At least 35 percent of households now have kitchen gardens; that’s an increase of more than 60 percent since 2008. Whether the point is to save money or just to have fresher produce, it’s a trend I love to see. Anyone who lives in a rural area especially understands how difficult it can be to find a variety of fresh vegetables and herbs. Expecting produce to be affordable? Well, that’s just asking too much in most cases.
Farmers’ markets are great resources for fresh, local, and often organic food. Of course, you can bring it even closer to home and grow some of your own food. If you’ve never tried, don’t let that stop you. Every gardener makes a few mistakes, and weather is unpredictable. But you’re bound to have some success, and I’ve got a few tips to help:
Grow as close to your kitchen as possible
Back in 2008, before interest in kitchen gardens peaked, I wrote an article for Out Here Magazine about edible landscaping, interviewing expert Robert Kourik. At the time, Kourik pointed out that the closer you can grow herbs and vegetables to your back door, the easier it is to use them. He’s absolutely right; I love walking out into our backyard garden to cut a sprig of rosemary for a recipe.
Although walking certainly is good for you, and my walks to and from our microfarm give me much-needed activity breaks on heavy work days, dinner prep can be a busy, stressful time. Keeping edibles close at hand means you’re more likely to use them and more likely to remember to water them! If you can’t plant herbs and vegetables in a nearby flower bed, place a few in containers on your sunny patio or balcony. All the container needs is to be clean, have drainage at the bottom and be large enough for your plant (about 12-inch minimum in diameter for tomatoes).
Involve your family
When you’re busy preparing a meal with fresh ingredients, you can also enlist the kids for help. Send one of your children outside to harvest a tomato. And even before you’re ready to harvest, have the family contribute to your kitchen garden plan. If kids choose and help grow the produce they like best, you’re less likely to have family dinner-table battles. If the kids can help with planting or watering, even better.
Convenient also means easy care
The best way to ensure success with your first kitchen garden is to start small. You don’t need an acre and a greenhouse. If you choose too many plants or get too ambitious with your space and plant variety, it’s easier to abandon the garden midsummer. That’s such a waste of your time, well or community water, and good food! So start with one or two containers or a tiny plot. We also mix perennial herbs in with our flowering plants. Many are just as pretty and produce edible leaves or stalks.
Choose easier plants to grow in your garden. If you have a short season, select cocktail, grape or cherry tomato varieties. Otherwise, choose the ones you and your family are most likely to enjoy. If you’re concerned about losing interest, start with a fast grower, such as lettuce or spinach. You’ll save more money growing your own asparagus, but you might not have stalks to harvest for three years.
If you have time to set up drip watering well before planting, you’ll have fewer day-to-day chores related to growing food. Plus, drip irrigation is better for plants and water savings. In sem cases, you can run drip to containers, or place an olla in the container. It’s a clay bottle that slowly seeps water and can be refilled every few days. This also frees you up for weekend outings. I’ve seen people make their own using milk jugs or similar items.
Have the right tools
Finally, keep a few tools on hand to save time when using fresh ingredients. Your produce won’t be prewashed (but then it also won’t have chemicals all over it).
- A salad spinner. These are so handy for quickly cleaning lettuce, other fresh greens or bunches of herbs. And it’s another fun way to have the kids help.
- Clean kitchen scissors. Just grab and carry outside to clip off an herb leaf or stem or to help free a cucumber. An old knife works better for zucchini and other squash.
- Herb scissors. One of the best gifts ever; the multiple blades make faster work out of slicing or chopping basil, cilantro, parsley and similar leafy greens.
- Other herb helpers, such as stripper tools for rosemary or dill. And Tim gave me a great storage container that keeps herb stems immersed in water, but the leaves above. I can put it right in the fridge.
