The Kitchen Gardener: Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg

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When you have lots of different things growing and living alongside one another, it is much harder for something problematic to come along and cause a disaster. Visit these traditional kitchen gardens – from a Scottish castle to a Cotswold country-house hotel – to pick up some tips and inspirational ideas. There’s more to gardening than just potting plants and trimming your hedges - it’s the perfect place to grow vegetables too. Roast yours with pancetta for a flavoursome side dish, or add it to a chicken tagine for a hearty meal. For now, to guarantee the best possible success from crops growing in a garden, there must be minimal disruption to the soil.

Consider growing some companion plants as a more ornamental element, edging beds with marigolds and growing sweet peas up obelisks and over arches.

My old Head Vegetable Gardener at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons used to explain to me that there is no better treat for the soil, and for ourselves, than to start a kitchen garden. It has lifted the veil from the eyes of the population as to where our food comes from, and how reliant we are on the seemingly unfaltering chain of international trade. We’d love to let you know about the difference our community is making and the ways you can get involved.

When you picture a garden designed for food production, you may see row after row of corn, dozens of tomato plants, and probably a ton of back-breaking work.

We have strong links with Kew’s science directorate, interpreting their work that takes place around the world.