A garden is such a magical place. Its a place of wellness, healing and creative inspiration. It's also one of the things I am most passionate about.

A lot of what we eat comes from right here on our homestead. Pure, organic food is very important to us and a lot of what I do around here revolves around food.

The kitchen garden is one of my favourite places to spend time on the homestead. The garden at first glance has relatively conventional and orderly rows but inside those beds it is a beautiful & diverse chaos! (just like nature intended).

Sometimes 5-6 varieties of plants will be on one bed and often a surprise volunteer will pop up from a past growing season making things even more interesting. All of this diversity means that we work at combating pests, nutritional deficiencies and other issues a lot less. The plants really seem to love this arrangement too!

Walk With Me Through The Kitchen Garden

On the short path to the garden gate there is a big oregano bush, all kinds of wild plants and a big rose bush. We make jams, jellies, syrups and a whole bunch of other things from the rose petals and hips (as well as from many of the other wild plants that grow here).

There's a baby plum tree, wild strawberries and even some rhubarb tucked in here. I even have a big bush of fireweed. It reminds me of home and the flowers are tasty! I honestly don't know all of the plants that live in this space yet and new ones show up all the time.

At the gate you'll walk under the rustic sticks and twigs arbour that is twisted with grape vines. To the left there is a wall of grapes running the length of the front fence. This wall of grape vines provides essential shade to the garden.

This is what grows near the fence of the garden. It's a mishmash of wild flowers, chives, herbs. I don't know what some of the plants are yet but I'm working on it.

Here's another view of what's growing beside the gate before you enter the garden. The bees often have parties in here. You can hear the them buzzing away with vigor!

Inside the garden, you'll find raised beds filled with all kinds of deliciousness and a combination of perennials and annuals.

Things look so sparse right now but rest assured a kazillion little seedlings are happily tucked into these beds. It's hard to imagine that this space in its full summer glory so I'll walk you through what we are growing and share close up's of the plants. Here's a quick sketch of how the garden is planted out so far.

What's Growing In The Kitchen Garden

• Vegetables: Squash, Pumpkins, Carrots, Beets, Cabbage, Parsnip, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Peas, Pole Beans, Bush Beans, Garlic, Swiss Chard, Kale, Chicory, Chives, Celery, Horseradish. Asparagus
• Fruit: Blackberries, Grapes, Raspberries, Strawberries, Haskap Berries, Rhubarb & some wild strawberries too!
• Herbs: Mint, Thyme. Oregano, golden oregano, Summer Savory, Tarragon, Vietnamese coriander
• Flowers: Bachelors buttons, Sneezewort, Feverfew, Assorted Wildflower bulbs, Sunflowers, Nastirtium
• Wild Things: Burdock, comfry, dandelion, strawberry, purslane and all kinds of other things!

We also have some kale, carrot and parsnip going to seed this year! :) Here's a guide on saving seeds! It's really easy to learn and comes with so many benefits! Find the seed saving guide here!

Kale in flower - so pretty!

One kale plant provides a LOT of seeds for replanting. Did you know that saving seeds create natural diversity within plant populations? This means that the seeds that you plant will adapt to the growing conditions of your garden. Year after year the seeds that you save will become stronger and more reliable in your climate.

Golden Oregano

I treated myself to a few plants from the garden centre. I had never even heard of golden oregano before. So lovely! I hope it grows as voraciously as the other oregano we have planted!

Horseradish

Just look at the healthy leaves on this horseradish! We grow it in the ground in a patch right by the garden gate - it lives with Jerusalem artichokes and rhubarb. We also grow horseradish in containers around the garden because it acts as a natural insect repellent. It thrives in containers!

Peppers

We grow a variety of peppers from seed. Most are grown in the greenhouse. This particular plant has frost damage. Its starting to grow some new healthy leaves so we will clip off the damaged ones and try to nurture it back to health. I am experimenting with growing buckwheat around some of the plants (especially squash) in the raised beds. The idea is that it will conceal the plants from pests and attract pollinators.

Cabbage

I love making sauerkraut but growing cabbage can be a challenge when so many things like to attack it. Immediately after planting cabbage I put insect netting around it - complete barrier. Even then some leaves will get chewed by bugs that can dig a tunnel under the soil but this netting has resulted in beautiful cabbage every season!

Raspberries & Blackberries

We grow berries in the garden as well as in a field where we have started a large patch. They thrive here, provide shade, and attract pollinators. The down side is that raspberries are quite voracious in their need to spread and we'll find suckers growing in near by beds. We don't mind this. I just dig up the suckers and transplant them but it is something to keep in mind.

The Greenhouse

If you'd like to see the greenhouse you can find my little tour of what's inside this year: here!

More Gardens

Outside of this garden there are other beds filled with even more garden bounty. A lot of this is being grown for winter storage. I am REALLY excited about this, it's been several years of sweat and frustration to work the clay soil and make these beds productive. I can't wait to share that with you as well! :)

Happy Gardening

Please remember the bees before you consider using pesticides/herbicides/chemicals! ♥

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[@walkerland ]
Building a greener, more beautiful world one seed at a time.
Homesteading | Gardening | Frugal Living | Preserving Food| From Scratch Cooking|

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