Kitchen Garden

Indulge in the simple comforts of growing fruits, flowers and vegetables at your doorstep.

What could be more comforting than a garden that gives sustenance to both body and soul? This is the essence of the

kitchen garden. Coming from a gardening family that was never really separated from a small plot, even when living in an apartment, I came to take the luxury of harvesting herbs, vegetables and flowers almost for granted.

My parents had been gardening since the 1930s. Then the Second World War came along, and with it backyard Victory Gardens, planted to help the war effort. These backyard gardens supplied more than 43 percent of all edible domestic produce. My grandparents, as had their parents before them, considered kitchen gardening a necessity: In their day, what appeared on the table was more than likely the fruit of their own labor. Frugal immigrants that my ancestors were, they would never have entertained the thought of paying for what they could so easily produce themselves, even on a very small city lot. Today, though, that concept of growing one's own food has become far less commonplace. But the idea is certainly something worth considering, especially when one factors in the high cost of quality organic flowers, herbs, vegetables and berries -- much of which can be raised with ease if you keep a few simple tips in mind.

Whether you're starting a new kitchen garden or reorganizing an existing one, the first, and most important, thing to remember is to resist biting off more than you can chew. Seduced by lush images of kitchen garden extravaganzas promoted in the glossy pages of books and magazines, many an ambitious beginner opens up so much ground for planting that by the middle of summer the plot turns into a weedy mess. In despair, the overwhelmed first-timer throws in the trowel. What no one tells you is that those huge gardens that tempt you in books and on television are often tended by a bevy of paid laborers and professionals. Make no mistake about it: A kitchen garden requires hours of work each week, both in terms of upkeep and harvesting (which is no small labor in itself, but ever so pleasing). So unless you intend to foot the bill for a maintenance staff, start small. Remember, you can always expand next year.

Try to keep the kitchen garden close to the kitchen. Don't make the mistake I did when planning my first one: By locating my most productive plot as far away from the house as possible, I not only made it necessary to tote the harvest a great distance, but by siting the garden outside my day-to-day transit areas I missed out on one of the great pleasures of a kitchen garden -- popping out my backdoor to snip some fresh herbs, to harvest a few sun-ripened tomatoes or to pluck a crisp cucumber to add to the meal that's about to be served. Just remember that the site you choose will absolutely and without exception need to have full sun (at least eight hours a day).