The Complete Kitchen Garden
Published in 2011 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
An imprint of ABRAMS
Text copyright © 2011 Ellen Ecker Ogden
Illustrations copyright © 2011 Ramsay Gourd
Photographs copyright © 2011 Ali Kaukas
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ogden, Ellen.
The complete kitchen garden / Ellen Ecker Ogden.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-58479-856-9 (alk. paper)
1. Kitchen gardens. 2. Vegetable gardening. I. Title.
SB321.O335 2010
635—dc22
2010032448
Editor: Dervla Kelly
Designer: Pamela Geismar
Production Manager: Ankur Ghosh
The text of this book was composed in Scala, Archer, and Sketch Block
Stewart, Tabori & Chang books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.
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Dedicated to my children Molly and Sam,
the next generation of gardeners.
From Art to the Kitchen Garden
Getting Started
Why a Kitchen Garden?
How to Get Started
Kitchen Gardens
The Salad Lover’s Garden
The Organic Rotation Garden
The Cook’s Garden
The Children’s Garden
The Culinary Herb Garden
The Paint Box Garden
The Patio Garden
The Heirloom Maze Garden
The Garnish Garden
The Chef’s Garden
The Family Garden
The Artist’s Garden
The Country Garden
The Four Friends Garden
Resources
Designing a Kitchen Garden
Preserving the Bounty
A Well-stocked Pantry
Recipe Index
Plant Index
Index
Acknowledgments
I planted my first garden in 1980, marking the perimeters with four sticks and a ball of twine. With a sharp-edged spade, I removed a thick layer of rugged turf, dug up the stony soil to create a reasonably loose pile, then shoveled on some compost. Using the same four sticks and twine, I measured out long, straight rows before planting seeds for basil, lettuce, and arugula. I sprinkled them with water and walked away. I was fresh out of art school and just starting a small design business. I thought this might be a good way to feed myself.
I would be stretching the truth if I said the garden thrived. There was a constant battle with the weeds, and the garden hose didn’t quite reach, so the plants were frequently thirsty. Yet the thrill of dashing to the garden just before dinner to clip a few leaves of frilly Lolla Rossa and crimson Bull’s Blood beet greens for my salad kept me at it. And that thrill gave way to a feeling of pride in growing my own food. I reveled in fewer trips to the grocery store in favor of wandering into the garden with bare feet and a harvest basket. This set in motion the creation of a larger patch the following year, with my husband, and soon our garden covered almost an acre. Since we could buy tomatoes, corn, and cucumbers at the market, but couldn’t always find tender loose-leaf lettuce, baby spinach, piquant sweet basil, or savory fennel leaves for spicing up our salad bowl, we focused on growing crops that were hard to find, with a fragile shelf life, so the time between the garden and the table was always kept to just a few minutes before dinner.
The garden took up more and more of my time; eventually, instead of making art on a canvas, I began to think of myself as a food artist. I built a collage of lettuces splashed with dabs of red orache, fronds of chervil, and rosettes of claytonia. Seeds and plants were my paintbrush, as I combined waves of bronze-tipped lettuce with swirls of magenta radicchio and spikes of blue-green kale, highlighted with accents of brilliant orange nasturtiums. The long, straight rows gave way to fancy arcs and geometric triangles, and I began to look for inspiration from classic European-style kitchen gardeners, with recipes to match.
It wasn’t long before my husband and I were in search of a wider variety of ornamental edibles and began to import seeds for chicories and onions from Italy, mache from Switzerland, along with heirloom lettuce and mesclun from France. Along the way, we discovered seventeenth-century seed recipes for mesclun mixes originally created by French and Italian gardeners for their own kitchen gardens, with fitting names that reflected their origins: Provencal, Misticanza, and Nicoise. We couldn’t get enough of them, and began to order seeds in five-kilo bags. Clearly, our garden project had progressed well beyond growing a few things to eat. So in 1984, we cofounded a seed catalog called The Cook’s Garden, to share our love of European and American heirloom lettuce and salad greens with other gardeners (as well as to justify our buying habits). At first it was just a seasonal business—during the winter, seed envelopes were packed at the kitchen counter, and during the summer, our weekend farm stand overflowed with produce from our gardens.
The seed catalog started as a two-page listing featuring close to 150 different types of exotic lettuce and fancy salad greens with wonderful foreign names—such as Reine des Glaces, Merveille de Quatre Saisons, Brussels Winter Chervil, and Osaka Purple Mustard—that were relatively unknown to American gardeners at the time. Yet we quickly discovered that there were other gardeners who, just like us, were hungry for something out of the ordinary and who shared the desire to plant a vegetable garden with a style that reflected a conscious, connected lifestyle, rather than simply a source of food.
A kitchen garden may be just a fancy name for a vegetable garden located near a kitchen door, filled with tender greens, aromatic herbs, and select fruits that are harvested on a daily basis. Yet it can also be a way of life. A successful kitchen garden engages all of the senses through a rich tapestry of colors, fragrance, and ultimately, flavors. When you cultivate a kitchen garden, you actively engage with your source of food and integrate with your natural surroundings in a way that far surpasses the experience of purchasing food at the market. Growing your own food is truly the next logical step beyond “local.”
In 2009, when the Obama family planted a kitchen garden at the White House, it reignited a trend that had been largely dormant for the past century. The simple act of tilling up the lawn and sowing seeds inspired thousands of families to dig up their own backyards and plant vegetable gardens. This return to our agricultural roots resonated with what Thomas Jefferson once declared the noblest pursuit: farming. The Obamas set the stage for Americans to rediscover the simple pleasures of growing their own food as a welcome alternative to the high cost of packaged foods purchased in supermarkets.
Setting an example is one of the best ways we can effect positive change. When we bring our families together around the table to share our love for good homegrown food, we are cultivating a healthy choice that spreads beyond our own backyard. Teaching basic skills such as how to build a compost pile to keep waste out of landfills, how to encourage natural pollinators like honeybees, and how to cook with simple, whole foods harvested seasonally may seem like small steps, but when we learn to become responsible consumers, we also reclaim our health as a nation.
It’s been thirty years since I planted my first kitchen garden. Now I find it easier to start the plan on a large piece of graph paper, and then map out the space with a stick and a ball of twine. I limit my wish list of seeds and plants to only the foods I can’t buy at the local farmers’ markets, and while I have my favorites, I try planting something new each year that will surprise me and challenge the way I cook.
My kitchen garden has evolved into more than a place to grow beautiful food, and it gives me immense satisfaction to know that I am part of the natural cycle of seasons that make up a year in the garden. From the first early spears of asparagus that shoot up through the soil to the final spreading of compost on the garden beds in the fall, I revel in the privilege of growing my own food and in the connection I have to my land and the wonders of its soil.
Ellen Ecker Ogden
Sowing seeds and watching food grow goes back to the first hunter-gatherers, yet the earliest documented form of orderly kitchen gardens were the ancient Persian gardens from around 1500 BCE. This type of garden, called a Paradise garden, was located within a walled enclosure at the center of a home, and formed an outdoor room for entertaining, contemplation, and listening to poetry or music. The Paradise garden sheltered a vibrant collection of fruits and flowering plants, and always included a water feature in the form of a central fountain that split the garden into four squares symbolizing the four nourishing liquids found in Paradise: milk, honey, wine, and water. Each garden plot represented the four cardinal directions: North, South, East, and West. The Paradise garden style was adopted by the Greeks and Romans, and continued to be a source of culinary as well as aesthetic enjoyment.
During the Medieval era and the fall of the Roman Empire, anything that was considered sensual and pleasurable, which included beautiful gardens, was banned. Monasteries became the disseminators of the church doctrine; kitchen gardens were grown behind high walls and colonnades of tall trees, and were largely the domain of the monks and nuns. They cultivated a much simpler style of garden than was previously enjoyed, focusing on useful medicinal or culinary plants for the benefit of the community. Yet like their Persian precursors, these gardens were laid out in intricately patterned beds with espaliered pear trees, climbing vines, and vegetables planted in geometric grids. These monastery gardens served as a retreat for meditation and prayer, as well as a primary source of nourishment.
In turn, many of the features of these early medieval gardens inspired the gardeners of the Renaissance era. The fanciful parterre garden—featuring clipped yew, boxwood, and herbs planted in ornate patterns—was developed, and the Baroque period took this idea even further, giving birth to the kitchen gardens at Château de Villandry, best known as France’s archetypal potager. Villandry featured seemingly endless geometric parterres edged in immaculately clipped boxwood to create subdivisions for ornamental vegetables and flowers. French and Italian gardeners continued to plant kitchen gardens, and their passion for fresh cuisine has inspired Americans to savor the glorious connection between the garden and the dining table.
In this book you will find a range of kitchen garden designs that bridge the old with the new, building on the classic four-square concept, along with gardens that have contemporary appeal. A kitchen garden goes beyond the simple, straight rows of a vegetable garden to combine art and cuisine in ways that enhance the experience of growing food.
Gardeners can always learn from other gardeners, and I’ll admit that some of my best ideas have come from visiting other gardens. All gardeners are artists, and it’s a bit of a mystery the way we can start with the same materials—seeds, plants, and soil—yet the results are always different. When I plant my lettuce in waves, I think back to a neighbor who painted the landscape from her upstairs window, blending all the patterns together into a patchwork of colors. The tall bamboo teepees at the entrance to my garden for my favorite purple pole beans, Trionfo Violetto, were inspired by a trip to Italy. Edible nasturtiums ramble through my garden, reminiscent of the garden at Giverny, where Monet filled the paths with these brilliant orange, yellow, and mahogany flowers. But when it comes to learning technique, only personal experience will suffice. Like cooking or any of the arts, once a basic foundation of garden skills is established, confidence will follow.
If this is your first garden, take time to study your backyard; follow the direction of the sun and how it moves across the sky in summer and the winter. Watch when a heavy wind blows to establish if you need wind blocks, and notice where the rain collects after a storm to see if you need to create better drainage. While you build your garden, find time to step back and allow your muse to guide you in creating a garden that is as beautiful as a painting and brings in elements that establish your own personal style. This might include ornamental sculpture, espaliered fruit trees, or a simple stone bench. Before sowing seeds, take a pointed stick to draw in the soil and visualize how the plants will fill in together as they grow. This will help you figure out how much room to allow between plants, and where to plant based on their heights. Think of your garden as a blank canvas for ideas.
A kitchen garden goes beyond the simple straight rows of an ordinary garden, to encompass a balance of color, texture, and form that is extraordinary. A true kitchen garden opens your senses in new and inspiring ways, both in the garden and in the kitchen. Plan to keep a sketchbook of ideas and to take notes and photographs to guide you from year to year, learning as you go. You’ll be amazed how much information you can gather from simply observing and exploring the connections that allow all the elements in a garden to work together as a whole.
In this book you will find my own designs along with techniques and organic gardening methods to get you started. I expect you to adapt to fit your own style, your individual landscape, and your personal appetite, because there is always so much more to learn on your own. Plan to visit other gardens, but keep exploring ways to create a kitchen garden that expresses your own personality. Enjoy the process as much as the harvest, because both are equally important.
Soil is the most important component to a successful garden. Before you sow seeds or transplant seedlings, be sure your soil is rich in nutrients, weed free, and will allow roots to expand. Soil is a living, breathing organism and provides the nourishment that allows roots, shoots, and fruits to mature. While most soil contains the basic elements that plants need to grow, these elements are not always in the right proportions. Understanding how all the elements work together to produce the right balance will help you to build a natural blend of nutrient-rich soil that will keep your plants in good health.
Every region of the country has a different soil type, and learning about the soil in your region may help you understand what approach to take in your garden. Start by taking a close look at the texture and composition of your garden soil. Soil is classified according to the size of its mineral particles, and can range from coarse gravel to fine gravel, coarse sand to fine sand, and silt. Each has its own attributes that will affect the growth of your plants. To get a sense of what kind of soil you have in your garden, squeeze a clump in your hand. If it crumbles or runs through your fingers easily, your soil may be sandy. Sandy soil warms up early in the spring, drains easily, and is aerated, so roots expand easily, yet it has no capacity to hold moisture, which means that nutrients will leach out. If your soil clump holds together firmly, it may be clay, which is dense and will hold water and nutrients, but can easily become waterlogged. The ideal blend is sandy loam, which combines the lightness of sand with the nutrients of fertile soil. Sandy loam soil will resemble a piece of dense chocolate cake when gently pressed into a ball.
Maintaining healthy soil is an ongoing process, which involves spreading compost and adding organic fertilizer in the spring and the fall, as well as planting cover crops that will naturally build up nutrients in your soil when edible crops are not growing. Adding aged compost to your kitchen garden will give your soil extra vigor and vitality, as well as encourage beneficial worms and microorganisms to flourish.
Be sure to keep the soil weed free for optimum fertility, and regularly cultivate in-between rows to aerate the roots of the plants.
Soil tests are optional for the home gardener, but they are a good idea, for several reasons. A soil test is easy to do and will help you figure out what quantities of fertilizer and other soil amendments to add to fortify your plants for the growing season. New gardens will especially benefit from testing topsoil for any heavy metal residuals and to make sure that the proportions of soil amendments are adequate for your crops. You can buy soil test kits, though they are not as reliable as tests that are offered through your state’s USDA extension service.
Compost is the recycling of naturally decomposing materials to provide nutrients to your garden soil. Added to your garden at the start of the growing season and again in the fall, compost feeds your plants a blend of organic fertilizer—for free!
What can I turn into compost? It is easy to keep a bucket next to your kitchen sink to collect eggshells, coffee grounds, banana peels, old bread, and other kitchen scraps for a compost pile. Add to this spent garden plants, raked leaves, and grass clippings. Avoid meat, dairy, and other animal-based products.
How do I make a compost pile? If you can make lasagna, you will be able to follow a recipe for compost. The most important thing to remember is to create both wet and dry layers, as well as green and brown ingredients. Start with a bottom layer of twigs or old sunflower stems to allow air to flow up from beneath. Keep the compost covered, to prevent the neighborhood dogs from visiting and moisture from building up. Gardening and basic yard maintenance generate plenty of material, so find a place for both a hot and a cold compost pile.
When is compost ready? When the compost is ready, it should look like soil and smell sweet. When you squeeze a sample in your hand, it should form a loose clump. There should be no large clumps, but plenty of worms.
The Hot Fast Method: This method is contained in a bin and layered with equal portions of high-nitrogen greens (grass clippings, plant cuttings, fruit and vegetable scraps) and browns (fallen leaves, twigs, wood chips, and shredded paper) in order for the materials to properly cook. Bacteria are responsible for breaking down food scraps, and are especially active when combined with fresh air. Ideally, the compost will heat to 120°—160°F to create a natural composting action. Maintaining a high temperature is a critical element for rapid composting, and can be checked by using a compost thermometer or feeling the warmth with your hand when you turn the pile. Proper layering techniques and turning the pile every other week to keep the oxygen flowing will result in compost within three to six months.
The Cold Slow Method: This method requires less science, but it can take up to one or two years for everything to fully decompose. Spent garden plants, weeds, old potted plants, and small twigs are layered with leaves, grass clippings, and wood ash in a loose, open pile. Instead of actively turning this pile, as with the hot method, allow the plants to decompose slowly. In fact, it’s best not to turn this pile more than several times a year. The advantage of this method is that you can incorporate all of your yard waste, resulting in a larger quantity of finished compost for your garden. This method may require sifting the compost through a large mesh screen in order to remove stones and other debris that may not fully break down.
A true kitchen garden is built on a wide range of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs. Knowing what to grow and when to start seeds indoors versus sowing them directly in the garden takes a bit of experience. My own kitchen gardens contain varieties that are not commonly available in garden centers, and each spring, I order fresh seeds from seed catalogs. I have my favorite varieties, but I make a wish list that combines a balance of both “tried and true” and “new and different” varieties to keep the garden fresh.
Seed catalogs are designed to charm the gardener with color photographs. Instead of being seduced by the pictures, learn to read the copy when you are deciding what to order. Look for helpful information such as tips for sowing seeds indoors, the number of days to maturity, descriptions of height, sun or partial-shade requirements, and ideal soil conditions for that plant. Most important (if you’re choosing seeds that will grow into something edible), what does it taste like? After all, you are growing a culinary garden and knowing that the variety you are planting will be the best tasting should be the ultimate goal. Don’t simply settle for the ordinary—go for the flavor.
When your seeds arrive, set up a planting chart based on how long each plant will take to reach maturity and whether the seeds can be planted directly in the garden or should be started early indoors. Planting dates will vary widely across the country; when you start your seeds, be sure you know your region’s frost-free date. Many long-season crops, such as onions, and peppers, can be planted six to eight weeks before the frost-free date, while tomatoes, squash, and fruiting crops should be planted four weeks before this date. Lettuce, peas, and other cool-weather-loving crops can be sown directly in the garden as soon as the soil is prepared.
Each seed variety will germinate at a different range of requirements, but most vegetables require a simple process: Fill plug trays or small pots with fine potting soil, moisten the soil, and press the seeds in to a depth of one and one-half times the size of the seed. Cover with loose potting soil, and gently press so the seeds make contact with the soil. Keep the soil moist and warm until the seeds germinate, then move into a location with full sun or place under grow lights, until the plants are ready to transplant into the garden.
Seeds can also be sown directly in the garden; the process is the same. Mark your rows with a stick and make a straight line with twine. Sprinkle the seeds into the soil, allowing several inches in between. Cover the seed with fine soil, press gently, and water. Germination will vary depending on the season and the variety, but most seeds will germinate within three to ten days. If necessary, thin the rows to allow each plant enough room to grow to full size.
You can collect your own seeds by selecting heirloom varieties and allowing the plants to produce seedpods. Harvest in the fall and keep seeds in a cool, dry location. Plant them again for next year’s garden or pass them along to friends.
As compost breaks down, it will release micronutrients in proper quantities to create nutritionally rich humus, making a lasting contribution to soil nutrition and overall structure. Yet sometimes plants need more of a boost. In fact, plants require sixteen different elements in order to grow, and bagged fertilizer provides three basic building blocks. These work quickly and will give your plants a powerful boost in the short term. Since you are growing food, be sure to select an organic fertilizer rather than a chemical mix.
Each bag will be marked with three numbers separated by hyphens, which are always in the same order and represent the percentage of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in each mixture. For a vegetable garden, it is best to balance the numbers as evenly as possible, such as a 5-3-4 blend.
Here is how each of these ingredients works:
Nitrogen (N) is responsible for the growth of plant leaves and stems. It is beneficial for plants that are grown primarily for their foliage, such as lettuce, spinach, salad greens, kale, collard, and chard. Nitrogen is the element that is used up most quickly, and leafy plants benefit from frequent application, especially in the spring and fall. Yellowish leaves and stunted growth will indicate nitrogen deficiency. Keep the soil healthy with a cover crop such as buckwheat during the summer or winter rye grass for a fall and winter planting, which is then turned into the soil.
Phosphorus (P) is key in the development of fruit and flowers, and is especially good for the general well-being of all your plants. Adequate phosphorus in the soil is especially helpful in preventing transplant shock, and if plants show any sign of poor health, such as purple or yellow foliage, or stunted growth, it may be due to a phosphorus deficiency. Phosphorus is generally available in most soils that have been enriched with compost, but if your soil test indicates that you need more, a handful of bone meal sprinkled evenly over the garden will usually do the trick.
Potassium (K) is essential for root growth, and is especially beneficial to crops that grow primarily underground, such as carrots, beets, onions, and potatoes. A light dusting of ashes from a wood stove added to your finished compost before spreading on the garden is one of the best sources. Remember, a little bit of wood ash goes a long way, and it is easy to add too much potassium to your soil. Do not sprinkle wood ash directly over your garden or in unfinished compost—instead, add it only to your finished compost, since it will prevent the pile from heating to the high temperature necessary for breaking down other components.
Weeds: When it comes to gardening, I make every effort to pull out weeds when they are still young and catch them before they go to seed. This requires a weekly regimen—and, in the height of summer, a daily routine—of plucking weeds, which have a tendency to hide under large-leaved plants. Weeds produce an enormous number of seeds, and one plant can quickly disperse baby weeds in profusion. To prevent weeds from taking over, keep the soil cultivated by gently running a hoe along the row between the plants to dislodge weed seedlings, as well as to aerate the soil so that it can more easily absorb water. Be sure weeds are pulled up with all the roots intact, or they will grow back. It may seem logical to add weeds to your compost pile, since what comes from the garden goes back into the garden, but resist the urge—the fertile soil of your compost pile may actually encourage the weeds to take root again, unless the pile is actively hot. Instead, spread the weeds out in the hot sun for a day, forcing them to wilt completely before they are added to your pile.
Water: Thirsty plants are hungry plants; they need water in order to absorb nutrients in the soil and to maintain strong leaves and stems. Plant roots are hydrotropic, however, which means they move in the direction of water. A light sprinkling in hot weather may do more harm than good, since the roots will grow upward to reach the water. Overhead sprinklers waste water, and may spread disease by means of the soil splashing onto the leaves. Instead, consider directing water to the roots through a soaker hose or a hose with a spigot that drips at the base of the plant, exactly where water is most needed.
Mulch: A top dressing of hay, wood chips, gravel, compost, seaweed, newspaper, or other natural material that is used primarily to retain moisture and prevent weeds from germinating is called mulch. In a vegetable garden, mulch is used selectively around plants such as tomatoes and cucumbers to keep their roots moist, or as a path material to indicate the area for walking. The type of mulch you choose will depend largely on what is available locally, but keep it as natural as possible. If you live near the sea, collect seaweed for a naturally nutrient-rich resource. Many gardeners prefer straw, since it is fairly inexpensive, biodegrades over time, and can be added to the compost pile in between layers. Mulch can also harbor leaf-eating insects, such as slugs, snails, and ear wigs, so if you notice that the leaves of your plants are vanishing, consider removing the mulch.
Enclosing the perimeter of your kitchen garden with a low stone wall, a boxwood hedge, a row of espaliered fruit trees, or a rustic split-rail fence will do more than simply keep out dogs and deer. A distinctive edging creates a border, as well as a visual transition, between where the lawn ends and the garden begins. A tall wall creates privacy and can be an ideal backdrop for a trellis support, while a short wall is adequate for simply defining a separate space. Consider the type of fence or border that fits your particular garden—not only how essential it is as a barrier to rabbits and other small animals that love to visit gardens, but also how important it is to defining your own style.
Here are some popular options:
Stone Walls: There are many reasons to choose stones as the foundation for a garden bed, especially if you live in an area where these natural beauties are plentiful. Stones are durable, unique, and just plain gorgeous when combined with plants. In cooler climates, stones have the added asset of absorbing natural heat, thus providing the soil and roots with extra warmth in the early spring for a jump on the season and in the late fall to extend the season a little longer.
Picket or Split-Rail Fence: For rustic style and simplicity, consider natural wood. A wood fence provides a natural trellis for vining plants, such as pole beans, cucumbers, peas, and morning glories, to ramble upon. Also, it is easy to wrap wire within the fence to create a more secure barrier against groundhogs, rabbits, or other small animals that may visit your garden. Consider building an arbor over the gate, to create a bit of mystery within.
Evergreen or Boxwood Hedge: