Kitchen gardens, or potagers, are wondrous areas where edible gardens are united with flowering plants such as beauty. For centuries those gardens have offered a readily available source of fruit, veggies and fruits in easy reach of the kitchen. Nowadays people are rediscovering the benefits of kitchen gardens — not only as a source of fresh, local food, but also as a way to add interest, and even beauty, to the landscape.
I recently got to see the kitchen gardens in the University of Tennessee, where elevated beds of veggies are surrounded by blossoms laden with berries, aromatic herbs and colorful flowers. Come and see the terrific things growing within this kitchen backyard and get tips for creating your own.
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A row of lovely flowers growing in quite unconventional containers, galvanized trash cans, greets you in your way into the backyard.
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Tulips, pansies, violas and lilies-of-the-valley look amazing despite their digs. The flowers really stand out when grouped together in containers of differing heights.
To create your own trash can planter:
Drill five or even two drainage holes around the bottom of the trash can.Fill the bottom half of this may with empty 2-liter soda bottles to help fill empty space and preserve soil. Add potting soil and crops.
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Garbage cans aren’t the sole unique places where crops are growing in this garden. The bed of the old, rusty truck functions as the ideal planter.
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Potatoes do. Plant them in good-quality potting mix and apply an all-purpose organic fertilizer. This bed will yield a harvest of potatoes.
guide to growing potatoes
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Behind a fence filled withblackberries and raspberries you can catch a glimpse of the wonders that await you within the kitchen garden.
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Numerous raised beds including fruit, vegetables, fruits and flowers greet you at the entry. The flowers are pretty, but they also attract pollinators to the garden, and a few, like nasturtiums and violas, are edible.
Discover more about companion planting
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The leafy greens within this elevated bed don’t just taste delicious; they’re also quite attractive in their contrasting colors.
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Swiss chardcan as readily be planted for the beauty of the colorful stalks, instead of as food. But you can have.
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A number of herbaceous plants have been grown along the inside fence of their kitchen garden. Flowering chives, creeping thyme and oregano are just a few that you will find surrounding the kitchen garden.
More guides to growing herbs
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At first glance this elevated bed seems to be filled with weeds, but if you have a closer look, you’ll realize that there’s more to the story. What seems to be a weed is really a plant known as hairy vetch, which functions as a cover crop. Cover crops are planted during the period between vegetable plants because they add nitrogen to the soil.
Hairy vetch may be planted in late summer and then plowed beneath the soil in spring. It’s going to break down, adding nitrogen to the soil and making it ready for a new crop of veggies.
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Flowers, fruits and herbs combine to create this vertical backyard, one of the most recent gardening styles. Purple ‘Wave’ petunias, orange pansies, rosemary, thyme and berries make for a gorgeous living wall.
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Another popular gardening fashion is square-foot vegetable gardening, which modulates the number of vegetables you can grow in a small amount of space.
More ways to grow edibles in small spaces
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New plant introductions are always exciting to hear about. What’s even better is when you get to watch them. This ‘Toscana’ strawberry plant has beautiful red flowers.
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Catmint may be used as both an herb and a decorative perennial from the garden. This newest introduction, ‘Purple Haze’, has beautiful flowers.
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This handmade compost bin appears almost fairly with its purple coat of paint, don’t you believe?
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If you haven’t ever noticed an artichoke plant in individual, you might be amazed by how big it is. Artichokes are just another example of an edible plant which may be applied as a decorative plant. If artichokes aren’t your favorite vegetable, then you can allow them to form big, beautiful flowers instead.
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Beans are beginning their upward ascent together this bamboo trellis. Obviously, you can purchase a fancy trellis if you like, but trellises don’t need to be elaborate; you may create one readily by linking together sticks or shrub branches with twine.
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Did you know that lettuce enjoys garlic? It is true. The garlic planted through the middle of the raised bed can help to keep away bad bugs from your leaf lettuce.
Kitchen gardens are a superb way to grow a number of edible plants in a gorgeous garden setting. All you’ll need are a couple of of your favorite produce, an herb or 2 and a few flowering annuals. Plant them in a large container, in a raised bed or perhaps at the floor, and love.
More: guides to edible gardening