I have posted these links a couple times and nobody has responded but yet I keep seeing questions about the "cook" and micro organism growth. It looks more n more like people are interested in the microbiology of the soil and I mean after all nobody fertilized our ancient forests... so here is a couple sites I highly recommend reading. Its not easy reading and to most it won't be fun...but it is very educational and it is the only sustainable way to gardening. If you can master the soil food web and let microorganisms do the nutrient cycling for you then you wont ever find a need for fertilizers again.this is my understanding: cooking basically is "growing" the live organisms in the soil. the microbeasties will be able to "hatch" or reproduce in a warm environment with h20. this gives you a way healthier soil. as well as the micros make the nuttrients more available to plants roots.
anybody care to clarify?
Nate go here http://urbanext.illinois.edu/soil/SoilBiology/soil_food_web.htm make sure u continue through the chapters by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.
This next link is a little more straight forward and a little easier reading http://www.soilfoodweb.com/sfi_approach1.html
I also bought a couple books but I would only recommend Teaming with Microbes.