Special thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.
About the Book – The Mix & Match Guide to Companion Planting:
The age-old practice of companion planting is an effective way to create healthier, happier, more productive gardens simply by placing the right plants next to each other. It is an ingenious, all-natural method to control pests, disease, and weeds without the need for chemicals. With its unique split-page mix-and-match system, this colorful, visual guide makes it fast and easy for you to choose which vegetables, fruits, and herbs grow best with one another, and which do not. All you have to do is select your desired crop from the extensive plant directory, flip the strips, match the dots, and get ready for your vegetable garden to flourish!
About the Author:
JOSIE JEFFERY grew up with a companion planting chart pinned up permanently in the kitchen. She studied Horticulture and Garden Design at the University of Brighton, is the author of two gardening books, and runs a seedbomb business, SeedFreedom. Connect with Josie on Facebook and Youtube.
Book Details:
Hardcover: 104 pages
Publisher: Ten Speed Press; Spi edition (March 11, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1607746336
ISBN-13: 978-1607746331
Retail Price: $17.99
My Thoughts:
The Mix & Match Guide to Companion Planting is a beautiful hard cover, spiral bound book. The book begins with an overview of the history of companion planting; takes a look at monoculture, polyculture, permaculture, and biodynamic gardening; gives a glimpse into companion planting in China, Japan, Africa, and Native American culture; talks about the microscopic world and the garden; looks at how outside elements influence the outcomes of the garden; and covers the basics of gardening. I really enjoyed reading about the history of the different methods and how they looked in different cultures. The overview of the gardening basics including rainwater harvesting and composting were a nice refresher before heading into the bread and butter of this book – the companion planting guide.
There are several books out there that involve companion planting, but the set-up of this book in quite unique and very user friendly. The companion planting cardstock pages (directory of companion plants) are cut into three different strips creating a middle, upper, and lower section. The middle section contains the central crops. The upper section features the above ground companion while the lower section shows the below ground companion. Each of the plants in each of the sections has a variety of symbols to help you create the best companion selection by lining up the color-coded dot symbols.
How it works. You pick your central (main) plant from the middle section selection. You then flip through the lower (aboveground companions) to select the one you want and do the same with the lower (belowground companion). The more dots that match up, the better the companion planting. It’s an interactive, easy way to select the best companion planting for your garden. Both my daughter and I are thrilled with how easy it is to figure out which plants will work best together, and we plan on utilizing this new tool in our garden.
Disclosure: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review. A positive review is not required nor guaranteed. All opinions are my own.
