Create a Kitchen Garden

By Thea Mann

A kitchen garden gives the gardener the pleasure of working in the garden as well as the pleasure of using what's grown. The best kitchen gardens have a blend of herbs, fruits and vegetables designed in ways that add beauty and utility to the back yard or patio. Ideally your kitchen garden has immediate access from the kitchen, so you can harvest what you need as you are cooking, but they can also be scattered among various handy nooks and crannies available in your space.

Your first step should be to determine which kind of garden you will have. Will this be grown in the soil or a yard or in pots (or a combination of both)? Take into account the growing season of the area you live in as well as the kind of weather and soil. If you have soil with heavy clay, you may need to add sand or topsoil, and you will want to water with care. If you have very dry weather, you will want to make sure you have provided for adequate watering to your precious plants. Soaker hoses are good for this, but not always ideal in all locations.

Examine the area you want to grow in carefully and note the amount of sun it receives as well as the time of day. Pay close attention to what kind of sun your plants need. If you plant in pots, you can position them in ways that they maximize the light, or perhaps you can move them from a morning position to an afternoon position. Also note how windy the area is. If you are growing beans or plants that require a trellis or stake, you'll want to ensure they won't fall over.

Next, decide what you want to grow. Summer squash (the yellow kind) and zucchini are very easy and require very little care beyond weeding and watering. Tomatoes are also fairly tolerant plants, but you'll want to stake or cage them, even when growing them in pots. Peppers are usually easy to grow as well, but often seem to be very appetizing to insects, so they may require pest control on your part. They do well in both the ground and in pots. String beans are excellent for an area with a trellis and will bear all season long. Strawberries are a creeping ground cover that will also grow along a back fence. They are also very happy to grow in a special strawberry pot you can keep on your patio. Keep them watered, but be sure not to flood them or you'll have watery tasting fruit. Raspberries and blackberries will also take nicely to a back fence or trellis area, and are even available in varieties without thorns. These will not do well in pots and it is not recommended that you try. If left unchecked, they will take over the area they've been planted in, so maintain them with some care.

Herbs have a reputation for being hard to grown, but that isn’t true for most of your basics. Basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano are all easy-to-tend plants. Planting basil near tomatoes works to control some of the grubs that like to feast on fresh tomato plants, and they seem to compliment each other in cooking as well. Rosemary grown in pots tends to keep all year-round when brought indoors in cold winter climates. Oregano and thyme both can make very striking ground cover as they like to creep and expand. They will often come back the next year, although they make good plants to keep potted and grow over the winter in a sunny, warm window.

A kitchen garden can make a rewarding and economical addition to your back yard or patio. With just a little work, you can reap a bountiful reward.

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