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A postage stamp kitchen garden is a small garden that puts the fresh ingredients that good cooks need
at their fingertips when they need them. Kitchen gardens are very special places designed by, and for, people who love
to cook and who are constantly looking for dishes that let them express their personalties.
Kitchen
gardens are for cooks who specialize in vegetarian, Oriental, Mexican, Italian and many other ethic meals.
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Good cooks usually plan their kitchen garden with menus
and favorite dishes in mind. They can indulge their whims with gardens designed to let them cook a variety of specialties
recipes in mind. Karen loves Mexican food so she always had a Mexican themed garden. Duane loves Italian, so we
planted an Italian themed garden. Other gardens might be based around salads, soups, oriental, or unfamiliar varieties
you want to try.
Before you rush out and plant a garden, spend a little time thinking about how you cook and how
your family eats. Do you like salads, low-calories cooking, pasta, or hearty chowders and stews?
To
decide which herbs you'll need, look at the jars of dried herbs you already have in your kitchen. These are probably
the ones you'll eventually want in your garden. It might be best to start with two or three herbs in your first
kitchen garden, and add to them as you go along. You will also need to decide whether you want to plant herbs in with
the vegetables or to have separate beds for them. If, at the end of a growing season you have an abundance of herbs
left over, you can dry them for storage. But there is nothing like fresh herbs in cooking.
What you find
to eat in your garden also depends on the season. In some areas of the country, you can grow lettuce, broccoli, cabbage,
tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers all together during the summer. In the warmer areas, lettuce and other greens are grown
in the spring and fall; tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and similar vegetables are grown in the summer. We live in California
so we can grow all types of stir-fry greens and snow peas all winter long. Karen loves this bonus growing season because
it gives her the chance to try recipes that are different from our favorite summer ones.
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