Spending time outside, in a garden, surrounded by herbs, veggies, and flowers can be rewarding. Yet the time and energy it takes to make this happen is not always possible. That’s why I’ve spent time honing in on a plan that involves more fun than drudgery and more excitement than concern about how to make it happen, all with ease and spontaneity. Gardening doesn’t have to be overly scientific or pre-planned. I’m here to help you take that next step. Create a garden!
The origin of this kitchen garden e-guide
I love how gardening connects me to the earth, that I am growing my own food and beautiful flowers, and the activity it provides. I don’t relish the time it takes to plan a garden, following all the many rules for a successful harvest, and all the aspects that seem to suck the joy out of the process for me.
Over time, after successes and failures, I’ve changed the way I do things to preserve the joy of gardening, reduce stress, and increase the fun and usefulness of a garden. Hence, my design for a vegetable garden that I also call a “modern potager” garden (what’s a potager garden?)This garden design follows the principles of a traditional “kitchen garden”, in its most functional way, but leaves room for ease of care, fun in planning, and spontaneity, because I think that’s what the majority of gardeners can handle or really want. Let’s go!
Does this sound like you?
- You have big dreams for growing your own vegetables, but you can’t find the time to plan far enough ahead to make it happen.
- You don’t know where to begin with planning a garden for vegetables or flowers but you’d like to get started somehow.
- You feel overwhelmed and puzzled by the abundance of contradicting advice you’ve read on planning and planting a garden.
- You’ve done some vegetable gardening and found you either can’t eat it all or it doesn’t mature.
- You’d rather not get overly involved in the scientific details of growing, but want to jump in and enjoy a beautiful garden and have some fun!
Kitchen garden e-guide details
I’ve planned out 3 practical, aesthetically pleasing, easy to execute garden plans for you inside this 9-page easy to follow PDF guide. Each plan includes vegetables, edible greens, herbs and cutting flowers. All the basics of this garden plan are laid out in detail below if you want to know more before you email me for the plans!
At the same time, you can get my FREEBIE – 15 Smoothie recipes that include vegetables as well as fruit in all the colors of the rainbow. They are based on yogurt (can sub plant-based), each with veg, fruits, healthy fats + superfood ingredients.
Learn more about kitchen and potager gardens
- A potager garden is the French-derived name for what is also known as a kitchen garden, which describes a garden with vegetables, herbs, and flowers planted together in an area near a home’s kitchen.
- It is meant to be a practical garden, and in “olden times” if you will, in England and other locations, it was meant to be separate from other more formal flower gardens that might exist on a large property.
- A surge in the use of these kitchen gardens occurred after the Second World War, when food supplies were scarce, and it became very common for most residences to have a kitchen garden.
- Whereas traditional kitchen gardens were extensive and heavily used by large families cooking for many, my garden designs are smaller in size and easier and more carefree to manage than traditional vegetable gardens.
- Little did I know, as I designed this method for a garden near my kitchen that I was designing what is known as a kitchen or potager garden!
Photos of planting a kitchen garden
Above: Here you can see the three designs planted, using a combination of seedlings (a.k.a. starts) and seeds. Cut straws and string denote the rows where the seeds were planted. These are pulled out once the seeds sprout. I am using raised beds, but you don’t have to.
Plan basics included in the e-guide
- Three designs (plant any or all of them) as follows:
- 8’x4’ garden layout
- 8’x4’ garden layout
- 4’x 4’ garden layout
- Each design includes a mix of vegetables, flowers, and herbs.
- The designs specify a mix of seeds and seedlings (a.k.a. starts)
- Each design includes a colored layout, shopping list, costs, and reference photo.
- Most of the vegetables are greens that allow for continuous planting throughout the season for more yield.
- The guide includes “how to” instructions and a timeline for how the garden will progress.
- Most of the herbs can be dried at the end of the season for use the rest of the year.
- Some of the flowers have edible blooms.
- Each of these gardens is small.
- The designs bring beauty and aesthetics to a food garden without even really thinking that’s what you are creating, it’s so easy.
- The small scale makes it easy to walk amongst and enjoy continuous harvesting throughout the season, rather than waiting so long for veggies to mature.
Above: More views of the same three designs just after planting, with the sun shining.
The cost of planting this garden
This can vary. Depending on whether you buy fancy organic seeds or seedlings, or from your local big box store or grocery. I use a mix of seeds (average $2.50 per pack) and seedlings/starts (average $4.99 per plant). The average cost is listed with the plan (under $100 per each design, under $200 if you plant all three designs). It is more expensive to use the seedlings/starts but this is an important aspect to easier gardening, to cut yourself a break.
How to use this e-guide
- Choose the plan you want, or two of them, or all three.
- Use my lists to shop for seeds/plants.
- Purchase a few bags of compost/natural fertilizer if you want to enrich the soil. Raised beds need this more than inground gardens. I recommend the no-till method which requires no turning over of the soil.
- Use straws/sticks and string to denote the seed rows.
- Go to town planting. Follow the design which mixes seeds and starter plants and creates an aesthetically pleasing arrangement to look at through the summer.
- I only water every couple of days until germination and the seedlings are a few inches tall, then I water as little as possible (to conserve water). And of course, this all depends on the weather.
Above and Below: in eight weeks (by mid July) the flowers are fully grown and in bloom for a summer of cut bouquets!
How the garden progresses through the summer
- Designed for growing in zones 4-7 (cooler, more Northern USA zones).
- Garden planted in stages starting 1st week in May. This means that you can break it down into manageable tasks. One day plant some seedlings/starts and a couple rows of seeds. A few days later plant some more, and so on. After 7-10 days you will have planted all three gardens (or however many of the plans you decided to plant). I typically visit a couple local nurseries, my local food coop and occasionally a big box store’s nursery to find the variety of seed packs and veggie starts I need. This breaks up the task nicely and makes the outings more fun.
- Seeds will be fully sprouted and a couple of inches tall 2-3 weeks after you plant them (by end of May)
- Harvesting starts by end of June (4-6 weeks after planting) and continues all summer, except for greens that bolt (see info box below) and fennel and carrots which are root vegetables and take until August.
- The Garden is Fully grown and in full bloom by mid-July
- Continue to harvest until October. Herbs, kale and flowers will keep producing for over three months!.
Growing greens that “bolt”
In this garden the cilantro, spinach and arugula will “bolt” after a month or so. This means that the greens get taller (though the spinach does not get very tall) and then shoots are sent up from the plants that have flower blossoms on them. Once this happens, the plant is done producing it’s tasty leaves (they get bitter). You can pull the plants out and plant new seeds for another round of those greens.
Above: Some unusual uses for the greens you grow can be to make sandwich wraps (I made turkey burgers here), using collard green leaves (I like to blanch them but you don’t have to), or to quick pickle the greens (here I pickled radish greens).
Above: June and July bouquets from the garden
June and July flowers from the garden
- Purple Bouquet – Baptista (from a perennial in the yard), Chive blossoms, Salvia.
- Mixed Bouquet – Salvia, Pink Daisies, Yellow Daisies, Peach Snapdragons (annuals I snuck into an open spot in the garden).
- Pink bouquet – Cosmos and Salvia.
Above: September and early October bouquets from the garden
September and early October flowers from the garden
- Yellow Bouquet – Three different types of Calendula.
- Pink Bouquet – Cosmos and Salvia.
- Mixed Bouquet – Salvia and Calendula varieties.
Above: Once late September comes, all the herbs can be cut, bound, and hung inside to dry for use all winter (you can also freeze some that don’t dry well in baggies)
FAQs
Because they give you continuous harvesting. Some greens will bolt after a month such as arugula, cilantro and spinach (you can pull and plant more seeds!), but kale, collards, and cabbage can be harvested throughout the summer. For a small garden, this is preferable to taking up a lot of space for tomatoes or cucumbers that sprawl, are unwieldy and take much of the summer to mature (if you are even lucky).
You do not. If you are replanting in established raised beds, like I am, this is the best case for adding in some fertilizer. Just lay on top using the no-till method.
The design of these gardens helps keep pests out by including flowers, since flowers deter pests and attract good insects!
Above: This design does not specify growing beans or radishes, but quick pickling (and fermenting) is a great way to harvest veggies you can’t eat within a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for recipes about that!
