Jeff Lowenfels was immersed in gardening and small-scale farming as a child in upstate New York. He completed an undergraduate degree at Harvard in Geology, and later earned a law degree at Northeastern University focused on environmental law. With this background, it is perhaps surprising that he has lived most of his adult life in Anchorage, Alaska. Now retired from practicing law, he continues to write a long-running (over 45 years) gardening column in the “Anchorage Daily News.”I recently attended a study weekend on hardy plants at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where Lowenfels was a speaker. His presentation was fast-paced, with lots of humor, while succinctly telling his personal evolution in understanding garden ecology. He now promotes sustainable gardens that are part of their environment, rather than being artificially separated from nature through practices such as rototilling and the use of synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides. This is reflected in the four books he has published.
The first, “Teaming with Microbes,” was co-written with Wayne Lewis (published in 2006, revised edition in 2010), and describes the intricate network of organisms in soils. Gardeners are encouraged to promote and protect these networks. “Teaming with Nutrients” (2013) followed with a detailed look at how plants intake necessary sustenance from soils. “Teaming with Fungi” (2017) illustrates that most plants get additional nutritional help through mycorrhizal associations between roots and fungi. Much of the presentation in Vancouver was about his most recent book, “Teaming with Bacteria” (2022), that analyzes a third method of plant feeding using endophytic bacteria. This topic is based on research that is very recent and still developing.
I recommend all of these books, as Lowenfels is skilled at presenting scientific concepts and necessary terminology in an easy to grasp manner without being overly simplistic. He is also adept at encouragement. In “Teaming with Bacteria” he writes, “I implore you to pause while gardening every now and then, lean on your winged weeder or push mower, and just contemplate the presence of endophytes in your plants. Think about all they do.”
Reviewed by Brian Thompson.