The world is changing faster now than it ever has in the history of mankind, and that momentum is only increasing. There is increasing interest in the damage that has been done to our planet and our climate. People are wanting to return to a healthier way of life, but many of us no longer live in wide open spaces where we can afford to have the old-fashioned large vegetable gardens of our forefathers. Thus, there is growing interest in Kitchen Gardens as a compromise. So what is a kitchen garden?
What Is a Kitchen Garden?
A Kitchen Garden is a garden that is designed specifically to service your kitchen and feed you and your family. It does not need to take up a lot of space, nor does it need to have a large number of rows of a limited number of crops that require a lot of work to maintain, thus making you a slave to your garden. You can spend as much or as little time in your garden as you wish.
A Kitchen Garden is there for you to walk out of your kitchen and pick two tomatoes to add to a salad, or pinch a few leaves of mint to garnish a drink to enjoy. It does not produce a huge basket of produce that requires you to spend an entire day in the kitchen to bottle and preserve that produce.
Gardening in Small Spaces
The Kitchen Garden can be entirely planted in containers for those living in rental units or apartments, or even in window boxes or on the roofs of apartment buildings. There are increasingly vertical gardens appearing in urban areas on the sides of buildings which can produce an amazing array of herbs and small produce such as strawberries.
Cherry tomatoes can be very successfully grown on a trellis or in a pot, strawberries can be grown in beautifully artistic pots that are pieces of art and mushrooms can be grown in a dark corner of your kitchen.
Ideally a Kitchen Garden is planted near a kitchen door so there is easy access whilst cooking. There are a lot of perennial herbs which are easier to keep going for years, depending on where you live. Most vegetables, on the other hand, tend to be planted and harvested as an annual, depending on where you live, even though they may be capable of producing for years as this is dependent on climate and local plant disease.
Thus, a little research is necessary for you to make the most of your planting!
Choosing the Right Crops
There are two issues to consider when deciding which are the right crops to plant in your Kitchen Garden: your climate and season, and what you like to eat and cook.
It is worth having some perennials so that you always have some plants that are producing throughout the year. Your herb garden is a great place to start, as this can easily be commenced in a window box or containers on a back porch. While you are planning the rest of your Kitchen Garden, you can start enjoying your herbs!
You need to consider how much sun your proposed growing space will get, as well as protection from wind and frost. You also need to consider what your soil is like. Do you need to balance the soil’s pH and drainage and add nutrients? It is definitely worth checking with your local nursery for any specific needs.
The second issue that needs consideration is what you like to eat! There is no point in growing rhubarb if you do not like to eat it (unless your mother loves it, of course). It is also worth looking at companion planting, as there are some plants that ‘help’ other plants grow more efficiently. For instance, there is some research that says planting basil with tomatoes can protect the tomatoes from developing thrips. You can always donate the freshly grown basil to your neighbour if you do not eat it yourself.
Community Kitchen Gardens
I am writing this blog from Australia, and there are a lot of urban community gardens popping up in our large cities, and this is a common phenomenon internationally. Apartment blocks and unit complexes are setting up kitchen gardens to help their household budgets. Having multiple households join their gardens and share their produce has multiple benefits, as often the crops can produce more than was intended. I was very surprised when I realised how much a mushroom pack could produce, and I love mushrooms!
These community Kitchen Gardens are also becoming great places for children to learn where their food comes from, which gives them a sense of pride when they pick their first crops.
The future of kitchen gardens…
The Kitchen Garden movement is here to stay. It is helping our household budgets; we are eating healthier food because we can control what is in our food; and the environment in which we live is benefitting because we are not using harmful chemicals on our growing foods.
This growing blog is going to explore all the ways in which these Kitchen Gardens can help us, and our planet, not only survive but thrive into the future.
If you have any questions or experiences to share from your part of the world, please leave comments below. It would be wonderful if we could share our gardens and learn from each other about the best way to set up these gardens in ways that can work in our widely disparate living environments. From climate variations to available areas in which to plant, from organic composting to the development of new seed varieties, there is always something new to learn and new foods to try!
