The book has some great information in it, the thing I like most about the book is how it tells you what the different companions benefit are and why to avoid planting some plants together, This is the information that most of my other books don't have. Some of the content is just enough to wet your appetite and leaves you wanting more information. All in all I am happy to have this book in my library. it is an easy read, and has garden plans to look at and implement. The one thing I wish that this book had, had is a "Companion Planting Chart" for quick reference instead of having to read the whole section over again.

This book has been great with helping to plant my garden using natural methods of pesticides. This is done by planting plants that repel insects and diseases next to each other. It is a very good way to keep from using chemical pesticides, and to get optimal yields of vegetables and fruits. I highly recomend it for the orgainic gardener or the beginning gardener. It is an exellant guide for all.

This is a very informational book. I bought two, gave one to my 73 year old mother who just planted her first successful garden!

So much information in this little book. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone with a garden!

This is a well put together volume of information. Companion planting is the way to go for better yields, and natural insect control.

I have been a gardener for several years, and have enjoyed reading this book and using some of the suggestions.

This book is nothing more than a list that often does not contain even as much information as the free garden catalog that arrived in the mail. Save your money to spend elsewhere.

Great book. Very informative. I highly recommend anyone who likes to garden, or even those who just want to landscape their yards.

Really A good Guide... I work hard in my garden.. so I want the best results
this book helps me to do this!

I was disappointed that this book offered no scientific evidence for companion planting, and offered little more information than you could easily find for free on the internet. I read this book, took a few notes and then sold it immediately. Not one for the shelf.

True, there are many edible plants and herbs that Louise Riotte does not mention in her wonderful 'Carrots love tomatoes', and true again, her hot and humid part of the world is not the same as the cool, flat countryside
of Holland's extreme North (where I live). So, she doesn't write about witlof (white chicory roots) or our wonderful brands of kale, but what she DOES write about it absolutely amazing. In my view companion planting is one of the basic principles - and such a sympathetic one! - to create a healthy garden. And what better haven, to enjoy everyday, by yourself and with others? Good on you, Louise!
Alma
[...].

I was hoping for a book that would be an interesting read. This one is more like reference book. It is comprehensive, but kind of like reading a dictionary. I would recommend it because it has useful knowledge, but if you want a gardening book that you can read and relax with, this one probably won't do it.

This is a wonderful, helpful, practical book with great advice. I found a used 1983 edition of it at Half Price books a couple years ago, and it's been with me every single time I've planted edibles since I bought it. And I plant edibles all the time. Today I'm buying the updated 1993 edition.

I find this book invaluable. It is also humble, wise, and straightforward. I am a professional horticultural gardener who practices organic methods, and I also use this book in my work and show it to clients.

Highly informative and creative book by Louise Riotte. For gardners who follow organic methods and are interested in alternative methods for raising their own healthly foods.

Great Book! I so wish I had a copy of this book years ago. Some of the information I knew already. But, it has a wealth of new and helpful info for this year's gardening. Now I know why my carrots ( yes, it just happens that my veges were carrots) were so good last year. I had 'acidentally' planted them in a great companion location! The best carrot crop I have ever grown and the most flavorful. Now I know why. My friends are still talking about them. For years I have been planting basil and marigolds with my tomatoes. I know those combinations work! Now I can expand on my knowledge!

I was absolutely horrified after reading the Fungi section in this book. Most of the information is blatantly incorrect (mushrooms are not plants, the destroying angel does not cause death in six hours, etc). Do NOT follow her belief that morels are a "safe and easy" mushroom to collect. They have several poisonous look-alikes that the beginner can easily mistake for a morel. The false morel can kill you if eaten raw or undercooked. Worse, the very inaccurate drawings in the book look much more like a false morel or elfin saddle than a true morel. As so many of the "facts" listed in the fungi section are wrong, I looked for more errors in the book and found them. It made me very suspicious of the rest of the information it contains. If you are looking for a good book on companion gardening get "Great Garden Companions, a Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden" by Sally Jean Cunningham.

There is almost no science to back up the author's claims about the benefits of companion plants. Most of her book is based on folk tales, myths and assumptions.

A gentleman named Craig Dremann actually studied the effects of companion plants and concluded that carrots detest tomatoes. Carrots do grow well with garlic and radishes but they grow very poorly with tomatoes. Carrots only grew to 6% of normal when interplanted with tomatoes. Tomatoes grew better with carrots so clearly the tomatoes were robbing nutrients from the carrots. Tomatoes also grow better with garlic but the garlic suffers, only growing 35% of normal.

The Craig Dremann booklet with his findings is called "Companion Plants: Carrots Really Detest Tomaotes" and is available from Redwood City Seed Company in Redwood City, CA.

This book is a gardening guide that focuses on companion planting. The book consists of short articles arranged in alphabetical order. In addition to articles about common garden plants, there are also articles about trees, topics relating to plant genetics and nutrition, pests, and diseases. Each article about a garden plant mentions other plants that do well with the plant, as well as those that don't. In each case, Riotte notes whether the companion plants should be interplanted or planted in separate but nearby rows, and explains the reasoning behind the preferences. The plant articles generally include the scientific names for the plants as well as the common names. The insect articles cover beneficial insects as well as pests. Suggested solutions for garden problems are all organic. The book is amply illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings. Following the alphabetical part of the book is a collection of longer articles and charts with useful information, including a pollination reference, a list of nut trees, a description of common poisonous plants and how to recognize them, a model garden plan, a list of garden suppliers, a list of suggested readings, and an index.

Certainly an interesting gardening book, and one that seems to be quite popular, but Carrots Love Tomatoes seems to be nothing more than a rehashing of what others have written. Much of the book is an alphabetical listing of plants, insects, and other substances and how they can be utilized in companion planting. There are also brief chapters on Pollination of Fruits and Nuts, Nuts Tress, Fruit Tree Culture, and Poisonous Plants.

I love CARROTS LOVE TOMATOES?an update and revision of the original companion planting book. I used many of these ideas the summer of 1975 when I had a half acre garden. My traditional farmer neighbor laughed when I told him what I was going to do, but later in the summer when the insects devastated his vegetable patch he threatened to come over and pull up all my borage and marigolds. He had to admit I was onto something. We had a few mishaps?white and yellow corn planted to close together = polka-dot corn, but we ran beans up the stalks as Riotte suggests and it worked well. The Mexican bean beatles came to visit and stayed for dinner, but we soon learned how to control them. Marigolds in the rows and our evening search to destroy the yellow egg clusters ensured a good crop. My kids learned a great deal about ?real? survival that summer and they didn?t find it on tv. We had squash, melons, tomatoes, and all sorts of other vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and mixed and matched them as companion plants. At the end of the summer, I canned like crazy and made colorful jars of green beans and white and yellow corn. Everything we grew was organic and it tasted great.

Louise Riotte includes many suggestions from the first book. Topics in the new edition include vegetables, herbs, wild plants, grasses and grains, and others. Considering what is planted where is important. For example, you should not plant peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes close together or in the same container. These vegetables are related and planting them close together inhibits growth.

Matching vegetables and herbs or avoiding combinations of vegetables and herbs that inhibit each other isn?t the only topic discussed in this book. Riotte says that tomato leaves can be pulped in a blender full of water and used as a spray that inhibits Black Spot on roses. Similarly, certain kinds of peppers produce a nice insect deterrent. I?ve grown Pyrethrum (a type of Chrysanthemum) in my garden for years. Pyrethrum has been marketed in the West as a bug repellent since at least 1828, but the Chinese are thought to have used it for perhaps 2,000 years.

The best news is that you don?t have to have a half acre to become a gardener and use these ideas. Today, I live in an urban area and have a very tiny lot. I have converted the whole thing into a series of gardens, but half the yard is in shade and vegetables need sun. So, I have placed containers along the driveway in the sun and off the walkway near the patio out back. I am also using many ideas for vertical gardening. I continue to use the planting techniques Riotte suggests, including many for container planting. Compost is important-and even in urban areas you can save kitchen and garden scraps in a compost bin. Carrots may love tomatoes but roses love sh?.

I have many gardening books but this is definatly my favorite. My copy has been used so much it is starting to fall apart. It contains excellent information on what to plant were. I would definatly recomend it.

Carrots Love Tomatoes has become one of my top gardening reference guides. A simple flip through the pages allows a gardener to find specific plant information and a guide to what will be it's best pest-repelling companion.

I planned our family garden using this method and continue to reap the rewards. Not only have I had few pest problems, but I planted a multitude and variety of veggies that have thrived throughout the season.

This book is a must read for all stages of vegetable gardening. We must care for our Earth and using few or no chemicals is an excellent start. Carrots Love Tomatoes will show you how.

I bought both of Louise Riotte's books, only to be disappointed by the fact that companion gardening is a small portion of the book. There are several other chapters on various interesting topics, but I wouldn't bill either one as a guide to companion planting.

The book is very interesting, but don't buy it if you are trying to get started in companion planting/gardening. Buy Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham instead. You'll get much more out of it.

This is a lovely book, filled with diagrams and charts. The nature of companion benefit or detriment is clearly and thoroughly examined in the first half of the book, while the second half demonstrates how to best plan for a garden even if you have no more than a small window. The children's garden and postage stamp garden plans deserve special mention.

I love this book. Ms. Riotte has answered many questions I have had. Nicely written for those just beginning there journey into gardening. She even devotes a section solely to poisonous plants which is very interesting! Ms. Riotte breaks the chapters down as follows: Vegetables; Herbs; Wild Plants; Grasses, Grains, and Field Crops; First Steps for Home Fruit Growing; Nuts; Ornamental Trees and Shrubs; Garden Techniques; Soil Improvement; Pest Control;Poisonous Plants; Garden Plans; Sources; Suggested Reading. I like the fact that things are crossed referenced, so while it is a good read, you can also use it as a manual. The only thing I thought could be improved upon in the book was the drawings of the garden plans. They look as though someone drew them on a piece of paper and then photocopied them into the book. They are legible but hard to read. Luckily in writing they explain what they are drawing.

This book has revolutionised my gardening methods. Within a year of buying it 15 years ago, my garden became healthy and productive. Riotte has taught me how to match plants which are able to protect each other from pests and diseases without the use of sprays, chemical or organic. Her methods have built an invisible wall around my garden which keeps pests confined to my neighbors' yards without crossing into mine.

Had I never read another gardening book or watched any gardening show, this book alone would have made me a successful organic gardener. I highly recommend it to beginning or advanced organic gardeners alike.