[habitat_gardener]

Another great resource is a new book by Phil Nauta, Building Soils Naturally. He has a foliar recipe that looks pretty good -- kelp, molasses, microbial products, and a bunch of optional ingredients.

The book by Solomon, The Intelligent Gardener, is based on getting a $20 soil test from Logan Labs and then calculating what minerals to add. The worksheets are all online. It's straightforward and deals mainly with getting the soil chemistry right. The book is worth reading (once you skip the rants in the earlier chapters) for his reasons for choosing one thing or another. He also has an updated version of his Complete Organic Fert. He thinks GMO alfalfa or soy is such a tiny amount that it won't make a diff.

By contrast, the Nauta book covers soil biology as well as soil chemistry, and he's much more flexible about what to add and how much makes a difference. He also discusses how to boost the soil chemistry by using things that boost the soil biology, which in turn makes stuff more available to plants. Does not use GMO ferts.

Both are based on boosting the Ca levels (after Albrecht) and keeping Ca and Mg in balance, and both recommend using much less compost than most of us organic gardeners habitually use. Nauta cites Elaine Ingram's rec of 1/90th inch of compost! Both promote growing "nutrient-dense food" in their subtitles, but Nauta has brix charts and talks about using a refractometer to test your food and plants.

I've read both and I tend to use Nauta's approach, plus he tends to encourage experimentation and improvisation, which I like.