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Product Description
Review
"Great Garden Companions lives up to its name-- it's great! This very approachable how-to book brings organic gardening to a whole new level-- viewing the garden as part of nature. I wish I'd had a book like this when I started gardening."--Rosalind Creasy, author of The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping and Herbs: A Country Garden Cookbook
Book Description
My garden is a wonderland. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Useful addition to the organic garden library.....,
By
This review is from: Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden (Paperback)
Although GREAT GARDEN COMPANIONS appears to be about what to plant with what, Sally Cunningham's book is about much more. Cunningham is a 'Master Gardener' associated with the Cornell Cooperative Extension in upstate New York (growing zone 6) and has spent many hours practicing what she preaches in her nearby garden. Her garden (as shown in diagrams and photographs) reminds me somewhat of those shown on National Public Television's long-running Victory Gardens (raised beds, yummy soil), but Cunningham's advice and ideas are 100 percent organic.While many people understand organic gardening involves the use of raised beds, mulch, compost, and cover plants that enhance soil friability, retain moisture, and restore soil, few books discuss the ecosystem within which gardens exist. Cunningham works a large garden at the edge of fallow farmland (where the glaciers left very nice black soil), however, many of her ideas will work in a smaller and/or less fertile places. Some of the more interesting sections of Cunningham's book cover "old-time" notions such as how to build row hedges that attract birds and act as wind breaks; how to identify insect friends and foes and cultivate the former while repelling the latter; why toads, moles, birds, dogs, cats and horses can be great garden companions. For example, Cunningham says moles have been given a bum rap and dogs and cats can actually help you ward off the bunny rabbits and other critters who might make a meal of your lettuce. Horses are a fabulous source of organic fertilizer-should you be so lucky to own one. Cunningham uses virtually everything that is biodegradable to make compost. She stops by the side of the road to sweep up leaves and pine needles discarded by others. She rips newspapers into long strips and mixes them into compost piles. She buries composted material directly in the garden under straw and other coverings to decompose over the winter. These practices work. I have buried half-digested material next to my roses in fall and by spring produced fabulous flowers on 3/4 canes ordinarily measuring a third of an inch. Regarding companion planting, Cunningham suggests mixing the members of "families (i.e. tomatoes, eggplants, peppers) in the same bed along with companion herbs and perennials. She suggests members of the same family have similar growing requirements and by combining like with like you will save work. This might be so, but many garden writers suggest the opposist--combining plants from different families as companions. These writers believe the pests and diseases that attack one member of a family are likely to attack another member of the same family and by separating them you confuse the enemy. In addition, authors like Riotte (CARROTS LOVE TOMATOES) suggest certain combinations produce synergistic results. I tend to agree with Riotte, but like much else in life, you will have to experiment with various combinations to find the answer for your garden.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Garden Companions : A Companion-Planting System for a,
By
This review is from: Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden (Paperback)
Which plants enhance other plants, attract good bugs, repel bad bugs. Vegetables that are compatible and incompatible. Each section is comprehensive, easy to follow. Great tips, especially the home-made Tomato cages. The paperback version is very nice, lots of pictures and illustrations and large, I also have the hardback. There is information about diseases, ways of planting (container, etc.)This should be in every gardner's library, from beginner to professional.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!,
This review is from: Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden (Paperback)
This is what gardening is all about! This text approaches gardening in a sustainable, "natural-chaos", good for you and the earth manner. The illustrations are clear, the diagrams simple, new/unfamiliar terms well explained. Very clear, concise, imaginative, and inspiring. The author deserves a BIG thank-you for writing this book. It takes the guess work and mystery out of organic gardening and companion plants. Her methods are simple and effective.
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