A flourishing kitchen garden is a source of pride. A place to produce your own — whether you’re growing vegetables in raised beds, pots, or from seed, there’s nothing like using the freshest ingredients straight from your own backyard for the kitchen table.
Homegrown produce is not only tastier and healthier but there’s never been a better moment to start looking for kitchen garden ideas than while your vegetable patch is flourishing. The grow-your-own fad is gaining traction like never before, and you’ll understand why once you’ve had fresh-picked tomatoes straight from the vine or a sun-warmed sweetcorn cob.
Our collection of the top kitchen garden ideas can invigorate your space’s decor and get you started on the practical side of designing a kitchen garden.
1. Dividing Your Space Will Provide A Podager’s Garden
If you want a classic vegetable plot, use a system of raised beds and concrete roads to create a nice and ordered plan. The formal style is referred to as a ‘potager.’ If you have the space, divide the garden into four sections, ideally with walks and a tiny, round middle bed.
Plant specialist Sarah Raven explains, ‘The four beds are then assigned to different plant families.’ ‘For roots, use the first one, which is separated into young potatoes, beets, and carrots. For crops like beans and peas, use the second (known as legumes). The following one should be for salad and herbs, and the last one should be a combination of courgettes, sweetcorn, and leafy greens such as chard and spinach.’
2. Choose The Best Position
What you grow will be determined by the amount of space and light available in your selected growing location, and you must first determine how much room each plant can have in a raised bed or pot before you begin.
You should treat your plants like kings since if they feel crowded, you can’t be sure they’ll produce as well as they could! Check the seed packet to determine how much room each vegetable or fruit plant will require, and then choose your pots and containers accordingly since this will make your life a lot easier.
3. Nourish Vegetables In Containers
If you’re short on room, keep in mind that most vegetables thrive in containers that you can move around to fill in the gaps. Raised beds or huge planters are some of the simplest ways to cultivate vegetables.
Use them as little vegetable gardens to raise your own vegetables all year.
4. Choose High-Value Crops
Grow high-value crops that don’t take up a lot of room. Tomatoes are high-maintenance plants that require frequent watering and fertilization, but they grow vertically and produce a lot of fruit. You can also produce different types of tomatoes than those sold in supermarkets, ranging from little yellow cherry tomatoes to enormous black kinds, to save time, space, and money while receiving the best results.
Choose crops that are more expensive to buy than to cultivate yourself, such as mint, sage, thyme, parsley, and rosemary from the herb garden. These are simple to grow and can be harvested fresh for up to nine months of the year.
5. Choose Good Looking Crops
Easy-to-grow vegetables with Instagram appeal receive a double thumbs up. In addition to the kitchen plot, you can grow them among flowers or in containers as a stand-alone feature.
Swiss chard’s magnificent ruby red and golden stems are so attractive that it’s typically planted as ornamental plant. It’s also the best variety for flavor and yields a consistent supply of leaves all year.
Beetroot is another attractive plant with red-veined leaves that can be eaten in addition to the globes and requires minimal work to grow.
6. Opt For Easy Leaves
Salad leaves that can be cut and come again can be cultivated all year to provide a steady supply, with spicy Japanese mizuna, with its serrated green and purple leaves, mild-flavored mustard greens, and crinkly rocket at the top of the list.
Sow in the spring and again in the autumn for two to three months of leaves, effectively eliminating the need for the bagged kind. During the summer, red-veined sorrel and lettuce leaves (rather than ‘heads’) are other wonderful choices.
Also Read: 5 medicinal plants you can grow at home
