Kitchen Gardening, a Great Way to Grow Your Own Food

What’s a kitchen garden and why do you need one? Come along, friend. I’ll explain. And it’ll be the best backyard decision you make this year.

What is a Kitchen Garden?

There are two definitions of a kitchen garden. One is what can be grown in your actual kitchen inside your home. Examples can be growing celery or romaine from scraps in mason jars on the counter or herbs in your windowsill.

Perhaps one example I am trying to master is the tray of microgreens under grow lamps and on heating mats on a shelf in the dining room. These are easy and fun for getting the kids involved in the process of growing your own food.

The other type of kitchen garden is outside and relatively close to your house. This could also be called the “summer vegetable garden”. Some of us Southerners grow these in long rows to supply copious amounts of one vegetable to “put up” for the winter by canning, dehydrating, or freezing. One friend calls her family “mess farmers”. They grow a large mess of vegetables in the summer to put up for the winter and once that summer crop is done, so are they.

Kitchen Garden is the 2023 Flex

You may be thinking that the real flex of 2023 is going to be the pasture raised, free ranged chicken egg and to that, I say you may be correct. But not everyone has access to an area on their property to raise their own chickens properly.

You might even be thinking that you don’t have the space to grow a kitchen garden or maybe your HOA won’t permit it. To that, I answer– where there is a will, there is a way! Remember the two options there are for kitchen gardens from above. One can be outside and one can be inside your house.

I have an Instagram friend who lives in a high-rise apartment who gardens! If Dani can do it, you can too. Go check out her inspiring account. Windowsill and hydroponic gardening are doable with the will. The skill can be learned.

The 2023 flex is growing your own food. It’s a sad world we live in that most food now comes in bags and boxes with warning labels and ingredients we can’t understand. We just do not have the time or energy to research the safety of those ingredients either. And we shouldn’t have to! But here we are. Even “real food” like fresh vegetables from the local market can’t always be trusted. Finally, organic pricing isn’t always within budget.

The Not-An-Argument Argument

Many folks will argue “why pay in time, soil, and fertilizer costs to grow a tomato when you could have bought it for $0.89 at the grocery store?” To that, I say “if only it were that innocent”. Big box stores and business do not have your best interest in mind. They only want your dollars. So, to me, this phrase isn’t even up for debate.

Even if it’s just a few herbs in your kitchen garden you don’t have to purchase at the store, then you’re doing well, my friend.

Any Space, Anywhere Kitchen Garden

Let’s go ahead and tackle this one because I know it’ll be the main objection to gardening. The “I don’t have the space” or “my HOA says I can’t grow anything in my yard”. Two work-arounds for those objections. Remember, you are on this blog reading this post right now because you either want to garden or you’re interested in it. Keep your heart and mind open to these suggestions to see which one speaks to you and your circumstances.

Container Gardening- Inside

Small pot, kitchen window herb growing has been around for many years because it works! You can grow basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, and many others in your kitchen window.

Maybe you’re like me and your kitchen is the darkest room in the house. If you’re more concerned about growing food than aesthetics, then grab some grow lights and set up a spot in the corner. Maybe you find the most southern facing window in your house and set up a small table with your containers there to grab the most natural sunlight possible.

Container Gardening- Outside

If your HOA doesn’t mind containers (or what they don’t know, won’t hurt them), get some pretty containers and grow some tomatoes, peppers, and herbs on your patio or along the fence line. Perhaps sit a container or two inside your home’s flower beds to look the part of landscaping. This is an area of gardening you will have to get creative in if you have restriction within your housing area.

If the type of container isn’t any issue, then some options I’ve seen are food-grade buckets like ones flour come in (reach out to your local bakeries and ask), food grade feed bags (not paper ones), and concrete blocks with the square holes in the middle.

Bonus sneaky HOA-living tip: plant a rosemary bush in your flower bed landscaping! They are pretty, cold-hardy and edible. Be sure to search your zip code for your hardiness zone and buy outside plants according to your zone’s hardiness for best kitchen garden growth results.

Garage Gardening

As for the feed bags, I am currently experimenting with growing potatoes in a chicken feed bag in my garage with grow lights. So far it’s working. The final outcome is to be determined. I’ll update here when I can.

You could also set up your containers of herbs in your garage as well under LED grow lights. Most grow lights come with automatic timers so you don’t have to do anything but set them one time and then water your plants as needed.

If your garage has windows, put your set up near that. If not, open the garage door as often as you can on sunny days. The more natural sunlight, the better.

In addition to lighting, warmth does play a large part in garage kitchen gardening if your garage is not insulated or fully finished. There are options for that but you will need to do a little more independent research and choose wisely for safety purposes.

Back Door Kitchen Gardening

Now, back to kitchen gardening when no restrictions are in place for your location.

One of my favorite places to be in my home is the kitchen. It used not be that way. I used to see my kitchen as a chore. The dishes, the meals, the planning and prepping, the cleaning of countertops and sinks, etc. But in the last year or so, God has truly shown me that the kitchen is my happy place. It is a place where I can provide for my family a good, healthy, wholesome meal.

A Mini Sermon

Today’s society may laugh at that or possibly cringe at the anti-feminism of loving the kitchen and serving my family. To that, I laugh. Elohim created me as a woman who provides much differently than a man. I understand that not many women will agree and that’s a-okay by me; however, if you’d like more information on this, try here: Genesis 1:27, 1 Corinthians 11:3, Genesis 2:24, Genesis 2:18, Titus 2:1-10.

First of all, pray and ask God for guidance and discernment before deep diving or knee-jerk reacting to the “wives are to be submissive to their husbands” part. Trust me, I’ve been there too. I am woman, hear me roar and all that jazz. But God. Always But God. He convicted me on many levels and occasions regarding the role of woman and wife. I asked Him to and He did.

I DIGRESS! Didn’t mean to take you to church BUT GOD… where He guides, He provides and I just felt called to add that detour into this post.

Let’s get back on track.

Outside Your Kitchen Window

From my kitchen window I can see my kitchen garden. And it is a beautiful sight! That has been the vision since the day we planned our “forever home” on our family’s farm. For the record, we did not inherit land from family, we purchased it. Our family commercial farms now and homesteading most definitely skipped a generation with us. Most of what I’ve learned about gardening and homesteading has been through research and trying it.

I told my husband from the beginning of our home building process how I wanted an “edible backyard”. I dreamt of “flower beds” being herbs and berry bushes, a row garden for spring, summer, and fall vegetables, and a greenhouse in the corner for year-round tomatoes.

Now, we have lived here almost 8 years, growing on our homestead up. Many things have taken that many years to come to fruition. Baby steps are so very important to homesteading and even kitchen gardening. Try not to bite off more than you can chew. I’ve found starting with herbs, tomatoes, and pepper plants is a great place to start because they are fairly easy to maintain and fun to watch grow. An added bonus is these three grow well together and often pair well in the kitchen. Think pasta sauce, salsa, pico de gallo, cold side salads, etc.

Raised Bed Gardening

I’ve discovered there are many ways raised bed gardens can become your kitchen garden. Soon I plan to share how we do our raised bed gardening and the edits we have had to make in the last two years since we switched from rows to raised. As they say, experience is the best teacher.

Originally I wanted raised beds to help with weed control and my aging knees. I quickly learned that raised beds have many added benefits to your garden including added pesticide-free pest control (adding hoops and netting to the bed). More on that later.

Raised beds can be in those concrete blocks I mentioned earlier; simply widening, squaring, and adding soil to a plot of yard; or adding walls in the form of wood or metal. I have learned in the last three years the importance of soil quality and depth of soil being crucial aspects of a successful garden.

Why Do I Need a Kitchen Garden?

Finally, the goal of a kitchen garden is to provide your family a meal you can be proud of because you grew it (or most of it) yourself. It’s being able to easily access fresh ingredients for cooking. Kitchen gardening is one of the more easy ways to begin your homesteading journey.

Additionally and this reason to kitchen garden is often overlooked… free therapy. No, I am not saying having a garden will solve all of your problems but I am saying it won’t hurt your mental health. There is something to be said about dirty fingernails and daily growth checks. Watching something you’ve nurtured grow into its potential can be inspiring if you let it.

So, why do you need a kitchen garden? Friend, if at this point in this post, you’ve not found its importance, you may want to keep researching.

To recap:

• Fresh food
• Trusted food
• Edible landscaping
• Entry into homesteading
• Free therapy

Are you ready to start yet?

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