Product 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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #278171 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review

Ingram
Master gardener Sally Jean Cunningham reveals her secrets of companion planting and gardening organically for bumper crops of produce and herbs, plus armfuls of beautiful flowers for cutting. "Great Garden Companions" includes an A-Z growing guide for more than 30 vegetables, dozens of garden-tested companion planting recommendations, a table of helpful insects, and more. 60 color photos. 200 illustrations Targeted ads & promos. Radio publicity. .

From the Publisher
"Sally Cunningham's gentle appreciation for the intricacies of nature coupled with plenty of practical, hands-on gardening experience makes her book both useful and soul-satisfying. Her garden plans are do-able and earth-friendly, and her guide to backyard beneficial insects is invaluable. This book deserves a place in the libraries and hearts of concerned gardeners everywhere." -Sharon Lovejoy, contributing editor of Country Gardener Magazine

Customer Reviews

Useful addition to the organic garden library.....
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.

Great Garden Companions : A Companion-Planting System for a
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.

More Enjoyable Gardening
This being my first year gardening other than one other attempt 30 years ago, I had no idea really about how to proceed. What I did know was that I wanted to have a chemical free garden, and not have too much weeding to do.
My previous garden, 30 years ago, used manure as fertilizer, and I was constantly pulling out grass shoots and weeds.
"Great Garden Companions", with its many diagrams, beautiful pictures and easy to understand instructions and layout has made my first raised garden a success! Despite the rain we've been getting, with the drainage I haven't had to replant. The flowers look great in with the romaine lettuce and other leafy veggies, and the helichrysum is doing a great job of keeping the broccoli leaves free of pests.
If I had to have just one gardening book, this would be it.