grains contain significantly fewer vitamins and minerals than equivalent servings from a century ago. Since poor nutrition is linked to cancer, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes, increasing the nutrient density of food to historical levels is presented as important for health. The book provides tools for gardeners who prioritize the nutritional quality of their produce.