The Kitchen Garden

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The French called it a potager. The traditional Kitchen Garden was constructed in a formal fashion but it was an informal mix of herbs, vegetables and flowers. There were often berries growing around the fringes and occasionally a dwarf plum or peach tree tucked in the middle. There was structure to the design which usually followed a geometric pattern. It was a visually appealing garden that made use of every square foot of space.

Raised bed gardening is an offshoot of the traditional kitchen garden. The raised bed is usually three to four feet wide (an easy reach for planting and harvesting,) and a long as the gardener wanted it to be. The soil is enriched and the vegetables planted close. There is logic in that. With the plants planted close together it's easier to control the weeds and less water needed to keep the soil moist. Properly done a raised bed will produce more per square foot with a whole lot less work than the traditional garden.

Your personal Kitchen Garden can a simple four by six foot box made of 2 X 8s or an elaborate series of beds made built with rock border. Raising the bed is not absolutely necessary but here in the south good drainage is a factor. The raised bed makes sense to me.

In an urban landscape, close to the house is usually the only option. That's one of the reasons I like the Kitchen Garden concept more than the raised bed. I want my garden to be pretty as well as functional.

It's the soil preparation that makes or breaks a garden. The more organic material you mix into the soil, the better. Organic mater comes in many forms. Compost is best. It adds nutrients as well as a host of beneficial microorganisms. Compost can also be used for mulch but I usually dig most of it in and use grass clippings, bark, and pine straw for mulch.

Make sure the garden is well dug. Digging down six to eight inches will not be enough. Make sure the roots can burrow deep.

There are a lot of factors that go into what to plant in you Kitchen Garden. A Kitchen Garden in Oregon will not resemble a Kitchen Garden growing here in South Carolina. The climate and the seasons are different.

Personal preference is a factor as well. Why plant a lot of turnips if the thought of turnips turns your stomach?


At this point the best thing to do is to make a list of vegetables, herbs and flowers that you are considering. Look them up, either in a garden catalog or online. A seasoned gardener may not feel the need to do this, but a little knowledge can go a long way.

Since the kitchen garden is smaller than the traditional family garden, select vegetables you really like. Something you only want a little of may not be worth planting. It's best to map out your space. While you want to allow space for your favorites, you don't want to waste the space by planting more than you want or need. My mother is good for that. If there are twenty-five seeds in the packet, she wants to put twenty-five seeds in the ground even, if she needs only one of two plants of that particular vegetable.

I love sweet corn, but it's not a good choice for the Kitchen Garden. For proper pollination you need at least three rows. It takes a lot of space to produce even a few cobs of corn. As space is a premium, it's not worth it. Sweet corn, winter squash and pumpkins are better left to the traditional family or truck garden.

While vegetables take precedence in the Kitchen Garden, herbs are important too. Quality vegetables are usually available at the farmer's market or even the grocery store, but fresh herbs may not be.

Many of the popular herbs are perennial. Some prefer to keep the perennials in a separate bed or in pots on the patio as they tend to spread taking up more space each year. I keep most of my herbs in pots and use the garden space for vegetables and annual flowers.

Start Smart Basil - Sweet - 725mg

Start Smart Chives - 750mg

Start Smart Onion - Evergreen Bunching - 2.20g

Start Smart Thyme - Common - 300mg

Heirloom Rosemary - (Rosemarinus Officinalis) - 150MG

Start Smart Parsley - Plain or Single - 1.25g

Start Smart Marjoram - Sweet - 300mg

Heirloom Sage - Broad Leaf - 750MG

Vegetables feed the hunger but flowers feed the spirit. The Kitchen Garden is not a Kitchen Garden without at least a few flowers. It's usually best to use annuals. Most have a longer blooming season, but flowers as with the vegetables will change with the seasons. Find out what grows best in your area and plan accordingly.

The neatest thing about Kitchen Gardens is their individuality. What one gardener insists on another may slough off. Every one is unique. I had a kitchen garden for years but when I started spending most of my summers traveling, I turned it into a perennial flower bed. But I missed my garden. I started sticking tomato plants in with my flowers and there are so many container gardens on the patio that there's no room to walk.

This year I'm converting a small flower bed I usually use for annuals into a Kitchen Garden. Once I get that one going again, I'll be building a second. I love digging in the dirt and in today's economic climate, a garden makes sense.

When is comes to gardens there are no set rules. It can be a container garden on the patio, a few vegetables added to your flowerbeds, a traditional family garden in the corner of your back yard, or a Kitchen Garden beside the your back door. Plant a garden and make it your own.