Great Garden Companions: A Companion Planting System For A Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden Author: Sally Jean Cunningham | Language: English | ISBN:
0875967817 | Format: EPUB
Great Garden Companions: A Companion Planting System For A Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden Description
Discover the secrets of a naturally pest-proof vegetable garden with Great Garden Companions. Let master gardener Sally Jean Cunningham show you how to keep pests and diseases at bay with her unique companion-gardening system. By planting special combinations of vegetables, flowers, and herbs, you can minimize pest and disease problems and create a high-yielding, beautiful garden!
- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Rodale Books (February 15, 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0875967817
- ISBN-13: 978-0875967813
- Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
My first impulse was to give this book only one or two stars, but:
a) I read it right after Carol Deppe's "Breeding Your Own Vegetable Varieties" and that is a really tough act to follow. It is CRAMMED with information and fun and intriguing ideas.
b) After reading other reviews, I don't think I had a good idea of what the book was like. That isn't the book's fault.
My first frustration is that the book is not very well organized. The information that is useful is buried in meandering chapters that tend to repeat themselves.
Second frustration--the recommended companions are almost all flowers. I have a small garden and not much room for flowers. I was expecting to know whether I should plant my onions next to the tomatoes or the peas...just a few basics. But there isn't that kind of information in here. In fact, Ms. Cunningham doesn't mention a single thing NOT to plant next to anything else. If I remember right, from Biology class, some plants don't grow as well next to others. I've gotten this idea from a few internet sites as well, but I guess I'll have to go buy another book to find out for sure.
My final and biggest problem with the book is that she rarely explains why she mixes the flowers that she does. Over and over she mentions the same three reasons for her style in general:
1) attract pollinators
2) "confuse" insects that damage your garden
3) to look pretty (!)
I do think that some people might prefer this kind of lighter read, and there are a few pages of useful information about each main type of garden crop in the back. It's just not nearly enough for a beginning gardener to know where to start.
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.
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