There's nothing like cooking with fresh produce and what better
way to have them readily available then to grow your own kitchen
garden! A kitchen garden not only gives you good fresh produce
but it also adds a bit of interest to your yard. It can be as
simple as just a few herbs or you can go all out and grow
vegetables too.
Fruit, vegetables and herbs are very rewarding to grow and
there's an extra special flavor to produce you've grown
yourself. Plus you know that no pesticides or chemicals have
been used when you grow it yourself.
While cooking with fresh foods you've grown yourself might sood
great, be warned, a kitchen garden is going to be very
labor-intensive. If you don't like gardening or working outside,
you might be better off getting your produce at the grocery
store. The only way you're going to get a good healthy crop of
fruit, vegetables and herbs is by lavishing tender loving care
and attention on them.
If you do decide that a kitchen garden is for you, start growing
early and you may produce a bountiful crop weeks ahead of the
normal time. This will give you a good harvest during a time
when those fruits and vegetables are particularly expensive in
the store.
You can make your kitchen garden as functional and attractive as
possible with careful planning. If space is at a premium you can
choose some of the more decorative vegetables and herbs and
plant them in your flower beds.
Make sure you pick a sunny site in your garden as most herbs and
vegetables need the sun to do well. If you are growing fruit
trees, you should ensure that they do not cast a shadow over the
vegetables and herbs.
When planting your herbs, remember that they will stay green
almost all year so make sure you plan for how they will contrast
with the existing plants. Tall herbs can be planted at the back
of a traditional flower garden and low-growing herbs make
excellent flower garden borders.
If you don't have a lot of garden space, you can plant herbs in
containers and they will do well. You can also plant many
vegetables in containers. Peas, potatoes and tomatoes are just a
few that will do well.
Some vegetables are even attractive enough to be planted amongst
the flowers - but remember that you are going to have gaps once
the vegetables are harvested.
Many people think you need acres of land to have fruit trees,
but there is a large range of fruit that you can grow even if
you have a small yard. Small apple trees can even grow in pots
on the patio and strawberries do well in containers. There's
even varieties of cordon-trained apples and pears that can be
grown against a garden fence.
If you want to enjoy the flavor of fresh fruits, vegetables and
herbs in your gourmet cooking, there really is no reason at all
why you can't have the joy of growing and harvesting food for
your own kitchen table in your own kitchen garden, no matter how
small the plot.
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