Book Review - The Self-Sustaining Garden - the guide to matrix planting

Peter Thompson is a gardener and botanist with a life-long involvement with plants and gardens and it is good to see his book 'The Self-sustaining garden' republished and fully revised.

This fascinating book, first published in 1997, shows how plants can be combined into self-governing communities to create gardens that require less maintenance and less chemical controls.

In the introduction Peter makes the point that if we let them, plants could do much of the hard work of gardening for us. His book takes us through unorthodox ways of gardening which allows the plants in our gardens to form self-sustaining communities, similar to those of wildflowers.

He explains the principles of 'matrix' gardening and how to establish what works best in your garden. Creating a partnership with plants and using biological solutions to control plants and pests as well as how to improve soil health are just some of the many topics covered.

He uses case studies to support his ideas and explain how matrix planting can be used to solve gardening problems. The case studies cover garden situations, not just in the UK, but from several areas of the world which makes the book appealing to a wide audience of gardeners in a variety of climatic conditions.

The case studies are more than useful because they mirror many of the common issues which face gardeners today - dealing with the garden which has got too big for its owner - the busy gardener with little spare leisure time - the widower who knows little about gardening looking after a garden in North Carolina which was formerly gardened by his wife - making a small water garden in Hull - the UK seaside garden.

Chapters include different aspects of garden design, pools and wet areas, mixed borders and grasses and there are good lists of suggestions for plants, trees and shrubs to suit the situation discussed.

Drawings in the book are by landscape architect Josie Owen which are a pleasing alternative and companion to the many colour plates which fill the book.

The book also draws on Peter's extensive travels around the world to see gardens and visit places where wild flowers grow. Noel Kingsbury comments that: "This is a rare gardening book; it has something new to say" and I can heartily agree with that.

Good lists of plants are referred to but none are so heavily described that the message of the book is lost, it is sufficient that the right plant for the right situation is described briefly so that you can go on your own journey to discover more.

There is a lot of good sense talked in this book and it certainly makes the reader think about the ways in which they garden.

'The Self-sustaining garden' - The guide to matrix planting - by Peter Thompson, is published by Frances Lincoln in hardback at £16.99. (As going to print - purchase now online at Amazon for only £11.89 and save 30% of rrp!)