A kitchen garden that is thriving is something that you can be proud of. A place to grow your own vegetables is the best way to get fresh ingredients for your kitchen table. You can grow them in raised beds, pots, or from seed.
If you grow your own produce, it will not only taste better and be healthier, but if your garden is doing well, it could also save you money on your grocery bills. Vegetable seeds are becoming more popular than flower seeds as people are growing their own fruit, vegetables, and herbs more often.
There are a few different ways you can go about vegetable gardening in your backyard, but the approach remains the same as when you’re planning for the best garden plants. Understanding your plot and climate is essential to knowing what you can grow successfully.
You can grow vegetables in your garden even if you have a small yard by using pots or incorporating them into garden borders. If you don’t have a lawn or space to build planting beds, you can still grow plants in containers on a patio.
What is Kitchen Gardening?
There are two types of kitchen gardening. The first type takes place in your kitchen and can involve either re-growing veggies from food scraps or growing herbs and veggies on your windowsill. The article is discussing kitchen gardening that takes place outdoors. It means having fresh, organic vegetables that you grew yourself right outside your back door. This type of kitchen gardening takes place outside the kitchen.
The term “potager” is French for “vegetable garden.” Kitchen gardening is a popular activity in France that dates back generations. American colonists also used to grow vegetables in their homes. The kitchen garden used to be common, but it was replaced by the straight rows of Victory Gardens during industrialization. Most families found themselves without a food garden once our food system became industrialized.
Kitchen Gardening vs “Regular” Vegetable Gardening
A kitchen garden is a garden that is designed and planted in a way that is aesthetically pleasing. The beds are usually symmetrical and organized. This means that not only are kitchen gardens productive, but they are also attractive. The tomatoes are meant to be eaten fresh, not to be canned and preserved.
How to Start a Small Kitchen Garden
Get your hands in the dirt, literally, and start planting your dreams’ McKenzie also shares some advice on vegetable gardening in a smaller more urban space: ‘Well, my best tip to start a vegetable garden in your yard is to… start!’ To not be put off by the size of your plot, ‘Start by planning your thriving future garden. Get your hands in the dirt, literally, and start planting your dreams’
Just place them in an area that receives adequate sunlight.’ You will enjoy being able to grow your vegetables in compact wooden, stone, or plastic trays in small or urban outdoor spaces. Just make sure to place them in an area that receives adequate sunlight. This option works for small paved backyards, rooftops, lawns that you want to keep neat, etc. This approach will also optimize soil and water use.’ You can take this approach when balcony gardening also.
Start Your Kitchen Garden At The Right Time
Start planning your vegetable garden early in the spring for the best results. How big of a plot do you want? Choose a size for your project that you can handle. A large vegetable garden that has enough room to grow everything will require a lot of work, both in preparation and maintenance.
Choose The Best Position For Your Kitchen Garden
The amount of space and light levels in your chosen growing spot will determine what you can grow. You need to understand how much room each plant needs to grow in a raised bed or pot. McKenzie advises to measure the site to know the square footage and to plan the layout of the garden to ensure that the plants will be accessible and will receive enough sunlight.
To achieve the best results when growing fruit and vegetables you need:
- An open, sunny spot
- Wind protection
- Fertile soil
Test And Prepare The Soil For Your Kitchen Garden
If you want to get the best crops from your kitchen garden, you need to make sure your soil is up to par. The pH level of soil in a vegetable garden can be tested to help determine what crops will grow well in it. McKenzie continues by saying that it is important to aerate the soil before fertilizing in order to ensure that the fertilizer will be able to penetrate the soil deeply.
Decide On The Fruit And Vegetables To Grow
Grow the food you love to eat, and as much as you need. Write down a list of your favourite foods, including herbs, and think about those that cost more to buy. Choose a variety of vegetables you like, then look at your space and growing conditions and choose fewer types.
Work Out How To Get The Best Value From Your Kitchen Garden
- Grow high-value crops that take up little space.
- Aim for increased yields, plus improved taste and value compared with shop-bought produce.
- Swap seeds with family and friends.
- Homegrown salad leaves are a cheaper alternative to bagged ones from the supermarket – and less wasteful. Sow cut-and-come-again varieties every few weeks for a succession of cropping.
- Grow crops that taste better fully ripened and fresh from the plot, such as strawberries.
Grow A Kitchen Garden In Raised Beds
If the soil in your garden is of poor quality, raised beds filled with loamy soil from a local garden center are a good option for growing small plots of vegetables. The benefits of using raised beds are that they promote better drainage, warm the soil more effectively, discourage compaction, and are easier to work in.
Decide How To Layout Your Kitchen Garden
Work out the best design for your space and needs for every different plot. The easiest way to plan a vegetable garden is to divide the land into four sections: one for root vegetables; one for salads and herbs; one for beans and peas; and one for a mixture of vegetables. You cannot use the same soil for the same crop two years in a row. If you divide your plot of land, you will be able to rotate your crops.
Create Access To Your Vegetable Garden
When planning your garden, make sure to include paths that you can easily access. Keep in mind that beds need to be a size that you can reach into easily for tasks such as weeding, planting, and harvesting. If there is a path, it will be easier to see the pests and get rid of them.
Grow A Kitchen Garden From Seed
A combination of plants and seeds may be most successful; you can start seedlings inside on a windowsill, then pot them into the garden. Many vegetable seeds can be sown directly in the ground where they will grow once the soil warms up.
Fuel Your Vegetable Garden With Scraps
Place your food scraps in the base of the regrow kit, which should be submerged in water. Put the kit in a spot where it will get lots of sun, and check the water levels a few times each week. You should be able to transfer your veggies to a plant pot after a few weeks of growth.
What to Grow in a Kitchen Garden
You can grow a lot of things in a kitchen garden, but you may not want to grow everything. An expert on kitchen gardens, Nicole, states that the key to success is knowing what to prioritize. She points out that you have to choose between growing a large quantity of a few crops or a smaller quantity of many crops, but that it’s difficult to do both. Her recommendation is that you grow all of your herbs, nearly all of your greens, and the fruiting plants that you most enjoy. This gardener plants leafy greens like lettuce, spring mix, and kale; herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and parsley; and her family’s favorite fruiting plants, including cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, shishito peppers, and sugar snap peas.
Concentrate on cultivating miniature vegetable strains as much as possible to make the most of the available space. Choose a tomato that will only grow to be 2 feet tall, rather than one that will grow 6 to 8 feet tall. There are smaller versions of nearly every vegetable you can grow. The following selections have been bred to stay small, which means they won’t take up as much room in your kitchen garden. When space is limited in a kitchen garden, it is smart to choose compact vegetable varieties. This article introduces you to dozens of compact veggie varieties for the kitchen garden.
Maintaining the Garden
Nicole believes that by thinking about nature, you can minimize the amount of maintenance required for your kitchen garden. She remembers when she went to Big Bend National Park. She couldn’t help but notice that all of the native plants were grouped together. She was impressed by how the plants were arranged in a tall, medium, and small formation, with hardly any soil in between them. This made her reflect on how she could incorporate a similar method in her own gardening.
She talks about how much she likes the idea of planting a lot of food in a small space. ” Instead of planting just one crop in a raised bed, try to mimic the way plants grow in nature by planting several different crops. If you want your garden to have a successful layout, plant big plants in the middle of the bed, medium-sized plants on the sides, and small plants like herbs, greens, and flowers around the outside edge. This way of planting creates multiple layers and significantly reduces the number of weeds. This plant tonic improves water retention and prevents pests and diseases by promoting cooperation among plants, as occurs in nature.
The most time-consuming tasks in gardening are pruning and harvesting, though watering is essential, especially during times of drought.
The Importance of Succession Planting
You should always be planting new crops in your kitchen garden as you harvest others so that it is constantly producing produce. It’s a practice known as succession planting.
Nicole says that it is important to use every inch of space in a small kitchen garden all year long, and that it is more fun than using a larger space. ” In Houston, the growing season is year-round, but each month has different weather conditions. I found that if I added new plants and seeds to the garden every month, it would keep producing, and showed me what can be grown in nearly any climate.
Since Nicole’s garden is now in the Chicago area, it produces fewer crops for fewer months out of the year. However, Nicole has come to appreciate the different growing seasons. You will be able to enjoy harvests earlier and later by continuously planting new vegetables into the garden.
Why should every home have a kitchen garden?
The modern food system is mostly industrialized, which means that people have very little control over where their food comes from or what is used to grow it. You will not only be able to connect to your food but also help the planet by growing a small portion of it in your kitchen garden. It’s satisfying to be able to feed yourself and your family with your own efforts. Plus it’s good exercise!
Nicole says that kitchen gardening is important and enjoyable. She started to feel good about herself and how she was able to help others when she had her own kitchen garden. She then began to support local farmers because she felt it was the right thing to do. She also developed a love of the bees, butterflies, and toads that regularly visited her yard. The food crisis could have been averted if there were more raised beds filled with veggies. She strongly believed that every household should have their own little garden where they could grow their own food.
There are not a lot of activities that offer the same benefits as physical activity, according to her. But it could,” You wouldn’t think that having a kitchen garden could change the world, but it could. You realize that the choices you make with food add up quickly when you think about the fact that you eat three meals a day. I really think that reviving the tradition of having a kitchen garden could improve the world a lot.
You can have a kitchen garden in your backyard no matter how much space you have. Having a kitchen garden means having fresh vegetables, fruit and herbs that are ready to eat. It’s totally time to grow your own vegetable garden!
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