Planting Your Kitchen Garden

The dictionary says that a gourmet is a connoisseur in eating and drinking who discriminatingly appreciates differences in flavor or quality. A "gourmet cook" might be defined as one who uses herbs and wine with taste and flair. But even for the everyday three-meals-a-day busy mother of a hungry family, using home-grown herbs and vegetables will add to the fun and pleasure of cooking. Only from one's own kitchen garden, be it indoor or outdoor, large or small, can such fresh green fare be chosen.

-Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens by Mary Mason Campbell

Are you the gourmet type of cook or peasant cook? It doesn't matter! In the summer you can be a blend of both! That is, if you have a kitchen garden. One of my very favorite books of all time is Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens by Mary Mason Campbell. It is one of those books that I keep nearby for moments when I am nursing the baby and can steal a few bits of gardening wisdom or just read a few lines of prose that is scattered throughout the book. The illustrations were done by my favorite artist, Tasha Tudor, and they are just amazing and wholesome. This is an older book and is out of print now, but you might try to find yourself a copy on http://www.half.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/. If those two fail, try http://www.alibris.com/.

According to Kitchen Gardens, you should keep the following herbs growing in your kitchen garden:

Angelica

Basil

Sweet Bay

Salad Burnet

Chervil

Chives

The Cresses

Dill

Lovage

Sweet Marjoram

Oregano

Mint

Parsley

Rosemary

Sage

The Savories

Tarragon

Thyme

I would personally add Lavender, Cilantro, and Lemon Balm. I would add even more for medicinal and tea purposes, but this is primarily for cooking.

Flavor o' Summer between your teeth,

And those at home to love you;

Hearth and a cellarful underneath,

And God and a roof above you!

-Holfman F. Day

The Old Farmer's Almanac

Eight Vegetable Favorites:

Beets

Carrots

Cucumbers

Lettuce

Onions

Peppers

Radish

Tomato

Five Elbowroom Vegetables:

Asparagus

Beans

Sweet Corn

Garden Peas

Rhubarb

I would personally add a few additional "must-haves" to her list of kitchen garden produce:

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Eggplant

Zucchini

Potatoes

Strawberries

With all of this fresh produce and herbs, you should seldom have to visit a grocery store all summer long!