Kitchen Garden Living: Seasonal Growing and Eating from a Beautiful, Bountiful Food Garden

by Bailey Van Tassel

Build a wholesome life focused on the seasonality of the food you grow with this chic and savvy guide to creating, tending, and sharing the goodness of a kitchen garden.

While kitchen gardening brings freshness and flavor to your dinner plate, it’s no longer just about growing food. Kitchen gardening is also a lifestyle choice. It’s a unique way to show the world your commitment to the health of your family and your planet, reduce your food miles, and take control of what you feed your family. A one-of-a-kind kitchen garden is also an opportunity to show off your personal style and create a peaceful escape from the busyness of today’s world. It’s a chance to disconnect from the hustle and reconnect to what matters most—food, family, and your connection to the natural world.

In Kitchen Garden Living, author and Kitchen Garden Society founder Bailey Van Tassel guides you through the process of establishing a kitchen garden of your own, helping you with all of the necessary steps to get your new garden started and holding your hand all the way through to the harvest and beyond. Organized by chapters titled Plan, Grow, Tend, Make, Gather, Connect, and Inspire, the projects and lessons found here are designed to help you succeed, no matter the size or location of your kitchen garden.

Genres: Cookbooks, Gardening, Nonfiction

184 pages, Hardcover

Published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Ginny Yurich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!!!!!!!!! So many amazing gardening tips plus life advice. It’s a heart-warming gardening book

[Bzz Kolla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this eCopy to review

Kitchen Garden Living is an inspiring and delightful book. It is a comprehensive guide to creating, tending, and enjoying a kitchen garden, and it beautifully combines practical advice with a passion for sustainable living.

The book is organized into several sections, each focusing on different aspects of kitchen gardening. From planning and designing your garden to growing, tending, and harvesting your crops, Van Tassel covers it all with clear, step-by-step instructions. What I particularly loved was the emphasis on living and eating seasonally, which not only promotes healthier eating habits but also helps reduce our environmental footprint.

Van Tassel's writing is both informative and engaging. She shares her personal experiences and insights, making the book feel like a friendly conversation with a knowledgeable mentor. The inclusion of beautiful photographs and illustrations adds to the charm, providing visual inspiration for readers.

One of the standout features of the book is its focus on making kitchen gardening accessible to everyone, regardless of space or experience. Whether you have a large backyard or just a small balcony, Van Tassel offers creative solutions and tips to help you succeed. She also includes ideas for involving family members, especially children, in the gardening process, which is a wonderful way to foster a love for nature and healthy eating from a young age.

The book also delves into the benefits of kitchen gardening beyond just growing food. Van Tassel highlights how gardening can be a therapeutic and fulfilling activity, helping us reconnect with nature and find peace in our busy lives. The section on preserving and preparing the harvest is particularly useful, offering delicious recipes and preservation techniques to make the most of your garden's bounty.

[Susan Bewley · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who are just getting into having their edible garden, I have to say that Kitchen Garden Living makes the entire process approachable to anyone. Rather than take the typical reference material approach to gardening books, the author chose to take a very talkative, personal approach to creating a kitchen garden. I completely agree with her that having a garden isn’t just about growing food, but is a lifestyle, by taking control of your food and designing and caring for your home garden. All the information is approachable to just about anyone, filled with fantastic information, gorgeous pictures, and relatable stories that any busy family can understand when caring for plants. I also love that there are areas of the book for different stages of gardening – from having your miniature garden to gorgeous, cultivated pathways. Overall, I consider this book a must for gardeners of all levels.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps make kitchen gardening accessible to everyone, regardless of space or experience. This holds true whether you have a large backyard or just a small balcony, Van Tassel offers creative solutions and tips to help you succeed.

The book also delves into the benefits of kitchen gardening beyond just growing food. Van Tassel highlights how gardening can be a therapeutic and fulfilling activity, helping us reconnect with nature and find peace in our busy lives.

The section on preserving and preparing the harvest is extremely useful to me since I have moved out to the bush. She offers delicious recipes and preservation techniques to make the most of your garden's bounty.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to grow some of their own food.

[Christine Tutunjian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how this one wove in the mental/physical health benefits of living seasonally, connected to nature in addition to the expected soil, seed starting, harvesting etc.

There were also some body care, tea, and crafting recipes.

Like many gardening books, it is written from a very different climate than southern Ontario so not the best climate specific guide for my region for a newbie who might not know better.

It presents all the basics of gardening and makes it feel very doable for a beginner in it’s simple methods.

[Ashley {_xamountofbooks} · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Edelweiss+)

This is probably a good place to start if you're a beginner. It covered a wide variety of different gardening topics. It also various ideas on how you could engage children with gardening.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully photographed with lovely illustrations and easy to understand tips, tricks and instructions this is the perfect book for anyone wanting to start their kitchen garden.
I loved how it clearly explains how to plan and set out your ideal garden and even activities for you and your family to do together.

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC

I loved this book, it has all the basic information you'd need to start gardening (starting seeds, watering, harvesting, etc). And such gorgeous photos. I love the focus on connection, nature and making space for children to take part in gardening.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are not many things more delightful than reading a gardening book on a cold winter day here in Minnesota. This lovely book is a great overall primer for new gardeners and still had some valuable information for old timers. From planning your garden to tending it, from harvesting to preserving the food it covers that gamut!

It's beautifully formatted and I love that she includes information on how to include children in the process - passing gardening on to future generations!

Thank you to Cool Springs Press and NetGalley for the review copy!

[Christine Barth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good tips here but it took a while to get there. I didn't think the photographs were as useful as they could have been.

[Brooke Azevedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only beautiful, but it is full of tips and recipes. I am already inspired and excited to plan my garden for next year!

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite gardening book yet! Love the little notes throughout for gardening with children. All of the tips are easy and practical to implement.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all of the tips, information, and treasures this book shared.

[Rosh (read in the A.M.) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Cool Springs Press for an e-arc!

This is a great beginner guide, I especially liked how it doesn't complecate things with numbers and a laundry list of things to buy. You can literally use whatever is available in your space now if you just consider it differently. I liked it and the guides on how to turn what you grow into not just food but hand-made gifts.