How would you like to enjoy fresh summer salad and char grilled vegetables straight from your backyard? It’s a great time to get excited about the kitchen garden. Creating a vegetable garden is a boost for sustainability and is great for your taste buds and a healthier lifestyle. When you grow your own you are not just getting improved flavour and freshness but garden picked produce is also jam-packed with nutrition.

You can grow vegetables in a dedicated patch, or if you are lacking space, use pots placed on windowsills or balconies. If you like your food hot then chillies are a good choice. The fruit is really wonderful and ornamental and if you are a city gardener they are absolutely fantastic in pots.

How to start?

First you need to know the limitations of your garden — how much room you have and the aspect of the sun and shade. You will also have to bear in mind how much time you can allocate to upkeep.

Here are a few easy pointers to create a sustainable garden that has limited impact on the surrounding environment and also suits a busy lifestyle.

1. Reduce the need for a lot of water, particularly if you live in an area with low rainfall. Design a garden that groups plants into water needs and use organic mulch to maintain moisture.
2. Plant some herbs like parsley or basil, vegetables such as lettuce, capsicum or beans up a trellis so you don’t have to clear and then maintain a big area.
3. Plant in batches over a few weeks. This way you’ll spread out your crop over the season.
4. The choice is yours as to whether you want to use chemical-based pesticides to keep the bugs at bay or go totally organic and use herbs like garlic and mint.