Books to Grow on Page

We started a new page on Dig It called “Books to Grow On”.

Here is a sample of what to expect:

First hand knowledge of gardening should always take precedence. However, inclement weather can drive even the most addicted inside for a reprieve. A good gardening book can appease those wants of planting obsessions. Hopefully, new inspirations will flower, which can then be applied when the sun returns from its cloudy pilgrimage.

Here are some books that get into the dirt of growing, with not even the microbes left unturned:

• Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte

 

Louise Riotte’s easy to read book will fascinate any gardener looking for alternatives to pesticides, herbicides, or any human made devices engineered to wipe out a problem. Riotte explains the value of placing certain plants together to deter insects and unwanted weeds.

Here is an excerpt: A major enemy of the carrot is the carrot fly, whereas the leek suffers from the leek moth and the onion fly. Yet when they live in companionship, the strong and strangely different smell of the partner plant repels the insects so well that they do not even attempt to lay their eggs on the neighbor plant. This is why mixed plantings give better insect control than a monoculture where many plants of the same type are planted together in row after row.

Thorough in every way, Carrots love Tomatoes covers everything from disease and weather resistant varieties (i.e. the Yolo Wonder pepper, which is tobacco mosaic virus resistant) to even want not to plant together (i.e. never plant tomatoes near potatoes, since it makes them more susceptible to potato blight). A must have for every type of grower.