GREEN & SUSTAINABLE
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GREEN & SUSTAINABLE
Your Kitchen Garden
Learn how to grow your own container garden and enjoy fresh herbs and edible flowers year round.
By Ellen Ecker Ogden, for EatingWell, March/April 2008
The Irish have always grasped the important connection between the garden and the kitchen and often have a nearby potager, or kitchen garden. Translated directly from the French, potager means literally a soup pot of vegetables, and dates back to the Middle Ages, when monks and nuns planted gardens behind wall-high hedges that served as retreats for meditation as well as a source of vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, aromatics and flowers.
A potager can be as small as one square foot or a container. Start by making an inventory of foods you enjoy during the spring, summer and fall, focusing on crops that you can’t always buy fresh—fancy lettuce and mesclun mixes, for instance, are easy to sow and quick to grow. Fresh herbs pack lively flavors, often taking the place of salt in recipes, and edible flowers serve as pretty garnishes.
Start with rich, organic soil. Supplement with organic compost, usually found at garden centers, to give plants a boost. Companion planting, such as edible marigolds planted near tomatoes to repel pests, builds on symbiotic combinations for a healthy partnership both in the garden and on the plate. Mail-order seed sources offer a wide selection, or go to local nurseries for heirloom tomatoes and ornamental edibles like rainbow chard and Tuscan kale. Ultimately, the kitchen garden will inspire you to celebrate fresh flavors. Think of yourself as a food artist, building color in the garden and on your plate.
Fresh Recipes to Try:
Warm Dandelion Greens with Roasted Garlic Dressing
Fragrant Fish Soup
Spring Chicken & Blue Cheese Salad
Garden-Fresh Asparagus Soup
Spinach Soup with Rosemary Croutons
Smoked Trout Salad with Herb & Horseradish Dressing
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| USER COMMENTS — Add Your Comment |
It would be helpful if there were some examples of herbs, vegetables, and edible flowers that are easiest to grow.
Madison, Kill Devil Hills, NC |
It would be useful to have website addresses to look for more information on the symbiotic combinations you are talking about. That is something not too many people know about.
Zayda, Hato Rey, PR |
The Aerogarden is a small hydroponic unit with which one can grow many things such as salad greens, herbs, flowers, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. The unit uses untreated tap water and comes with a growing kit which contains the proper fertilizers and symbiotic plants. Cost is initially about $150. I've had mine for over a year and never stopped growing things. The company is coming out with new kits all the time, so it's hard to get bored. And with all of the bad press/disease outbreaks associated especially with salad greens, I would much rather grow my own.
Rene Neville, RN, Brooklet, GA |
More details... Do you plant them each in a separate pot, or plant them all together in a small area. Can you just grow them on your kitchen window?
Karla Redfield, Los Angeles, CA |
I really love this site, I just found it today. Thank you for all the ideas. I am growing things in containers & a small garden I made out of a childs hard plastic pool. Very enjoyable, I am going to plant some swiss chard, don't know much about it, any ideas?? Thank you.
Sharon Cady, Van Buren, AR |
For Sharon: be careful with plastics - what may be safe to swim in is not necessarily 'food safe', especially in view of the plastic scare for water bottles and the leaching of chemicals. You may want to check if you are using a 'food-safe' container in which to grow your food. A raised bed made of cedarwood is probably much safer. Also, do NOT use pressure-treated products for growing foods. M
Margarethe, Ottawa, ON |
You can "Google" any information. "Companion planting" is the name of symbiotic planting guide you want to use. I haven't figured out how to keep out (safely) the big grasshoppers that come from the Everglades (I think). They are called Lubbers if anyone knows a "green" way to get rid of them please post here and I'll check back.
Jenifer, Cutler Bay, FL |
It is advisable to grow bamboo plant in the mud, since my plant since 3 yrs is in water and growing well but slow.
shweta, London, UK |
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