Everyday Favorites

Beginning Of A Kitchen Garden

One of the many aspects I appreciate about living in Holland is the focus the country puts on nurturing your body and soul, and keeping well-being at the center of its public policy. From larger themes like reducing income disparity and promoting work-life balance, down to small programs like seeds Albert Heijn (largest grocery store chain in the Netherlands) gives out for free during springtime to encourage people to grow their own food, it is all too good to be true sometimes.

Several weeks ago, I stopped to pick up some groceries at Albert Heijn. At the checkout, I was given little cardboard containers carrying soil capsules and tiny paper bags with seeds. At first, I was overwhelmed; while, I had cared for plants before, I had never grown them from seeds.

I returned home excited to learn how I could grow these seeds into plants. All the instructions were inside the tiny cardboard containers. I dissolved the soil capsules, filled three quarters of of the containers with soil, spread the seeds, and then topped the remaining quarter of the container with soil. At the end of this, I was thrilled but also scared about this whole program being a gimmick.

In about a week of planting the seeds and watering them regularly, little leaves started sprouting — it was not a gimmick! I felt exhilarated to realize how easy it was to grow food in my little apartment. In just one more week, the leaves were big enough that they had to be transferred to 10cm pots.

Soon, I will be transferring the cherry tomato plant to an even bigger pot. I went to the flower market in the center of Amsterdam last week and bought a huge horizontal planter and seeds for five different types of herbs. I also bought some basic tools that can help build a balcony garden — yes that is what these little plant babies of my mine have aspired me to do.

With a full time job that keeps me on my toes during the week, it has been relieving to take some time out everyday to nurture these plants. It might sound cliche, but this project helped me ground myself, and become better at following a routine. For instance, every time I watered the plants, I remembered how often I ignore when I am thirsty. That helped me improve my water intake. Similarly, seeing the plants flourish under my care gave me a confidence boost.

If you find yourself in a personal or professional rut, and your self-confidence seems to be faltering, a small garden DIY project like this one could be a fun, cheap and low maintenance pick me up.

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6 Comments

  1. June 18, 2017 / 20:53

    I love indoor gardening! I don’t have a lot of yard space so I have resorted to doing the same. I’m excited to see more!

    • June 25, 2017 / 17:34

      That’s so good to hear. Isn’t it surprising how much we can grow in a small space too? Thanks for dropping by my blog. 🙂

  2. anujkk
    June 19, 2017 / 16:49

    It was nice to read about your mini kitchen garden. It made me nostalgic.

    When I was a kid, I used to visit my nanu’s house in summer vacations. He worked as a professor at Haryana Agriculture University and his quarter used to have a very big kitchen garden. It had trees of banana, guava, pomegranate & chinese lemon…along with plants of grapes, shehtoot & sugarcane. We also used to grow potatoes, onions, brinjals, ladyfingers, etc. It was so much fun to eat fresh grapes and make sharbat of chinese lenons.

    • June 25, 2017 / 17:36

      Wow that sounds heavenly to me! 🙂 I have never had that sort of pleasure in my life but now I am thinking about going to a big garden sort of space for apple or strawberry picking.

      Thanks for your comment, Anuj! 🙂

  3. June 22, 2017 / 01:19

    I love this post!! The way you describe caring for the garden and taking time out has motivated me too – I can’t wait to start!
    Abby – https://seafoaming.com xo

    • June 25, 2017 / 17:37

      Wohoo, so happy you got inspired from this post. Thanks for stopping by my blog. 🙂

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