For a complete kitchen garden, here are the top crops to plant
1 of 9 Photo by Jacqueline Koch
An artful garden
âGardening is all about making really good food a part of my life on a daily basis,â says Joan Caine, who used to teach cooking classes out of her home north of Seattle. Thatâs whyâafter years of gazing wistfully out her front window at the propertyâs only sunny patch and imagining a kitchen garden thereâJoan hired landscape designer Cameron Scott to make the potager a reality.
Cameron dug up some lawn, put down gravel, then built bottomless raised beds of oxidized (and recycled) Cor-ten steel that look more like sculpture than planters. âI love working with it because you can build such sexy curves,â says Cameron. And the 1/4-inch-thick metal absorbs the sunâs heat, helping to warm the soil in cool weather.
Joan packs the beds with herbs and salad greens in spring, then beans, cucumbers, and zucchini in summer. âWe pull our table right up by the raised beds,â she says, âand eat out there.â
For these raised beds, looks, growing speed, and happiness in tight quarters are the qualities youâre looking for. Most of these grow rapidly from seedlingsâstart beans and carrots from seed, though, since they donât transplant well.
Design: Cameron Scott, Exteriorscapes, Seattle (exteriorscapes.com)
2 of 9 Photo by Thomas J. Story
Chives
The grasslike foliage forms neat mounding plantsâperfect for clustering in the spiral bed. Showy rose-purple flowers are a bonus. Sunset climate zones 4â9, 14â24.
3 of 9 Photo by Thomas J. Story
Mint
If you have room to grow only one kind, go with spearmint (Mentha spicata); more recipes call for this mint than any other type. Zones A2, A3, 1â24.
4 of 9 Photo by Mark Turner
Beans
Bush-type snap beans bear their crops earlier, but pole types are more productive. Train them on trellises (insert poles 2 feet apart). Zones 3â6, 8â10, 14â17.
5 of 9 Photo by Burpee
Cucumbers
To save space and encourage longer, straighter fruit, grow cukes in a cage or on a trellis. Zones 8â9, 11, 17.
6 of 9 Photo by Thomas J. Story
Carrots
Consider long-rooted âEnvyâ, half-long Nantes types, or colorful varieties such as âPurple Hazeâ or âRed Samuraiâ. Zones 3, 6, 8â10, 14â16, 18â19.
7 of 9 Photo by Kimberley Navabpour
Zucchini
Try a bush variety such as âRonde de Niceâ, a French heirloom, which bears round fruit on a tidy bush about 24 inches tall. Zones 7â11, 14â19.
8 of 9 Photo by Damien Scogin
Arugula
This compact plant packs a lot of flavor despite its size, and it grows quickly from seed. âAstroâ tolerates some heat. Zones 4â9.
9 of 9 Photo by Damien Scogin
Lettuce
Loose-leaf types such as âOak Leafâ (green) and âRed Sailsâ (red-tinged) are as pretty in raised beds as they are in salads. Zones 1â6.