The Complete Kitchen Garden: An Inspired Collection of Garden Designs and 100 Seasonal Recipes

by Ellen Ecker Ogden

The Complete Kitchen Garden is an inspiring collection of garden designs and recipes for the home gardener and cook. based on the seasonal cycles of the garden, each chapter provides a new way to look at the planning stages with themes and designs such as "the salad lover's garden," "the heirloom maze garden," "the children's garden," and "the organic rotation garden." More than 100 recipes featuring the food grown in each specific garden encompass a full range of soups, salads, main course savory dishes, and desserts, as well as condiments and garnish to dress up the plate.

Praise for The Complete Kitchen Garden :

“With charming hand-drawn planting plans, bright color photos, and tempting recipes. . . . Ms. Ogden’s book arms wannabe gardeners with all the tools to plan a productive garden before seeds ever meet the ground.”
— Wall Street Journal

"There's no reason a vegetable garden must be an eyesore, banished to the corner by the garage. . . . The Complete Kitchen Garden . . . combines design advice, garden wisdom and recipes."
- The Chicago Tribune

Genres: Gardening, Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

Reviews

[Pam Penick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books about edible gardening are trendy thanks to the resurgence of interest in homegrown food. What sets the The Complete Kitchen Garden apart is a melding of garden design, practical gardening tips, and enticing recipes. Inspired by “classic European-style kitchen gardeners,” Ellen Ogden shares her affinity for enclosed, geometric potagers, which go beyond “the simple, straight rows of a vegetable garden to combine art and cuisine in ways that enhance the experience of growing food.”

Following a chapter of practical and basic gardening advice, the main portion of the book offers up 14 different garden designs, each complete with a bird’s-eye, full-color illustration; bed dimensions; plant list, photos, and descriptions; ten growing tips specific to that style of garden; recipes; and a “garden personality” to explain the idea behind the garden design or its main purpose.

For instance, the Heirloom Maze Garden is inspired by “ancient labyrinths, circular paths that served as meditation retreats or offered an adventure with a surprise at the end.” Recipes in this chapter include Chilled Lemon Cucumber Soup, Fire-Roasted Tomato Sauce, and Braised Winter Greens with Coconut and Curry.

The Artist’s Garden, in contrast, is “all about the visual qualities of vegetables,” with a plant list that combines asparagus and golden tomatillos with ‘Lemon Gem’ marigolds and chocolate sunflowers. And the Patio Garden, for gardeners short on space, is defined by “containers of ornamental edibles,” with enticing recipes like Corn and Jalapeno Muffins, Fennel Tomato Soup, and Eggplant Caponata.

Inspirational photos of kitchen gardens and beautiful illustrations of Odgen’s designs by Ramsay Gourd offer plenty of eye candy. No doubt you’d have to adapt the plant lists for your own region and growing conditions, but the designs provide an excellent jumping off point for a vegetable garden that doesn’t neglect good looks in the pursuit of good food.

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book designed to be pleasurable to peruse. Pretty photos make you want to garden more. There are some good tips for an inexperienced gardener like myself, but some recommendations are no good for the mountain/desert West. I'm learning to ignore most recommendations to place plants in "full sun": our sun will burn them up quick. So far I've tried and enjoyed one recipe from this book, and I look forward to trying more.

[Darlene Reilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Complete Kitchen Garden is one of those good gardening books that actually changes how you plan, plant, and cook. Ellen Ogden focuses on designing a garden around how you truly eat, not just what looks good on a seed packet. She walks you through crop rotation, succession planting, and pairing plants so your garden stays productive across the seasons instead of peaking once and fizzling out. The strength of the book is its practicality. It shows how to organize beds for continuous harvests, how to time plantings for real kitchens, and how to grow with intention rather than impulse. It feels thoughtful, grounded, and deeply usable, especially for gardeners who want their plot to feed them well, not just look pretty.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t have a garden BUT I do dream of having one. This book is a combination of gardening tips, full page illustrations and photos of traditional garden designs, some with a modern twist, and recipes. I found the book very inspiring and fun to look through and I would love to use one of the designs when I start a garden someday. The recipes also sound delectable, for example; grilled romaine and radicchio with honey blue cheese dressing, arugula and mint Thai soup, and carrot and tarragon tart all make my mouth water (but I haven’t tried any of them yet)

[Melissa Kurmakov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of taking Ellen’s kitchen garden design course through Longwood Garden’s continuing education program so of course, I also needed her book on the subject! A great resource with kitchen garden design layouts, pictures, detailed information and recipes! I can’t wait for spring to start exploring some of these ideas!
“…. when the world ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden.”

[Alicia Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be choppy. I liked the format of 10 tips for growing each particular type of garden. I did not like artificially including recipes by garden type, when many of the gardens could have supported the recipes. It is more of a garden design book than a cookbook. I would like to have seen a little more depth on each of the garden types. For example, information on the structures in each garden and how to make them, as they were presented as key elements.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully done book that will inspire gardeners who love to cook. Ellen's knowledge of plants and her explanations, illustrations and photographs of beautiful kitchen gardens, make it look it look possible for even a novice. Highly recommended. Great recipes too.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait for a house with room for a big garden! This has given me so much inspiration!

[Cathy Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Garden designs and recipes. It’s hard to know who this book is intended for. Photography is great. As an idea book for practiced gardeners or cooks who know enough to make substitutions, this book may provide inspiration. However it is misleading especially for the novice gardener and not helpful for the household operating on a tight budget. Recipes often included only one ingredient from the garden, and not the most expensive. Photographs and discussion of specific plants were often unrelated, radish photos next to asparagus description, for instance. These would be confusing for the truly novice gardener. I've gardened and cooked for a generation and enjoyed looking at the designs and photographs, but found the misinformation troubling. Lack of numbers on some pages, especially those referred to in the table of contents, is annoying. I thought this book was a great idea, but might have been better executed.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book, lots of pictures that gave me great ideas. One of the best vegetable garden books I have found.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite helpful with many ideas to get one's brain moving toward plotting many gardens!

[Teresa Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great garden ideas and recipes. Met the author at a Master Gardeners Symposium. Did a wonderful presentation

[Leila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've taken this out from the library four times in the last year

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book full of 2 of my favorite things, garden plans and recipes. I liked the book so much after borrowing it from the library that I bought my own copy.