Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden

by Jessica Walliser, Jeff Gillman (Foreword)

2021 AHS Book Award Winner

Companion planting has a long history of use by gardeners, but the explanation of why it works has been filled with folklore and conjecture. Plant Partners delivers a research-based rationale for this ever-popular growing technique, offering dozens of ways you can use scientifically tested plant partnerships to benefit your whole garden. Through an enhanced understanding of how plants interact with and influence each other, this guide suggests specific plant combinations that improve soil health and weed control, decrease pest damage, and increase biodiversity, resulting in real and measurable impacts in the garden.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Science, Reference, Nature, Environment, Plants

216 pages, Paperback

Published December 22, 2020

About the author

Jessica Walliser co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners” on KDKA-Radio in Pittsburgh, PA. She is a former contributing editor for Organic Gardening magazine and a regular contributor to many national gardening publications. In addition, Jessica is the Acquisitions Editor for Quarto Publishing Group’s gardening imprint, Cool Springs Press.

Her two weekly gardening columns for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review have been enjoyed by readers for over ten years. Her fourth book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to the Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control, was released by Timber Press in January of 2014 and was awarded the American Horticultural Society’s Book Award. Jessica’s 2018 title, Container Gardening Complete, teaches gardeners how to grow anything and everything in containers.

The former owner of a 25-acre organic market farm, Jessica received her degree in ornamental horticulture from The Pennsylvania State University. She’s taught a diverse array of gardening topics for over 25 years and is a former faculty member of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

She is author of the Amazon best-seller Good Bug, Bad Bug: Who’s Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically, and her forthcoming book, Gardener’s Guide to Compact Plants, is slated for publication in June of 2019. Jessica is a co-owner of the popular gardening blog SavvyGardening.com where you’ll find her writing about a wide diversity of gardening subjects.

Jessica lives and gardens northwest of Pittsburgh with her husband and son, six chickens, two cats, two hermit crabs, and billions and billions of very good bugs.

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book went so far beyond what I was expecting. I thought it would be a standard companion planting book, the sort that tells you to plant marigolds next to tomatoes to bring in polinators and deter bad bugs. It is so much more. While it does give lots of information about plants that help each other, it does it for all different subjects and also tells how plants can help your garden in other ways. For instance, there's a chapter on plants that will improve your soil and another on plants that will bring beneficial insects. I love that she provides information on useful plants to plant as sort of protectors or sacrificial plants, so that the bad bugs will just happily chomp on them and leave your prized garden veggies alone. There are so many chapters with so many really smart ideas, and it's all backed by studies instead of just lore (though she mentions those too, even when studies haven't proven them). It's also packed with gorgeous photos that actually relate to the topics and expand on the knowledge instead of just relying on Shutterstock pretty images that don't help explain the text. And yes, there are some images that are just gorgeous garden photos too, but not many gardeners will have a problem with seeing too many beautiful garden photos.

This is a fantastic guide and will be incredibly helpful to beginner and advance gardeners.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I initially heard about this book while listening to a Joe Gardener podcast with Joe Lamp’l and Jessica Walliser. After hearing everything they discussed on the show, I knew I was going to buy the book as soon as it became available. So I was surprised when I saw it as an ARC on NetGalley and I was approved to read it. Yay!

There was lots of information for beginning gardeners but I was looking for the ‘meat and potatoes’ to questions I’ve had for years. I read Louise Riotte’s Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening and Roses Love Garlic: Companion Planting and Other Secrets of Flowers years ago, but I found Ms. Walliser’s book both interesting and concise with references that backed up her statements.

I wanted the actual names of plants with the best combinations of companions. And the geeky part of me wanted to know why they performed this way. I wanted needed the science that supported these PLANT PARTNERS.

While I read I kept thinking the author would make an awesome teacher. She made learning fun. Her knowledge was printed in an easy-to-read format and the colorful photos enticed me to work in my garden now .

Thank you to Net Galley and Storey Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, well-illustrated book that cites its scientific sources.

[Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding.

A* for gardening, C- for science. This is the best companion planting polyculture book I have found so far. To give it anything less than 5 stars would be miserly and wrong. That said, it isn't perfect. As Robert Pavlis points out in his excellent critique:

- many of the references are meta reviews of other studies.
- there is no line of sight (e.g. footnote) between a reference and a recommendation. Instead, the author lists her references by chapter at the end of the book. This makes it hard to track down the individual studies she is referring to.

And finally, the second-order effects of these recommendations is not well explored. I'll cite Pavlis here:

I did find a reference that mentions sweet alyssum [...] and it is a good example of the “generic-type” of reviews I mentioned above.
This review talks about using hoverflies (Syrphidae) to control aphids. Most of the article is about their behavior and description of various species but near the end it does mention that plants like sweet alyssum, coriander, barley, and sweet fennel are interplanted with lettuce.
This seems like strong evidence for this method, but the review goes on to say, “Some insectary plantings (i.e. sweet alyssum) may also harbor pests or result in weed problems. Habitat manipulations also have an economic cost.”
They conclude with “In the absence of formal studies, it is still uncertain whether this opportunity cost is offset by improved pest control.”
Based on this reference in Plant Partners, there is no scientific support for using sweet alyssum to keep aphids away from lettuce.
This is a very common problem with companion planting rules. A small part of the full story is used to justify companion planting (i.e. hoverflies like sweet alyssum and eat aphids), and a big part of the story is ignored (extra costs, loss of productive land, introduction of new pests, etc.). A complete scientific study would take all of these factors into account and compare productive yield or value of crops with and without sweet alyssum.

Of course, Pavlis is right. In a perfect world, where all the second-order effects were fully understood, we would only call a recommendation useful if it was definitively productive. We would have a scientifically-grounded 1-to-many understanding of the ecosystems in which we were operating.

Unfortunately, we aren't quite there yet:

While companion planting has a long history among gardeners, it’s a history filled with folklore and conjecture, often at the expense of sound science.
New and existing research from universities and agricultural facilities around the world isn’t necessarily validating the long-held companion planting techniques and beliefs that have been around for generations. Instead, it’s pointing us toward a whole new way to companion plant. [...] It’s about pairing plants such that one plant provides a benefit to the other in terms of an ecosystem service.[...]
[We need open-minded gardeners who are] willing to think through their gardening choices. [...] Yes, studies provide crucial information, but it’s important to evaluate and record your own results. [...] Write down what works in your garden and what doesn’t, as well as any changes in the health and/or performance of your plants. While your efforts may not be 100 percent scientific or ever appear in a published study, they are invaluable.

This, I feel, gets to the roots of Pavlis' conflict with the book. The title Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies... implies a fait-accompli, when in fact we've barely scratched the surface of this field. If you're willing to roll with that reality, then this becomes a very useful read.

In particular, I very much enjoyed Walliser's summary of 1-to-1 plant ecosystem services:

- cover crops - planting for improved soil fertility or structure
- living mulch - planting for reduced weed pressure and soil erosion
- aesthetics - planting for beauty (explicitly non-scientific)
- pest control - trap crops, masking crops, reduced egg-laying crops
- biological control - predator attracting crops
- pollination crops - self-explanatory

By saying, "x does y", Walliser gives the reader freedom to run with her suggestions. We've graduated from a realm of absolutes to a collection of maybes and try-me's.

This is hugely exciting.

That isn't to say that the book is perfect:

- the author does not give scientific names to pests and diseases. This is a big oversight, as many plants are very specific in the species and pathogens they address. According to Wikipedia, a "cabbage worm" can describe "any of four kinds of lepidopteran whose larvae feed on cabbages and other cole crops". In other words, there's no way to know if the cabbage worm combos in this book will target all four, or only one, butterfly.
- the author will list the binomial names for most of the plants she mentions, but not all. For example, she will mention that the pot marigold is a Calendula officinalis, but we don't know whether her regular marigold is a Tagetes erecta or a Tagetes patula.
- measurements are still given in feet and inches, but they are infrequent. There is a metric conversion chart at the end of the book.
- we are missing a table at the end of the book that shows what each plant does. Species like crimson clover have multiple uses - there should be a way to see this on one page.
- second-order effects could have been researched more thoroughly. Walliser mentions these for some planting combinations but not all.

And finally, we are missing recommendations on ways to continue this research at home. How should we set up controls? What are the cheapest ways to do this? Where should we start? Who else is doing this and where should we find them?

Companion planting has entered the realm of citizen science, and there is a lot that we don't understand yet. I'm excited for the journey.

[OneDayI'll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting ideas of companion planting. Or intercropping or polyculture planting. There is actually a great deal of science, not just heresay or legends without any basis in fact. They offer some pairings and also how to plan your own pairings. Some can be in the same bed but separate, some need to be intermingled. It's well plotted out and easy to read and jam packed with information.

[The Shakti Witch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plant Partners is the latest go to for gardeners keen on companion gardening. Tried and true techniques are discussed alongside the science to back them up.

eARC kindly supplied by publisher and Netgalley

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best scientific gardening books I’ve read this year. I’ll be keeping my copy.

[SarahJessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource with lots of ideas I can try out, and zero woo! Yay science!

[Oxana Tomova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plant Partners is a guide on how to plant your garden in an efficient way.
It notes which plants attract various bugs, which plants live well with other plants, and similar advice, giving very practical examples.
Something I didn't like as much was the formatting of the book - it might translate a bit better to print, if it's a big form book. But even so, I'm definitely not a fan of the two columns of tiny-sized text, sprinkled with a bit too many images. All images were good quality and some were quite useful, e.g. depicting root rot, however there were a lot of images that felt added just for the beauty of them - I'm sure most if not all readers are aware how tomatoes look - unlike potatoes, they look basically the same on the plant and on the table. So, with a big quality photo of a tomato we've just lost space in which the text could have expanded to a bigger and easier-to-read font.
Aside of that, I liked how the information was given, it was quite in-depth given the volume of information it provides.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.*

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly informative, scientific explanation of how and why companion plants work together to repel pests, attract beneficial insects, reduce diseases, and address other gardening problems. I appreciated the in-depth information, though I do wish it had a bit more info on a wider variety of plants and pests in different zones/climates (for example, Japanese Beetles, which have invaded here and just decimate many plants), maybe presented in an index or table format after all of the explanatory details. I also loved the sections on pollinators and creating habitat for beneficial bugs.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dreaming of my garden---but probably won't apply too many of the ideas in the book into my garden. Not the book's fault.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Posting to my blog at release: Nonstop Reader.

Plant Partners is a new science based companion planting guide by horticulturist Jessica Walliser. Due out 22nd Dec 2020 from Storey, it's 224 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

Plants have developed survival mechanisms over millions of years. Some have physical protections (thorns, stings, caustic sap), are bitter or hot (peppers, etc), exude growth inhibiting chemicals (allelopathy), and a myriad of other techniques. By learning about these natural defense mechanisms, we can plan our gardening efforts to maximize the benefits to increase yields, control weeds, attract beneficial fauna/insects and more.

I remember my grandmother telling me that "bad bugs are just food for good bugs" and by allowing the natural balance to exert itself instead of fighting an uphill (unwinnable) battle by increasing dependence on pesticides and fertilizers, we increase the health of our soil and the nutritional value of the foods we eat.

This book provides a much more in-depth and tidy look at what gardeners can do to to stack the deck in their favor.The book has a logical and easy to follow layout; concepts are grouped together thematically by chapter: companion planting, cover crops, living mulches and alleopathy to combat weeds, trap/lure crops to minimize damage to desired crops, interplanting for health and vigor, attracting beneficial insects, interplanting tall crops for support/trellising, and attracting pollinators.

The author does a good job introducing general concepts in each chapter followed by more specific techniques and information. The chapters contain concrete specific utilizable techniques with specific plants for particular purposes. There is a great deal of good information. This would make a superlative selection for note taking and planning in the winter season when gardens are sleeping and gardeners are surrounding themselves with masses of catalogues and dreaming about springtime.

The book also includes some useful appendices: resources and links for further reading, a glossary, bibliography, and an index. It's well but not lavishly illustrated. Included photos are clear and attractive.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Jemima Peacock · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an organic gardener of some 10 years I was delighted to received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have been chemical and pesticide free in my current garden with a small veg plot for the last 4 years and over that time I have seen an explosion in the numbers of wildlife returning to my little suburban patch. In the second year, I had my organic patience tested as I watched the stems on some of my beautiful literally turn black with black fly. I sat on my hands to resist buying a pesticide spray.... and little did I know I was about be rewarded by a little wonder of nature. Literally overnight the blackfly were gone and in their place, hundreds of tiny ladybird larvae. I was astounded at the incredible display that nature had just shown me. With that in mind I have been companion planting throughout my garden and seen some really positive results.

Now it’s time to spread the organic love a little further as I begin my next big project creating an organic community garden. This book will come in extremely useful this winter as I plan the planting schedule and space and I intend to work through all the suggestions, pen and notebook in hand. I am well aware that the science doesn’t always work in the real world but this book gives me a great foundation both to plan and to teach my volunteers from.

Full of handy facts and experience and beautifully illustrated, I will be purchasing a real live copy which I very much hope will become muddy and tattered as it takes pride of place in our little community shed. Highly recommended for all gardeners out there, new or old, passionate about working with nature rather than against it.

[M. Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advanced review copy from Storey Publishing through NetGalley, and here are my thoughts.

As someone with a permaculture design certificate, I welcome books like these that use straightforward language to present basic gardening science. The average home vegetable gardener will likely find much useful information in this book.

Chapters include information on:

Soil Preparation
Pest Management
Disease Management
Weed Management
Support Structures
Pollination
Biological Control

And more.

For someone who does not have many gardening books, this would be an excellent primer, as it covers many topics, all of which are based on scientific study.

The reason I rate it 4 stars and not 5, is because I feel the reader could benefit greatly if the Table of Contents included more detail of the specific plants or topics written about, For example, if a list of "plant partners" were listed in the table of contents, then you could more easily flip to that page instead of having to flip through an entire chapter trying to find the one plant you're interested in.

Instead, the designer opted for a nice-looking, but lacking, one page table of contents.

As a gardener, I would appreciate having each topic, plant or condition being listed in a more detailed manner.
For me a detailed Table of Contents for a gardening book is a must.

Yes, there is an index, so that helps somewhat. But it doesn't replace a well thought out Table of Contents at the front.

So in short, this is a solid book with plenty of useful information. Very useful for someone wanting a "best practices" gardening guide, who doesn't yet already have a library of such texts.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Plant Partners" is a very informative book about garden plant pairings that help improve the yield and health of your harvest crops. The author talked about cover crops, living mulches, using allelopathy to combat weeds, plants that can be used as living trellises, plants that can be used to lure pests away from harvest crops, plants that help suppress disease in their plant partners, plants that attract beneficial insects, and plants that bring in more pollinators to the garden for an increased crop. She focused on plant pairings that have been studied at universities and such for their effectiveness.

She also talked about related issues, like no-till gardening or studies suggesting the reasons behind why these plant partners work well. The many pictures usually showed how the plants can be planted near each other (interplanted or planted in alternating rows). Her description of how to implement these plant partnerships (when to plant, where to plant, etc.) was also clear to me. Overall, I was so impressed with this book and its usefulness for a home gardener that I bought a physical copy because I'll be referring to it often. We're going to try some living mulch this year along with a couple of the plant partners that were suggested to bring in beneficial insects. I'd highly recommend this book to home gardeners.

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Reading Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I'm dipping my toes into the idea of companion planting, and my library had this book in circulation, so obviously I was going to check it out.

It includes some companion plant pairs you might already know (like basil and tomatoes) but also explains WHY that pairing works. Walliser breaks the pairings down into several categories:
* soil preparation and conditioning (how to bring more nutrients to the soil, how to break up hard soil)
* weed management (by outcompeting rivals)
*support and structure
* pest management (by deterring bugs, luring helpful bugs, or luring them away from the higher value plants)
* disease management (for soil borne diseases0
* biological control

Because some pairings do more than one thing, they appear in more than one chapter, as relevant. For each pairing she lists what it does (for example in the disease control it suggests what disease it is deterring) and offers several paragraphs per pairing for what each plant is, how the pairing works, and how to plant (rows, interplanting, etc) as well as any possible issues (examples: some groundcover plants can suck up all the resources).

It's a really great resource for gardening even if all of this is not applicable to your situation, if you take one or two of the companion plant pairings, you can experiment on your own.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book! I have a new list of actionable items to include in my gardening practices, as well as new language I can use to help inexperienced gardening friends. I'm coming away with an updated and re-prioritized list of pollinator friendly plants as well as specific plant combinations. I'm optimistic that this will help reduce insect pressure on my vegetables and support local populations of native beneficial animals.

It is a bit overly broad for my specific garden needs. As the author is based on the East Coast, a portion of the pests and plants mentioned aren't relevant to my zone. There are some specific regional early pollinator plants that aren't included because they are too local. This doesn't impact me as much as it would novice or beginner gardeners who lack the regional knowledge my parents taught me.

But a gardening book can never be specific enough to describe an exact region, while also broad enough to help a nation of gardeners. So while this book can't include everything, it does provide a research based perspective for gardening to promote an ecosystem. And it also offers the key phrases and concepts that I can use to search for more localized information from my state agricultural research schools.

I can easily see why it won the American Horticultural Society Book Award.

[Tove R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a subject I’ve been interested in for awhile, but I know very little about it. There’s no time like the present, so I’m happy that I got to read and review this book! There is a ton of useful information regarding plants that go together and why partnering plants is a good idea. There are several reasons to plant different plants together, and they are clearly pointed out in this book. Very informative!

I have mixed and matched plants together, but without a real plan or purpose. After reading this book I have both. I knew about tomato and basil, but that’s pretty much the knowledge I had before reading more about it. I am interested in gardening, and I’ve done it a bit, but I’m not good at it, However, it’s something you’ll never know everything about, and there’s a lot to learn. This book is a great addition to people who have done some gardening, and want to get better at it. Very informative about how to for example you might be able to avoid pests with placing certain plants together, so it’s useful in many ways. I recommend this book!

[Patch405 (Shannon Barghols) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walliser presents “science-based companion planting strategies to minimize disease, reduce pests, improve soil fertility, and support pollination in the vegetable garden.” And although this book is science-based, it is not boring! There’s just enough detail to convince you of the solid reasoning behind the techniques. These concepts are well beyond adding marigold and nasturtiums to your garden. The topics include soil preparation & conditioning, weed management, support & structure, pest management, disease management, biological control, and pollination. Think cover crops, all kinds of way to bring in nitrogen, breaking up heavy soils, living mulches, living trellises, luring, trapping, tricking & deterring pests, attracting good insects, and drawing bees. For each, she tells you which plants to put together. And each section is supported by beautiful photography.

I received a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. A blog of this review appears at: https://patch405.com/2020/11/03/book-...

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

With so much companion planting information out there, it is difficult to present new information. However, Jessica Walliser did manage to do that and it was incredibly interesting and useful. She broke up the companion planting into different categories, addressing the purpose for the planting (for soil, pests, better growing situations, complimentary plants, etc.). The information was science-based and she included many resources and studies to back up her claims.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone planning out their gardens or looking for solutions to a variety of problems in the garden. For me personally, I found great information to help with my soil concerns and then also pairings that will hopefully help with pest problems, as well as good recommendations for drawing in beneficial insects. One great piece of information I found in the book was the seemingly-obvious idea that you need to draw in predator pests (such as ladybugs, who prey on aphids) by providing them with nectar/pollen, shelter, etc.

[Ana W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great gardening book! I have to start with how beautiful this book is. The photography & the layout makes it a joy to to flip through. Beyond how beautiful it is, Plant Partners is also a useful gardening book. What makes this an important book for gardeners is that all of the work is based on scientific experiments, but it is easy to read and understand without needing to know a lot about science. Companion planting and what veggies to plant next to each other has been done for a hundreds of years and some of it makes sense based on gardeners' observations and some of it has just been superstition, but I've never seen information about what to plant together based on scientific experiments before. This book has a narrow scope; it can't be your only source for gardening information, but it adds practical, organic tricks for a number of important garden issues like improving output by controlling pests and improving the soil. I received an advanced copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

[Pam Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plant Partners; Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden by Jessica Walliser is about the best way to grow plants together so that your vegetables don't get eaten by bugs, for instance!

It has lots of plant partners suggested, and tells you about using other plants instead of bean poles, how to attract pollinating insects, using plants for weed management, and disease management.

It has a lot of beautiful photos, and tells you about why you are putting these plants together.

It's a good book if you're looking to grow organically, or if you just want to stop an insect from eating your vegetable plants!

Plant Partners; Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden is due to be published on 22nd December, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Jessica Walliser on her  website  or on  Twitter .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Storey Publishing .

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful book for home gardeners who want to improve their gardens by increasing soil fertility, reducing pests and disease, reducing weeds etc... all by using companion planting. I found it useful for those of us who want to try these things with no-till gardening as well. For instance, if you use green manure to improve your soil, what do you do if you don't till it under? I also learned things I didn't see in other places, like how winter rye works great with transplants and large seeded plants such as beans, but will inhibit the germination of smaller seeded plants. So many good little tidbits and pairings that I can't wait to try in my garden this year. Some I've stumbled upon but didn't know the science that supported my semi-formed observations. Walliser's scientific background and study of the literature gives us solid information, instead of hearsay. It extends way beyond just planting marigolds around your garden.

[Michelle Mallette · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my full review here.
My first book review of the year is always a gardening book - this is a great new title updating the science behind companion planting (that Roses Love Garlic concept), and taking it further by exploring how plants can work together to eschew pests and diseases, improve the soil, and bump up the vegetable crop. Well documented references and a quality index round out this great nonfiction title. Highly recommended for libraries wanting to update their stalwarts on the topic. My thanks to Storey Publishing for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review..

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

[2021 PopSugar Challenge - A book that has fewer than 1000 reviews on Amazon or Goodreads]

I've read many companion planting guides over the years and many of them boil down to old wives tales that may or may not have any effect. This book is based on science and research, and brings a lot of ideas that I hadn't really thought of as a home gardener (cover crops, living mulches, etc). I appreciate her focus on trying to push diversity in planting and steering away from monoculture farming to help curb pest pressure and increase beneficial insects. I made my own notes based on things that I regularly grow/what would help them, but a future edition may benefit from a condensed "cheat sheet" (basically taking the section titles - i.e., tomatoes + basil for hornworms and organizing them somehow - maybe by main crop or the "helper" crop).

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read with a lot of practical advice on plant partners.

I rated this five stars because the information applies to anywhere you live. It’s not region specific. Patterning with plants based upon science is a way to help prevent plant disease, ward off unwanted pests, improve the soil, and to increase yields by planting plants that attract pollinators.

This book is for anyone who grows vegetables. The book isn’t too scientific and there are plenty of pictures as examples and resources available.

What drew me to this book is the unwanted pests that kill my vegetable plants or reduce my harvest. Also, I have problems with leaf mold, early blight on tomatoes and and cabbage worms that destroy my Cole crops. I found helpful ideas to reduce or eliminate these problems in a natural organic way.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You'll discover the true value of thinking about your garden as an ecosystem rather than as a contrived environment." This quote perfectly describes this must read gardening book. The author goes beyond just "plant basil with tomatoes" to include topics such as cover crops, plants to attract beneficial insects, plants to attract pollinators and plants to plant next to each other. The book doesn't just tackle what's happening above the ground, but also how careful garden design can improve soil. The research she cites does relate more to larger scale, farm-like studies. But I truly believe farmers have much to learn from highly knowledgeable gardeners, just as gardeners can learn from the farming practices of organic and/or regenerative farmers.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you read this, you can tell that a great deal of research went into this book. Going into the book, I mostly expected it to be yet another book about planting basil with your tomatoes, etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the detailed explanations and scientific research that was incorporated. As I read, I took several notes in my garden journal and I’ll give some of the recommendations a try next year.

I borrowed this from my local library. Other than the few notes that I took, I don’t know that I would consult this book frequently. So, I recommend checking it out from your local library before purchasing.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Researched, simple enough that anyone can understand, and presents lots of great examples of how different plants work together to create a healthy environment, and a stronger garden.A great first book on companion planting.

However, I would have liked to see recognition on how indigenous people have always used companion planting to support the growth of their crops long before eurpean settlers arrived.This book also highlights how there is "limited research" on the subject, and I suspect its because the idea orginated withn first nations. This book leaves lots of room to further develop the subject.

[Barbara Kemp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was everything a gardening book should be. The information was accurate and documented, the pictures were gorgeous, the writing style was very readable, and the format was perfect for the subject. The author would write, “We’ll see more about that in chapter 7,” or some other teaser. I learned so much about living mulches and cover crops, when to use which one and how. I wanted to know which plants loved others, as in the book “Carrots Love Tomatoes,” but this book taught me so much more. It will be my preferred gardening book for garden layout from now on.