Book review - Lothian Companion Planting Guide

Book Review - Lothian Guide to Organics and Companion Plants

In this post I will be reviewing a book I was given for Christmas titled: ‘Lothian - Successful Organic Gardening – Companion Planting’. It aims to give a run down of the basics of companion planting and gardening in general, how to create a garden plan and also has a plant-by-plant guide to the most common garden plants, their enemies and beneficial companion plants. The book is beautifully set out, very easy to follow and has very nice full-page photographs of common garden pests. It also provides tips and tricks throughout on various aspects of gardening.

The book aims to dispel some of the more common myths around companion planting and also tries to provide scientific evidence for some of the most common folklore surrounding the subject. The language is succinct and easy to read and considering it covers such a large subject matter the information inside is thorough and easily accessible. The plant-by-plant guide is particularly useful as it not only gives a rundown of common pests and diseases as well as optimum growing conditions, but also provides a range of possible companion plants. I found this book extra useful as I am in the middle of planning my own winter crop and had easy access to good information on which plants to choose, where to plant them and what to plant them with. There is even an up to date map of climatic regions in Australia in the back, which separates the landmass into nine different climate regions, rather than simply saying temperate, tropical or arid.

The book is edited by both amateur gardener’s and qualified horticultural academics which explains why there is a good scientific basis for the information provided, rather than just reproducing what has been said by Jan next door. I would definitely recommend this as a good read for the beginning gardener, especially if you are interested in companion planting and organics. At 20 bucks, its a bargain price, seeing as a lot of garden help manuals can retail upwards of $40.