Customer Reviews

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening

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I love CARROTS LOVE TOMATOES-an update and revision of the original companion planting book. I used many of these ideas the summer of 1975 when I had a half acre garden. My traditional farmer neighbor laughed when I told him what I was going to do, but later in the summer when the insects devastated his vegetable patch he threatened to come over and pull up all my borage and marigolds. He had to admit I was onto something. We had a few mishaps-white and yellow corn planted to close together = polka-dot corn, but we ran beans up the stalks as Riotte suggests and it worked well. The Mexican bean beatles came to visit and stayed for dinner, but we soon learned how to control them. Marigolds in the rows and our evening search to destroy the yellow egg clusters ensured a good crop. My kids learned a great deal about "real" survival that summer and they didn't find it on tv. We had squash, melons, tomatoes, and all sorts of other vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and mixed and matched them as companion plants. At the end of the summer, I canned like crazy and made colorful jars of green beans and white and yellow corn. Everything we grew was organic and it tasted great.

Louise Riotte includes many suggestions from the first book. Topics in the new edition include vegetables, herbs, wild plants, grasses and grains, and others. Considering what is planted where is important. For example, you should not plant peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes close together or in the same container. These vegetables are related and planting them close together inhibits growth.

Matching vegetables and herbs or avoiding combinations of vegetables and herbs that inhibit each other isn't the only topic discussed in this book. Riotte says that tomato leaves can be pulped in a blender full of water and used as a spray that inhibits Black Spot on roses. Similarly, certain kinds of peppers produce a nice insect deterrent. I've grown Pyrethrum (a type of Chrysanthemum) in my garden for years. Pyrethrum has been marketed in the West as a bug repellent since at least 1828, but the Chinese are thought to have used it for perhaps 2,000 years.

The best news is that you don't have to have a half acre to become a gardener and use these ideas. Today, I live in an urban area and have a very tiny lot. I have converted the whole thing into a series of gardens, but half the yard is in shade and vegetables need sun. So, I have placed containers along the driveway in the sun and off the walkway near the patio out back. I am also using many ideas for vertical gardening. I continue to use the planting techniques Riotte suggests, including many for container planting. Compost is important-and even in urban areas you can save kitchen and garden scraps in a compost bin. Carrots may love tomatoes but roses love sh-.

I bought both of Louise Riotte's books, only to be disappointed by the fact that companion gardening is a small portion of the book. There are several other chapters on various interesting topics, but I wouldn't bill either one as a guide to companion planting.

The book is very interesting, but don't buy it if you are trying to get started in companion planting/gardening. Buy Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham instead. You'll get much more out of it.

I am a novice gardener and I found this book to be a great quick and easy reference guide for my first vegetable garden. It is very easy to find your desired veggies and see their friends and foe's. Additionally there are chapters about herbs, fruits and trees that are quick and to-the-point. The book is a high level overview which, for a beginner, is all the information I can take in at one time. It provides you enough to ensure successful plantings and not overwhelm you.
My favorite parts are actually the few sketches of different garden layouts. I wish there were more! These are easy cheat sheets people can apply to their own gardens without even having to read a word.

This book seems like it has everything you need to start a decent garden and where to place what with what. I will know more in the Spring.

I have Louise Riotte's first book "Roses Love Garlic", and consider this one the better of the two. I have never considered myself an organic gardener, but this book makes it easier to give it a try. Riotte lists many of the more common plants, flowers and herbs in categories, along with many of the pests that find them tasty treats. I have used her book as a guide in planning my garden this year, and so far it has been very successful. The most difficulty I experienced was in setting up my garden and flower beds, trying to remember what plants and herbs would not do well next to each other. Like many other gardeners, I already had perennials within my garden. I had to figure out how to work around, or where to transplant them for maximum benefit. She does give several garden plans (small, herb, handicapped, etc), so they can be used as checkpoints and guides for putting in your own garden. An excellent reference to add to your gardening books.

This is a lovely book, filled with diagrams and charts. The nature of companion benefit or detriment is clearly and thoroughly examined in the first half of the book, while the second half demonstrates how to best plan for a garden even if you have no more than a small window. The children's garden and postage stamp garden plans deserve special mention.

Certainly an interesting gardening book, and one that seems to be quite popular, but Carrots Love Tomatoes seems to be nothing more than a rehashing of what others have written. Much of the book is an alphabetical listing of plants, insects, and other substances and how they can be utilized in companion planting. There are also brief chapters on Pollination of Fruits and Nuts, Nuts Tress, Fruit Tree Culture, and Poisonous Plants.

This book is a must for every Canadian gardener. Its pages are full of information that will assist gardeners maximize their plot's potential. I cannot wait for spring to put a few new practices into play.

I love this book. Ms. Riotte has answered many questions I have had. Nicely written for those just beginning there journey into gardening. She even devotes a section solely to poisonous plants which is very interesting! Ms. Riotte breaks the chapters down as follows: Vegetables; Herbs; Wild Plants; Grasses, Grains, and Field Crops; First Steps for Home Fruit Growing; Nuts; Ornamental Trees and Shrubs; Garden Techniques; Soil Improvement; Pest Control;Poisonous Plants; Garden Plans; Sources; Suggested Reading. I like the fact that things are crossed referenced, so while it is a good read, you can also use it as a manual. The only thing I thought could be improved upon in the book was the drawings of the garden plans. They look as though someone drew them on a piece of paper and then photocopied them into the book. They are legible but hard to read. Luckily in writing they explain what they are drawing.

This book has revolutionised my gardening methods. Within a year of buying it 15 years ago, my garden became healthy and productive. Riotte has taught me how to match plants which are able to protect each other from pests and diseases without the use of sprays, chemical or organic. Her methods have built an invisible wall around my garden which keeps pests confined to my neighbors' yards without crossing into mine.

Had I never read another gardening book or watched any gardening show, this book alone would have made me a successful organic gardener. I highly recommend it to beginning or advanced organic gardeners alike.