subject: How to Start Your Own Mini Garden in Your Kitchen [print this page] How to Start Your Own Mini Garden in Your Kitchen
A garden is a wonderful thing. It provides many hours of pleasure as you lovingly tend to your garden seeds and watch them grow. When harvesting season comes around, those garden seeds have become juicy and delicious fruits and vegetables that you can cook in your favourite recipes or eat fresh. The taste of crisp garden peas, juicy sun-warmed strawberries, or sweet baby carrots is a delicious reward for your gardening efforts.
Also, keeping a garden is better for the environment, because you will be reducing greenhouse emissions by producing your own food rather than buying supermarket goods that are shipped halfway around the world. You will also save money on your grocery shopping, and you can be sure that your home-grown produce is organic and free of nasty chemicals.
However, what if you live in an apartment building or small townhouse with not enough land to plant a proper garden? Don't worry, you can still benefit from growing your own produce, even if you live in a house with no outdoor space. You can build your own mini-garden right in your own kitchen!
Planning and Preparation
The first step is to plan for your kitchen garden and go on a shopping trip to buy all of the garden seeds, potting soil, and pots that you will need. Decide which vegetables and herbs you would like to grow, so that you know which types of garden seeds you need to buy. Think about which garden seeds are more suited to growing indoors. For example, if you have a very small countertop you will not have room to grow a full sized pumpkin in your kitchen! Leaf lettuces are very easy to grow from seed in a small window box, as they require little space. Any type of herbs will be easy to grown in your kitchen, and Spinach and Kale also work well. You could also use a short rooting variety of carrot or beet. If you choose to grow tomatoes, remember that they will need a deep pot and a stake to hold them up.
Setting up the Area
Now that you have acquired all of your garden seeds, you need to set up the special section of your kitchen where they will grow. This can be as simple as a few small pots on the windowsill, to installing an actual window box. Wherever you set up your indoor garden, make sure that it receives plenty of sunlight and is out of reach of dogs, cats and small children.
Taking Care of Your Garden
Check on your garden every day, and make sure that you water your plants frequently to make sure that the soil stays moist. Each vegetable will have a different watering requirement, so read the information on the seed packet. If you will be away on holiday, ask a neighbour to water your garden for you so your plants do not die.
As long as you take good care of your kitchen garden, you can look forward to being rewarded by fresh and delicious produce in a few months!
