Have you wanted your own kitchen garden but never knew where to start? Or do you think you don’t have the space for it? Fear not. To start your own kitchen garden, all you need is a small pot placed in a bright spot, and you’re ready to roll.

Introduction to Kitchen Gardening

A kitchen garden basically consists of plants you can eat or cook with. Among all the kitchen garden plants, herbs are the easiest to grow and take up the least amount of space. You don’t need to buy a large bunch when you just need a few sprigs. Just pluck a few fresh ones from your plant! 

 If you have a little space to spare, you can even try adding vegetables. Check out my post on how to grow your own food for your own kitchen garden ideas.

For a kitchen garden window sills are a great option, especially in smaller spaces. You don’t use up any floor space and get plenty of sunlight on the ledge. Balconies in apartments can accommodate a variety of plants as well.

Growing indoor plants

Some plants you can regrow from cuttings, like pothos (money plants) or philodendron. They do well in water and soil. With minimal care, you can add some greens to your home. Windowsill plants from kitchen scraps don’t even require you to get seeds or saplings. Plant parts of raw fruits and vegetables to get some pretty foliage or herbs.

Indoor plants also need plenty of sunlight, so make sure they get filtered light. Too much direct sunlight can burn the delicate leaves. In India, most plants have their growing season during the monsoons, so keep an eye out for a growth spurt.

How to Regrow Vegetable Scraps

I have tried to grow a few saplings from scraps for my kitchen garden at home. Some of them resulted in chives or leaves I could use. Others gave me pretty foliage and would have eventually given seeds had I taken better care of them. Planting a carrot top in the soil will not result in a new carrot, so reign in your expectations.

Sprouting potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions can be planted straight away. The potatoes will give you a harvest of potatoes (see here). I had planted sweet potatoes and carrot tops that gave me good looking leaves, but I didn’t get any harvest from them. My onion gave me some green onion to use as a garnish on my food.

For ginger, I cleaned and soaked it in water for a few hours, then planted it in soil. Make sure the sprouts, or knuckles, are pointing up. Give them enough space to grow, then you can start harvesting parts of the roots in a few months.

For garlic, I soaked the pods in water for a few days to develop roots, then planted these a few inches apart. I used the garlic chives (leaves) as garnish. 

How to Use Kitchen Scraps

Another way to use up some of your kitchen scraps is by adding them to the soil of your plants for more nutrition. Crushed eggshells for calcium; water from soaked banana peels for potassium and small amounts of magnesium, nitrogen and phosphorus; coffee grounds for nitrogen; and water from washing produce.

What are some of the other tips and tricks you’ve used in your kitchen garden? Let me know in the comments below.