How to Design a Kitchen Garden for One or Two People

You won't need a farm to feed two people, just a well-planned kitchen garden. Perk up your taste buds at every meal - grow fresh herbs, a veggie or two, and plenty of salad greens.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Garden Hoses
• Garden Sundials
• Plants
• Tomato Cages
• Trellises
• Pencils
• Graph Papers
• Pencils
• Pencils
• Plants

1. Find a sunny space about 6 feet square for your kitchen garden. Make it near the kitchen and a water source, preferably with an eastern exposure.

2. Draw the space on a piece of graph paper and make a list of herbs, greens and vegetables. Consult eHows on growing vegetables to be sure your favorites can thrive where you live.

3. Organize your plant list by size and season. Know how big a head of lettuce gets and when to plant parsley in your climate.

4. Remember to include edible flowers such as pansies, borage and nasturtiums in your design. Expand your cooking palette while you enjoy their beauty in the kitchen garden.

5. Figure out how much is enough for one or two people to eat. One cherry tomato plant can easily bear 30 lbs. of fruit, but four heads of lettuce can go in two weeks - plan for your appetite(s).

6. Make space in your design for a central focal point - a sundial is traditional, but a tripod trellis in the center for cucumbers or pole beans is also nice.

7. Mark off the sketch into square-foot blocks and fill them with the plants you want to grow. Divide the whole plan into quarters: one for herbs, two for greens and other vegetables, and one for edible flowers or perennial vegetables like asparagus.

8. Use a step-down design to maximize sunlight to every plant. Put the tallest plant or trellis at the center, then peppers, dill, and dwarf okra, and finally greens and creeping herbs at the bed's edge.

9. Plan for necessary irrigation. Let a soaker hose snake through your design.

Tips & Warnings

• Plant greens closer together than in other gardens, then harvest leaves while still small and tender.
• Look for bush varieties of melons and cucumbers to save space.

on 11/22/2005 Planting basil and/or marigolds among your tomato plants helps to keep them bug-free!