The Beginners Guide to Kitchen Garden
My name is Safiyat Hamiss. I’m certified Gardenary consultant based in Framingham, MA. I have gardened in my yard for over a decade. As a long-time student of the garden, I have spent countless hours educating myself through books and online garden contents and studied through a kitchen garden consulting program.
I started Tasty Harvests Kitchen garden consultation with a mission to bring kitchen gardens to people's yards in my community.
My blog exists to help people learn about kitchen garden through my garden journey as a mama gardener and entrepreneur garden consultant in my local community.
This beginners guide to the kitchen garden will help you learn
What is a kitchen garden?
Learn about the benefits of gardening.
How to get started with your own garden
Plus some tips and FAQs about Kitchen gardening.
The Beginners Guide to the Kitchen Garden
Why is your Kitchen Garden important?
When you grow your food in your garden, you control what goes on in your plants and into your soil, which allows you to reduce the number of harmful chemicals polluting our environment and water bodies. Your organic garden becomes sustainable and nourishes your soil when you use safe, natural fertilizers to feed your plants.
Kitchen gardening is a great hobby to adopt. When you grow a little bit of your food in your garden, the benefit you will get is far more than you think. To list a few of the benefits are
Increase your food security
Builds the skills of you becoming a confident gardener
Get you closer to nature
Boost your mental health by escaping in the beauty of the garden
The garden will ground you and calm you
It will allow you to eliminate food waste as you harvest just what you need at a time.
Reduces your stress levels as the garden is so peaceful to sit in.
Nourish your body with the better tasting and high nutrient healthy foods you grow.
As a certified gardener, planning, prepping and growing my garden and my clients improve my gardening skills. As you increase the amount of time you garden, you will grow your gardening skill as you have something new in all parts of the process to learn every day. I am forever a garden student, and I enjoy all the benefits the garden comes with.
What is a Kitchen Garden?
When you hear kitchen garden, most people literary think it means a whole garden in your kitchen, although, you can have a container garden in your kitchen and regrow kitchen scraps, but that's not what we are talking about here..
A Kitchen garden is the centerpiece of your yard in which you grow your favorite herbs, vegetables, fruits to make everyday homemade nutritious meals in your kitchen.
It is a garden set outside your yard in raised beds or containers to grow your favorite foods for everyday use in your kitchen.
The difference between a kitchen garden and other types of food gardens are kitchen garden primary purpose is to grow and provide you with herb, vegetables, fruits, and some flowers. You harvest small or large quantities for immediate everyday use in your kitchen and store some for later.
How to get started with kitchen garden
What do you need to get started?
I get this question a lot . What do you really need to get started with your garden. I can tell you this if you start with a plan for you garden you find it excited and easy to accomplish setting up your garden. Your garden plan details will start with this.
First, get to know your garden spot. Locate where you want to garden. Measure the parameter of your garden location. You need to find out how much sunlight it gets during different times of the day. This will help you if know if amount of sunlight receive in your garden area will be enough to support the growth of the type of plants you want to grow.
Next, check how close by the garden space is to your water source. Having your water source close by will dictate how much walking back and forth you will have to do if you choose to hand water.
Then visualize what you want your garden to look like and put it on paper. The design will give you a clear vision of your dream garden.
Last, come up with a budget for your dream garden. If you are new to gardening, start small. This will make it less stressful to setup and manage. Decide on the kitchen garden elements and get them. The kitchen garden elements are garden raised bed or containers, trellis, edging, and pathway. These elements will give your garden a beautiful atheistic that you would want to sit ,enjoy the view and support all your plants to grow abundantly..
Tips for Success in your kitchen garden
How can you be successful in this Kitchen Garden?
Tip#1
Grow what you love to eat. When planing a garden, you may want to plant and grow every vegetable you know. But it's best if you would plan only the foods you love to eat. Use your favorite recipes and meals to create your meal plan for your garden and highlight all the vegetables you want to grow. This tip will have you excited for the garden journey and eating everything you planted as supposed to planting crops you do not like to eat.
Tip #2
Know the timing to plant your favorite produce. Every plant has a temperature and time of year based on your location climate that it will grow well. By understanding what temperature your vegetable needs to grow in, you will know which of your favorite herbs, vegetables, and fruits can grow for the season. Once you get this right, you will find it easy to plant your favorite foods within the seasons.
Tip#3
Soil is what your plants eat. Good garden soil is key to success in the garden. Make sure you get quality garden soil for your raised beds. The kind of soil you use can make the difference between you succeeding or failing in your garden.
You want your garden soil to be a great medium for your plants to do these four things.
support its roots to stand tall,
to absorb water around the roots and reserves some for later, as well as let excess on top to evaporate upwards and flow freely downward,
give it the room for airflow and provide oxygen to the roots for the break down of sugars and
provide a home with the right pH balance for nutrients and microbes to live comfortably and feed the plants to grow strong and healthy.
For years I was relying on pre-packaged garden soil bags. As I grew my gardening skills over time, I learn to create my own recipe and order it by bulk. I have even used it in my garden for several years and in my clients garden in m y Tasty Harvests kitchen garden business. The recipe is an organic garden soil for a raised garden bed only.
It’s a sandy loam soil which is best for edible plants grow in to ensure healthy plant growth and increase yield. I use this in my kitchen garden raised beds and been very successful in growing my kitchen garden. This organic garden soil combines different soils, topsoil, sand, compost and natural fertilizer at different levels, making it rich in nutrients, porous, which allows airflow and drainage and gives roots the space to grow deep and robust.
Common Questions/FAQ About Kitchen garden
Which vegetables can be grown in the kitchen garden?
If you are new to gardening, start with herbs and leafy greens. These plants are easy and quick to grow and maintain. In no time, you will be harvesting and enjoying the fresh flavors of your kitchen garden.
What vegetables grow easily in pots?
You can plant any vegetable in a garden pot under these conditions.
1. Pot size.
Make sure the garden pot is large enough to hold your plant. Understand the root system growth length and the plant spacing needs. This tip will help you choose the right pot for your plant.
2. Drainage.
Your pot will need drainage holes to allow water air to flow freely and excess water to drain out. If you have a pot that you can't make drainage holes, add gravel or pebbles to cover the bottom layer before adding plant and soil.
3. Type of Soil.
Do not use garden soil or soil from outside your yard. Only use potting soil for growing your vegetables in pots. Potting soil is light and fluffy, which will allow water and air to flow to the plant root system.
How do you maintain a kitchen garden?
To maintain your kitchen garden, you will need to check the soil for dryness them water it when it needs water. Feed your plant with the nutrients it needs, and harvest frequently as your garden grows in abundance.
What four things do all plants need?
Plants are living things, just like us humans. They have basic needs to survive.
They need food, water, air, and light.
Plant food are soil, compost ,organic fertilizers and they help plants stay alive and grow strong and healthy.
Water helps move nutrients from soil to within plants.
Air provides plants with oxygen to help break down sugars in the soil to covert it to energy for the plants and air helps the plant breathe too.
Light helps convert light, oxygen and water into energy for the plant. the energy helps the plant to grow, bloom and produce seeds.
What month should you start a garden?
I believe you can start a garden any time of the year. Set up your garden space. Then choose plants that will grow in the current climate/season you are in. Or you can create a microclimate environment in your garden to support your plants to grow in the climate they need to survive.
The Last Thing You Need to Know about Kitchen Garden
Start your garden by planning your garden first. This process will help stir you in the direction of understanding the plants' needs to grow in the current climate condition you are in. It will also help you know which plants you can grow at that time.
Then make sure you get your soil right. The right soil used will make your garden a success.
I hope you will join me in this garden journey.
Psst... When you're ready, here are three ways I can help you start and grow your kitchen garden…
Do not know how get started with your kitchen garden ? Book a garden consultation.
You do not know which growing season you in? Learn the growing seasons of metro west MA. The garden growing seasons calendar.
Want to plan and keep records for your garden but don’t know how? Grab my Grow Your meal plan workbook printable.
Let’s be gardening friend and share garden tips & trick with more gardening friends .
