The Kitchen Garden, Vegetable Garden, Potager, Productive Garden:
A passionate vegetable gardener who loves to `till the soil`, sow seed, nurture crops & enjoy the bounty. Fresh air, time in nature, bird song, contemplative & creative time.

This is an insight into my own `Kitchen Garden` and what I grow in the UK with no greenhouse ... although this is on my `Wish List`.

This kitchen, vegetable garden is set on a community allotment site as they are called in the uk. Here I have more space at 255 square meters than taking a space in my private garden which is just garden. Although I could always expand and use more space.

This shows that an allotment space can be ordered to look like a traditional kitchen garden. However in a clients garden I would design the space to be much more asethetic, with greater detail and definition. In my public vegetable garden I have a balance of creating order whilst making the space practical for a gardener and cost effective in the set-up.... which is not always the prettiest !

One of the many virtues of community sites is the `community`, the sharing of knowledge, seedlings, communication with a wide range of diverse locals and of course we always have laughter. I can potter and immerse myself in tasks or I can join a conversation, it really is a wonderful place.

As an end note:
Vegetable gardens are not always `pretty`, as netting is often needed to protect crops from birds such as crow, pigeon, blackbird. And cabbage butterfly, carrot fly ... all of these can reduce crops to little. We also have fox cubs which love to play on seed beds, trail through young seedlings & dig tunnels.
I prefer practical vegetable gardens which are productive & maybe not so pretty. So remember to protect your crops so you get good harvests.

Photography by Laara Copley-Smith.