January Book Club: Plant Partners by Jessica Walliser
Welcome to 2021 and the Good Enough Garden Book Club!
If ever we were ready for a new year to come along, we are now. I’m full of energy to start creating something, and the longing to get out in the garden and grow is strong. But in the cold gray days of January, the temps are low and the daylight hours are few, so we wait.
These dark nights are the perfect time to flip through seed catalogs and websites, Pinterest boards, and even the occasional printed garden book looking for inspiration and information to make this year’s garden a little prettier and more productive. I lost all phone, internet, and Netflix for three days due to the Christmas day bombing in downtown Nashville, and so I finished 2020 by reading a tall stack of garden books and I decided to keep the trend going. There are a few new releases on my reading list, but I also bought an armful of gardening classics at the used book store, so if nothing else, I’m getting educated in 2021.
My growing stack of gardening books.
And if I’m reading all these books, I figured I’d share what I’ve learned with you. Of course, I’ll be using the knowledge I gain to inform my clients’ designs and help overcome their challenges. But I also want to share my top takeaways from each book here in the blog, so you can use them right away in your garden too.
First up: Plant Partners by Jessica Walliser
This is a well researched and beautifully designed book about the old practice of “companion planting.” What’s new is that Walliser doesn’t rely on wives tales, myths, and common knowledge to inform her recommendations. Instead she sites credible horticultural research studies that show significant results. There are plenty of caveats as gardening conditions can be different from backyard to backyard, much less state to state, but the theory behind why certain plant partnerships work is fascinating and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play out in my garden this year. Here are the top three takeaways I’ll be considering as I plan and tend gardens this year.
Plant partnerships work on many different levels. We often hear of companion planting in relation to repelling insects, and there do seem to be flowers that can help with that. But plants can also draw in beneficial insects, trap harmful pests, serve as weed suppressant or a living trellis, add nutrients and structure to the soil, and so many other incredible benefits. For any challenge that I have in the garden this year, before I reach for powders or sprays, or even pruners, my first stop is going to be to check Plant Partners and see if adding a plant to the area might be a solution.
Mix it up to minimize problems. Walliser reiterates throughout the book that “diversity equals stability.” The best thing you can do for your garden is plant a mix of veggies and flowers, mimicking and nurturing a more natural ecosystem, even if you aren’t using any of the specific combinations mentioned in the book. A large area filled with only one type of plant is easy prey for pests and disease, will deplete the soil of certain nutrients, and may not thrive if pollinators can’t find it. Also, it just looks so much more beautiful to have veggies and flowers interplanted and intermingling (and looking good is a Good Enough reason).
The sacrificial Blue Hubbard Squash. I’m going to try out almost a dozen of the beneficial partnerships mentioned in the book, but I’m most excited about the potential of Blue Hubbard squash to lure squash vine borers away from my zucchini. These are DISGUSTING grubby moth larvae that eat your squash stems from the inside out and they wreaked havoc on my garden last year. Research shows these pests like Blue Hubbard Squash best of all, so I’ll be planting one a few feet away from my zucchini and butternut and if the vine borers will leave those alone, they can have the Blue Hubbard all to themselves.
Overall, I’m giving Plant Partners five stars and I know I’ll be referring to it often as the year goes on. Let me know if you have questions about how plants work together or want to add some new partnerships to your garden this year.
