Here in my country,most people plant vegetables behind their kitchen.We call that our kitchen garden.It is usually a very small section,where initially people should plant flowers,but because many of us are economical,we prefer to grow our own vegetables instead of buying from the market. I have actually learned a lot about farming,since I started working on my kitchen garden.
Sounds like a nice idea. I would prefer eating vegetables I grow myself too but I have no where I can grow them. I feel this way they a safer to eat since they are naturally grown and we can avoid using pesticides which can be harmful. Besides I have heard they tend to taste better.
There are more and more people these days that are deciding to grow their own veg. If I had the space then i would probably give it a go as well but living in a city centre then the space is restricted. I wouldn't even grow my own veg for the economy and to save money, but mainly because I've heard that home grown veg is also tastier so if you can do it, then there's really no reason not to.
Our kitchen has a backdoor that goes directly to the backyard which is partly a vegetable garden. We have ginger, lemon, pandan (for the leaves), lemon grass, red pepper, and some other vegetables that we consume from time to time. I also have an extended garden in the vacant lot beside our property where we grow some crops and also vegetables. Aside from economical, I am assured of the quality of vegetables that we have - they are genuinely organic.
Along with the location of where you live, and ho much space you've got, a lot is going to depend on the weather as well. Here in the UK, while we can grow a lot of vegetables ourselves, the climate isn't really nice enough to grow a lot of things so again we can be at a bit of a disadvantage. Some people who do live in towns are lucky enough to have an allotment where they can have a greenhouse, but if you aren't lucky enough to have one of them, we are stuck to just buying from the stores, paying the higher price, and for inferior quality.
Even though I have a small kitchen garden, more than 75 percent of my vegetable needs is fulfilled from my kitchen garden. I grow spices, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. I don't buy garlic, turmeric and ginger. I produce these spices/herbs in enough quality for the year. I grow potatoes, and when the harvest is good, I will be able to feed on my potatoes for six months.
I wish I had such a space and luxury as I love the idea of fresh from garden. Unfortunately, my environment doesn't allow gardening however, I have still planted chillies and coriander in a pot. Although, I use more chillies than the plant can supply, I am still grateful that it helps me.
We have a kitchen garden as well a full garden of our own. My wife is so fond of gardening that she has converted one part of our top floor into a garden by growing different plants of tomato, pepper, bitter gourd, bottle gourd and different kind of beans besides certain flower plants like roses and marry gold. She use even poly bags and and used containers for her gardening purpose.
Sometimes I think the description 'kitchen garden' can be mis-leading, and people often think that they have to have a large plot of land to grow all their on vegetables but that's not always the case. As you say, there is a lot that can just be grown in a pot or a window box, so just because you might not have a garden, that doesn't mean that you can't have a 'kitchen garden' after all.
I think the term kitchen garden denotes what you grow for your own kitchen's use. It doesn't mean that you need a space adjoining to your kitchen or a door leading to a garden but whatever you grow for your own use in whatever space is available to you. We have enough space for different kind of fruit plants but my wife really loves her gardening and shows me everything that she plucks from her efforts.
Terrace kitchen garden is becoming popular in our country nowadays. As one of the major reasons behind deadly diseases like cancer is the pesticides and other poisonous substances in vegetables/fruits , people are becoming more health conscious these days. We can grow a major part of our daily vegetables from a mid sized garden without much effort. This is possible even for whose who live in apartments. I have seen people using their balcony for container gardening. As I got some land I have a nice vegetable garden in the backyard and also got a lot of fruit trees around. I also maintain a terrace garden with drip irrigation system installed.
@luckycharm Besides terrace garden the rooftop garden is becoming as popular in our country and you will be surprised to note that many companies are offering financial and technical support if you have space on your roof and willing to grow mushroom. They will setup everything for you and even buy the produce at a reasonable rate.
The kitchen garden is separate from the the regular garden and has a lot of ornamental types of flowers, both edible and nonedible. Also herbs are planted with the vegetables as well to add some beauty to this little plot outside the kitchen door. This is more of a aesthetic and beauty type of area that the french call potager,and also sometimes others call it a cottage garden.
