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The kitchen garden, once a standard fixture of households, is gaining renewed attention as one component of the movement towards local, fresh and seasonal foods. Many people who take up kitchen gardening are concerned about the sustainability of a system in which most foods in a typical meal have traveled over 1,000 miles to get to their tables. Some kitchen gardeners are drawn by the variety of heirloom and hybrid plants available to growers, while others are attracted by freshness, flavor and nutritional value.

A kitchen garden does not necessarily require much land or equipment. Many plants will grow happily in containers, and varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers are available in smaller sizes for growing on patios, decks, balconies, and even on windowsills. With its combination of flowers, herbs and vegetables providing varieties of color, scent and form, a kitchen garden can be as pleasing as a formal flower bed.

The focus of this guide is on the practicalities and history of kitchen gardening. Not intended to be a comprehensive bibliography, this Tracer Bullet is designed — as the name of the series implies — to put the reader “on target.” Related Tracer Bullet and Resource Guide titles include Gardening and Container Gardening.