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A Cook’s Kitchen
On this page you’ll find information about kitchen gardens for homeowners and cooks, including:
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- The long history of potage and kitchen gardens.
- The vegetables, fruit, berries, greens, roots, and herbs kitchen gardeners grow.
- Indoor plantings for a kitchen garden.
- Kitchen garden plant care.
- The most popular culinary herbs to grow in a kitchen garden.
Introducing Kitchen Gardens
Kitchen gardens—the French refer to theirs as le jardins fruitiers et potagers—grow food intended for immediate kitchen use and for making rustic meals or fine cuisine.
Of course, all vegetable gardens grow produce, leafy greens, fruit and berries destined for the table. These carefully nurtured gardens focus on providing cooks produce of the highest quality, using both indoor and outdoor plantings.
Plants in the Kitchen
The kitchen is the hub of activity in most homes. Fresh herbs grown in containers make this popular area come alive. A selection of live and growing herbs does triple duty by greening the room, inspiring the cook, and provides fresh, on-demand seasonings for unique recipes.
Plants in containers are more than decorative additions to the kitchen. With their excellent drainage and simple care, they’re perfect for herbs. Herbs are plants that often do best when kept on the dry side with intermittent waterings [see Planting Herbs in Containers].
Given adequate light most herbs grow well indoors. Good choices include low-growing basil, chamomile, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme.
You’ll need just a few herbs at a time. Grow them in several small pots, in a terra-cotta strawberry pot with planting holes all around the container, or in a mixed container with several different herbs.
Large and airy open-style kitchens are ideal for herbs. Many have built-in, tiled windowsills ideal for sun-loving plants.
If you have the space, consider a baker’s rack brimming with fresh herbs and small-fruited plants. Those with less space or light may still choose plants to cascade down the side of refrigerator. Perch others atop a kitchen cabinet near a window.
In general, humidity is higher in the kitchen than other areas of the home. Use that to your advantage. Choose plants that thrive in moist conditions. Remember, however, that humidity may drop if you use your kitchen less often for a time.
Cooking often releases grease that could coat and smother your herbs’ foliage or leaves. Woody plants such as rosemary and thyme tend to hold up better than do herbs with softer, more delicate foliage.
Plan to clean your herb plant leaves on a regular basis by gently washing their foliage in water and allowing them to dry whenever you water them deeply.
Remember practical requirements, too. Because the kitchen is a working area, safety considerations are of first importance.
When not being used, move your plants away from the stove and oven. Place them away from other busy locations where they might be a hazard, block passages, or suffer heat damage.
Choosing Herbs for Kitchen Gardens
In general, there are two categories of herbs—those that prefer warm, sunny locations, and the remainder that need a little more shade and more moisture. Here are the specific growing requirements for a number of popular kitchen herbs. You’ll find many others in the Herbs listings:
Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum): This warm-season annual herb is best planted in the spring and summer months. It can be grown from seed or plants. Indoors, place it on a sunny windowsill or close to plant lights so that it receives many hours of bright illumination. Outdoors, choose a sunny spot and grow it from April to September. Keep evenly moist and pinch off blooms to keep new foliage developing.
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum): A perennial bulbous-colony plant that does well in a sunny window or outdoors in beds with rich, moist soil. Grow it either from seed or starts taken by dividing the colony.
Mint (Mentha spp.): This perennial herb requires constant moisture and, when grown indoors should be placed off to the side of the window as it grows better in filtered sunlight. It grows best from cuttings. Outdoor plantings should also be in containers, because mint is very invasive if planted directly into garden soil.
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum): You can grow curly or flat-leafed (Italian), tender-perennial parsley. Provide it with moist soil and place it in filtered sunlight. This plant is technically a biennial but is generally grown as an annual from seed or plants. Speed seed germination before sowing by soaking in warm water 12 to 24 hours.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis): This long-lived perennial plant can survive indoors and outdoors for many years if given the right conditions. The prostrate variety (‘Prostratus’) is your best choice. Give rosemary bright light and allow the soil to approach dryness before watering. Grow from plants or stem cuttings.
Sage (Salvia officinalis): There are many varieties of sage, a perennial plant. Place in bright light and allow the soil to approach dryness before watering. It can be grown from seed, plants, or cuttings.
Garden Thyme (Thymus vulgaris): There are many varieties of thyme, also a perennial plant. Your best choices are low-growing, trailing varieties. A perennial, this herb can be grown from seed, plants, or tip cuttings taken in spring. Place in bright light and allow soil to approach dryness before watering.