A kitchen garden is a small outdoor garden that contains herbs and vegetables and is grown for household use. A kitchen garden is typically located near the home for better access.
What’s the Difference Between a Kitchen Garden and a Regular Vegetable Garden?
A kitchen garden is situated as near as necessary to your kitchen. It is intended to be the centerpiece of your landscaping and a hub for socializing with family and friends. However, since a vegetable garden requires more area and perhaps looks untidy, it is typically positioned farther from your home.
Are a kitchen garden and a potager the same thing?
For starters, you might hear the term potager (pronounced puh-ta-zhay), garden, a French name for a unique, attractive kitchen garden. So a kitchen and a potager garden are the same gardens.
They are a unique, eatable garden with a rich history that goes back to French culinary gardens.
Why is a kitchen garden important?
A kitchen gardener is affordable and a great way to start gardening for beginner gardeners. Imagine growing plants that are fresh and available to you right outside your home. Growing herbs and green vegetables benefit our health and offer a sense of satisfaction, knowing that your hard work growing this garden paid off.
What is considered a kitchen garden?
A kitchen garden is an area where you can produce leafy greens, herbs, fruits, and vegetables for regular use in the kitchen, as well as some lovely and frequently edible flowers for the pollinators.
When taken as a whole, the two elements that constitute a kitchen garden are:
Location
You’ll want the kitchen garden nearby since you’ll be collecting from it frequently—right before meals, as you pack lunches in the morning, or as you prepare a herb topping for supper, for example. Indeed, the best location is only outside your backdoor.
Size
A vegetable garden can be enormous and spreading, with hundreds of square feet of growing space, whereas a kitchen garden is quite small, ranging from 25 to 250 square feet.
What does a kitchen garden look like?
Kitchen gardens come in all shapes and sizes. Some people prefer to grow a small number of plants, while others like to have a large variety of plants. The most important thing is to choose plants that will thrive in the conditions you provide them.
Due to their proximity to the house, these gardens are typically smaller than traditional gardens. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but having a culinary garden nearby that is convenient to access while you are cooking may reduce the amount of accessible space.
Kitchen gardens typically overflow with fresh food you cook and consume immediately. Fresh herb containers, little cherry tomato plants, and various kinds of leaf lettuce are all excellent additions.
What do people grow in the kitchen garden?
A kitchen garden is a great way to get fresh produce for your meals. You can grow a variety of vegetables and fruits in your garden. Herbs are also a popular choice for kitchen gardens. Here are some of the common plants to grow in a kitchen garden:
Herbs
- oregano
- basil
- rosemary
- chives
- cilantro
- thyme
Vegetables and fruits
- tomatoes
- peppers
- radishes
- bush beans
- sugar snap peas
- cucumbers
Leafy greens
- Swiss chard
- kale
- lettuce
- arugula
Flowers
- zinnias
- calendula
- marigolds
What is another name for a kitchen garden?
The traditional kitchen garden sometimes referred to as a potager (from the French jardin potager) or a kailyaird in Scotland, is a backyard section distinct from the lawn and aesthetic plants.
What are the advantages of a kitchen garden?
Of course, growing your fruits, veggies, and herbs takes a lot of perseverance, time, and work. It’s worth it, though! You’ll see why after reading the following benefits of having a kitchen garden at home:
Money Saving
You might save a ton of money this way on groceries. For example, you wouldn’t have to go out and buy fresh spinach, cherry tomatoes, basil, and coriander to have a fattoush salad if you grew them in your kitchen garden. Since your kitchen garden already contains the majority of the essential ingredients.
Availability of Fresh, Healthy Vegetables
One of the main advantages of having a kitchen garden is that it offers a fresh assortment of veggies free of dangerous pesticides and chemicals that can result in significant health problems. In addition, organic and homegrown vegetables can be obtained without putting forth a lot of work.
Resists Food Insecurity
You won’t need to visit a nearby grocery store to get the vegetables you routinely consume if you grow your supply of them. Therefore, you wouldn’t care too much if there were a lack of, say, tomatoes at the market.
How do you make a kitchen garden?
Whether your plot is tiny or enormous, start a kitchen garden in your backyard for fresh produce that is ready to eat. Follow these easy steps:
Set your kitchen garden off to a good start
Vegetable planting is best to start in early spring, but planning can begin anytime. First, decide the plot’s size. Be careful to stay within a manageable range.
Select your kitchen garden’s best location
To help ensure that all the plants are accessible and will get enough sunshine, plan the garden’s layout.
Assess the soil for your kitchen garden and get it ready
To choose crops that will thrive in your vegetable garden, it is helpful to test the pH levels of the soil.
Select the vegetables and fruits to grow
Make a list of your favorite foods, including herbs, and consider those that cost more to purchase. Include a variety of veggies you like, then reduce your selection by paying close attention to your growing environment and available area.
Grow in raised beds
Vegetable beds are frequently constructed out of wooden planks or old railroad sleepers because they look nice. While woven willow looks rustic but needs to be renewed around every six years, brick or stone surrounds last a long time. Black polythene lining for mattresses should be used to keep the wood dry and increase its lifespan.
Select your kitchen garden’s layout
The best way we’ve discovered to plan a vegetable garden is to divide the space you’ve designated for vegetables into four sections: one for root vegetables, one for salads and herbs, and one for legumes. There are no restrictions when it comes to designing a kitchen garden.
What’s the Difference Between a Kitchen Garden and a Regular Vegetable Garden?
You can start a kitchen or a traditional garden, as both are rewarding, but if you still want to know their differences, continue to read below.
Garden Location
Your kitchen garden is planted in a location that is easy to access when needed. The point of this garden is that small and closer to your kitchen, and whenever you need an herb or vegetable, you can quickly step outside and harvest it.
Garden Size
As stated above, a kitchen garden is traditionally smaller and closer to the house than a vegetable garden.
The point of a kitchen garden is to grow fast, harvesting herbs and vegetables to serve you quickly when needed. This garden is also great for small space gardening.
Beautiful garden
You can create gorgeous kitchen gardens and maintain them because they are smaller. A regular garden is about producing for the future and utilizing the space for that. You can make a kitchen garden a beautiful design to go with your home landscape. Remember, this garden is to be created near your home, and creating a look to go with your home is possible.
What is a Kitchen Garden Video
What types of plants can I use to make my kitchen garden pretty?
Add herbs such as lemon thyme, editable flowers, and a cute blueberry bush to make your kitchen garden pretty.
What can you plant in a kitchen garden?
Depending on the size of your garden, you can plant many plants. If space is limited, remember this:
A regular vegetable garden is about planning for the future, while a kitchen garden is about enjoying today.
You can plant in your kitchen garden these plants:
- Fresh herbs
- Tomatoes
- Leafy greens
- Peppers
What not to plant in your kitchen garden?
I would avoid planting the following plants in your kitchen garden:
Avoid growing plants that require a lot of space and plant them in your regular garden. Remember that a kitchen garden is traditionally smaller, avoid fruits and vegetables that need less space.
If still not sure what to plant, remember that a kitchen garden is about having fresh plants that you can prepare and enjoy.
How to start Kitchen Garden
Now that you know the differences between a kitchen garden and a vegetable garden, it is time to build one!
Before starting your garden, remember that you can make your kitchen garden as beautiful and enticing as you want.
You can add the herbs, fruits, and vegetables you use and your family love. The tips below are practical and should be used as a guide to creating the productive kitchen garden you desire.
4 Tips for Creating a Beautiful and Useful Kitchen Garden
Ready to start your kitchen garden? Let’s begin!
How to pick the perfect spot
When starting your kitchen garden, remember to find a location on your property that is closer to the kitchen.
Remember that having your garden closer to your home makes what you need from the garden accessible and easy to prepare your meals.
That said, you need to find a location that gets at least six hours of direct sunlight per day for some of your plants to grow.
It is essential that before you start planting your garden, you know what environment your plants need to grow in, but more about this in the next tip.
The location also needs to be closer to secure water access, and remember that good soil is also essential. Do your research about garden soil before planting your garden.
Plant the right plant for your kitchen garden
Now that you have found a location, it is time to pick the plants you want to grow in your kitchen garden.
Remember that the location of your garden might not be beneficial to many plants, and it is vital to find out what each plant needs to thrive.
Find plants that are beneficial to you and enjoy using them in your cooking. For example, you can create a themed kitchen garden, such as a pizza garden, so plant cilantro, basil, and tomatoes.
If your climate and location allow for a salad garden, start one!
Make the Most of Your Kitchen Garden Space
Be creative regarding your garden; if space is limited, use your vertical space to maximize your growing area.
Use containers or hanging baskets and plants your favorite herbs. Using a hanging basket, you must water more frequently as the soil dries faster than the ground.
A trellis or fence can help provide support, too, if you are planting beans or cucumbers.
Make your kitchen garden beautiful.
The pros of a kitchen garden vs. a regular garden are that you can make them as beautiful as you want. Add gorgeous colors and plant attractive plants in your space.
Balance, symmetry, and repetition are components of any good garden design. To incorporate balance and symmetry into your potager, try adding two matching brightly colored containers filled with herbs and place them on each side of the entrance.
For repetition, add multiple of the same plants throughout the garden. For example, a group of 3 cherry tomato plants in attractive containers will have a more substantial visual impact than a single plant.
You can also create a sense of order by planting lovely borders of edible flowers or fragrant herbs along walkways.
