Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening Review

Carrots Love Tomatoes

Review of Carrots Love Tomatoes

As of this writing, there are 519 customer comments and 0 answered questions for the Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening.  I’ve read the customer feedback, and then condensed the results into this review.  I hope that this helps you when shopping for a gardening book.

Best Fea​tures

  • check Everything you need to know on companion planting
  • check Filled with diagrams and charts
  • check Great for organic gardeners
  • check Great for both beginners and experts
  • check Price

Item Specifics

The Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening teaches you everything you need to know about companion gardening.  For example, parsley and asparagus grow well together, but broccoli and tomato plants must stay far away from each other.  When you plant two different plants together, it will nourish the soil, repel pests, and yield a greater harvest.  Written by Louise Riotte, this book gives advice and suggestions, and will inspire you.  This book is available on Kindle and paperback.

Tells You What Not to Plant Next to Each Other

Not only does this book tell you about what to plant next to each other, but it also tells you what not to plant next to each other.  Here is what one customer thought: “This book tells you what plants are compatable with each other and what plants help fend off certain garden pests. It also informs you what not to plant next to each other. It even suggests certain flowers are helpful. This book is perfect for beginners and recreational gardeners. It’s a quick and easy read that I think will be helpful each year.”

Not Organized Well

Some customers found that this book was not organized well.  In one section it will explain what to plant together, and in another section it will tell of a different plant to put near that vegetable.  Customers who noticed this said they had to take their own separate notes so that they could put it in order.  Here is one of the many comments, “I was a bit disappointed in this book. Not necessarily for the lack of information, but for the lack of organization in how the information was presented…So, I decided to get out some notecards, and take notes using one card for each vegatable. For example, if you want info on what plant or what not to plant with carrots, the information is spread the SEVERAL different parts of the book. One part recommends peas, a different chapter tells you to use tomatoes, etc. But once I took all my own notes from the book (and organized them) I had a good set of gardening tips.

No Colored Pictures

Because this book was written in 1975, it does not have any colored pictures.  Although some customers were a little disappointed, most were pleased that it still had diagrams and drawings.  They also thought that because there were no pictures, there was more room for information.  Here is what one customer said, “Written originally in 1975 and updated in 1998, this classic gardening book is a must-have. Many books start aging and this one shows its roots of the 1975 in the lack of color pictures. But not having dozens of pictures taking up every page means even more room for actual information.”

An Old Classic That Was Updated

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening was written in 1975.  The book was such a success that it was updated and put out in print again.  A customer explains, “Written originally in 1975 and updated in 1998, Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening, published by the well-respected Storey Publishing, should be the bible which we all refer to when deciding where to thoughtfully place each plant in our garden. Who knew that beans and onions would hinder the growth of one another? And how did Louise Riotte know that planting celery near cauliflower would deter the white cabbage butterfly? There are no flashy photographs in this book nor dreamy prose. Yet there is such a wealth of information here dispersed among simple and informative drawings.”

Great for Organic Gardeners

A lot of organic gardeners commented that this book was perfect for their organic gardens.  One customer explains, ” This book guides you along to a more organic approach…it is a good book to get you growing organically, or at least more organically with very minimal pesticide usage.”

Some Say That You Can Get This Information for Free

Some people are saying that you can get this same information for free by looking at companion planting charts instead of reading the book.  Those who complained at similar issues such as this customer stated,  “I expected more based off the reviews. You can learn just as much based off some of the good and free companion planting charts online, and in less time. There is no scientific information, no useful charts, and it seems like some internet companies have become ‘sources’ just as advertising purposes within the book. The book is also set up almost like a glossary of terms, offering general information and little else.”

Diagrams on Kindle Are Hard To See

If you order the Kindle version, keep in mind that the diagrams and charts are hard to see.  You won’t be able to enlarge the diagrams.  Here is a customer’s experience with the Kindle version: “The kindle version does not enlarge the illustrations and even using my magnifying glass, I am guessing at the names of the plants in the illustrations. I may have to order the paperback copy.”

Great for Both Beginners and Experts

Some books are designed only for beginners or experts.  This book, however, is made for both.  A lot of customers who were new to gardening found this book very helpful, yet even experienced gardeners learned something new.  One customer said, “Gives very straight forward guidelines that are great for any level of gardener, beginner to advanced! I recommend for anyone looking to plant any kind of edibles.”

It Really Does Work

According to people who have read this book and then tried the methods given, it does work.  A customer explains it this way, “This was recommended at a workshop on planting and how to best organically avoid pests as well as strengthen the abundance of harvest naturally. So we purchased it. At first it seemed that perhaps it was giving too much credit to what is planted near what else. But, low and behold after following the secrets of companion planting and putting carrots next to tomatoes — both plants benefited extremely. The most delicious carrots in abundance as well as tomatoes. So planted those marigold as suggested and low and behold once again an abundant harvest and goodness what beautiful flowers. Never knew a flower could help avoid an insect that is detrimental from attacking you plants, but it too worked.  Ironically the host of that workshop a year later asked about how we grew so many and such big carrots and the answer was the book she recommended it was a shock. CARROT LOVE TOMATOES, So after actually practicing many of these ideas in this book, we can tell you first hand they work.”.Carrots Love Tomatoes

carrots love tomatoes

Pros

  • plus Good for organic gardeners
  • plus Methods work
  • plus Good for both beginners and experts

Cons

  • close Kindle diagrams won’t enlarge
  • close Some say it’s disorganized
  • close Some say it doesn’t contain enough information and that you could get the information for free on a chart

Carrots Love Tomatoes Conclusion

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening, written by Louise Riotte is a revised edition that was originally put into print in 1975.  This book goes into detail about what to plant next to each other in the garden.  There was a lot of opinions and mixed reviews on topics such as the organization and pictures.  Also, the Kindle version has diagrams that are hard to see.  But other than that, the majority of comments were positive concerning the methods in this book.  Based on customer reviews I recommend this book for all gardeners.  It is priced well for the amount of information that you will be buying.  

Common Questions

Here are some top questions that I found for people considering buying Carrots Love Tomatoes.  I hope that these might also answer some of your questions. 

  • chevron-circle-right Has the author written any other books?  Yes, Louise Riotte has written many other books.  Among them are Roses Love Garlic, Grow the Best Strawberries, Berries Rasp-& Black, Sleeping with a Sunflower, Raising Animals By the Moon, Egg Decorating, The Complete Guide To Growing Nuts, Warm Climate Gardening, Success with Small Food Gardens, In Nature’s Hands, The Complete Guide to Growing Berries and Grapes, Nuts For the Food Gardener, Catfish Ponds & Lily Pads, and Growing Best Strawberries.
  • chevron-circle-right How many pages are in this book?  There are 224 pages in this book.
  • chevron-circle-right How is this book available?  This book is available on Kindle and paperback.

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