Create a permanent kitchen garden with leafy herbs, spring shoots, edible flower buds and rhubarb stalks. This twelve-plant selection offers more ways to harvest across the season, with large plants in their own spaces and everyday herbs near the path. Planting areas follow the crops' different needs: asparagus has a dedicated bed, sea kale and fennel occupy the freely draining side, and mint and lemon balm grow in separate containers.
Choose a plant to explore its role, growing space and sources. Focus on one planting area or explore the whole selection.
Lines connect plants to their planned planting area. Colours and icons show the primary plant layer. This is a schematic; use the growing notes to set spacing.
Choose any plant in the diagram to see its role, placement and supporting sources.
Temperate Northwest Europe; give globe artichokes a warm site and winter protection where needed.
Use roughly 25–40 m² as an initial planning allowance for the full selection, including paths and a useful small asparagus bed. Draw each large plant at its mature spread before fixing the layout. These are five connected growing areas: water the leafy and container herbs separately from the drier shoulder, and leave the asparagus bed free of other crops. Increase quantities to suit your household only once those spaces fit.
Each plant has a place in the design. Explore its role, growing needs and the sources behind the selection.
Reachable clumps of chives and sorrel in fertile, draining ground with moisture for fresh leaves.
Generous individual spaces for lovage, rhubarb and globe artichoke, each with its own light and watering access.
An open, sheltered area with particularly good drainage for sea kale and tall herb fennel.
A sunny permanent bed reserved for asparagus, with room for its summer fern growth and hand weeding.
Separate roomy containers near water, making vigorous mint and lemon balm easier to manage.
Allium schoenoprasum
Clumping leaf herb
Planting area: Everyday harvest edge
Chives provide repeated leaf harvests in sun or partial shade. They grow well in fertile, draining soil with moisture available through summer.
Where it fits Set short groups along the picking path, with room to divide established clumps. Keep them clear of the large crown area.
Levisticum officinale
Tall celery-flavoured herb
Planting area: Large permanent crowns
Lovage supplies strongly flavoured leaves from a substantial perennial clump. It needs rich, moist soil in sun or light shade and can spread about 1 m.
Where it fits Place on the northern side where tall stems will not shade the harvest edge. Keep its own crown space and easy access for watering.
Rumex acetosa
Perennial sharp-flavoured leaves
Planting area: Everyday harvest edge
Common sorrel offers a leaf crop in sunny, draining ground. It can self-seed and develops a deep taproot, so a permanent labelled patch helps with management.
Where it fits Use a distinct patch beside the chives where new seedlings are easy to spot. Remove flower stems if you want to keep the patch contained.
Allium tuberosum
Garlic-flavoured leaves
Planting area: Everyday harvest edge
Garlic chives add flat, garlic-flavoured leaves and later flowers to the herb selection. They grow in sun and draining soil and can spread through seed.
Where it fits Give a labelled clump its own section beside common chives. Remove spent flower heads before the seeds scatter if extra plants are unwanted.
Crambe maritima
Perennial spring vegetable
Planting area: Sunny draining shoulder
Sea kale is a perennial crop with edible young shoots and spring flower stems. It suits sunny, freely draining ground, with shelter from strong winds.
Where it fits Give it a permanent, open patch on the draining shoulder. Allow the plant to establish before harvesting; leave space to reach the crown and flower stems.
Asparagus officinalis
Long-term spring spear crop
Planting area: Dedicated asparagus bed
Asparagus provides spring spears after an establishment period. RHS recommends a dedicated permanent bed because competing plants make care and cropping harder.
Where it fits Reserve a separate sunny bed, planting crowns 30–45 cm apart in rows 45 cm apart. Allow room above for tall summer fern growth.
Cynara scolymus
Edible flower-bud crop
Planting area: Large permanent crowns
Globe artichoke produces edible unopened buds and broad, ornamental foliage. It needs a warm sunny site, draining soil and substantial room.
Where it fits Use a sunny end of the crown area, clear of lovage's shade. Allow about 1 m of spread and access to protect the crown in cold winters.
Foeniculum vulgare
Tall aromatic leaf and seed herb
Planting area: Sunny draining shoulder
Perennial herb fennel supplies feathery leaves and seeds. It prefers warmth, sun and light, draining soil; this selection is for the herb harvest.
Where it fits Give it its own tall position behind the sea kale without closing out light. Remove unwanted seedlings and choose which seed heads to retain for harvest.
Melissa officinalis
Lemon-scented leaf herb
Planting area: Contained kitchen herbs
Lemon balm gives repeated leaf pickings for the kitchen. RHS advises containers where its vigorous growth is unwanted; it also self-seeds if flowers are left.
Where it fits Use a separate generous pot in sun or light shade near the kitchen route. Keep its compost evenly moist and cut back before seeds form.
Mentha suaveolens
Apple-scented culinary mint
Planting area: Contained kitchen herbs
Apple mint is a vigorous perennial culinary herb that prefers moisture and spreads through underground stems. Its fresh leaves add a fruity mint flavour.
Where it fits Grow in its own deep container beside the lemon balm. Check for roots escaping drainage holes and keep the compost moist without standing water.
Rumex scutatus
Low spreading sorrel leaves
Planting area: Everyday harvest edge
French sorrel provides another cut-and-regrow leaf crop in sun or light shade. Its creeping habit can eventually cover a much wider patch than a young plant suggests.
Where it fits Give it a defined edge section or its own container. RHS lists up to 1–1.5 m of mature spread; keep it from growing through the chive clumps.
Rheum rhabarbarum, Rheum x hybridum
Spring and early-summer stalk crop
Planting area: Large permanent crowns
Garden rhubarb supplies edible stalks from a large permanent crown. It needs space for broad leaves and moisture-retentive soil that still drains well.
Where it fits Reserve a full crown footprint at an accessible end of the bed. Keep the growing point at the surface and neighbouring herbs outside the leaf spread.
Draw rhubarb, lovage, artichoke and fennel at their full sizes, then add paths and smaller plants. Keep the tallest growth to the north where practical and check actual shadows.
Make the asparagus area a clearly separate permanent bed. Use a short row of several crowns for a useful harvest and keep all other species outside it.
Put chives and the two sorrels close to the kitchen path. Leave French sorrel a defined spreading area so its leaves do not smother the smaller clumps.
Use an open, well-drained shoulder for fennel and sea kale. Give rhubarb and lovage richer, more moisture-retentive positions with separate watering access.
Place apple mint and lemon balm in individual containers near a water supply. Keep their containers reachable for division and inspection of escaping growth.
Measure the plot, test drainage and map sunlight. Set out the five areas with markers before buying plants or deciding final quantities.
Prepare the permanent beds carefully, removing perennial weeds. Enrich the leafy and large-crown areas according to their growing guides while maintaining drainage throughout.
Plant asparagus crowns in spring and rhubarb in its dormant planting season when soil is workable. Add the other young plants as spring conditions suit them.
Label every crop and keep an establishment record. Let asparagus grow for two full years before taking its first crop; rhubarb also needs its first year without picking.
Begin with light harvesting of established herbs. Review what your household uses, then increase clumps or crowns within the spaces already planned.
These references support the growing conditions and plant roles described in this guide. The suggested layout is a design interpretation to adapt to your site.
Light, moisture, culinary harvest, planting and division of chive clumps.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Culinary leaves, moisture needs, light and substantial mature spread.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Sun and draining soil, deep roots, self-seeding and caution about eating large amounts.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Culinary leaves, sunlight, drainage, flowering and spread through seed.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Perennial habit, sun, freely draining soil and shelter from strong winds.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Sea kale as a perennial vegetable, edible spring shoots and flower stems, and establishment before substantial harvests.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Dedicated bed, crown spacing, two-year establishment, spring harvest and summer fern care.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Perennial edible buds, sun, space, drainage, summer watering and winter protection.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Perennial herb fennel, leaf and seed harvests, sun, drainage and self-seeding.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Culinary leaf harvest, container growing, moisture, vigorous spread and self-seeding control.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Apple mint's culinary classification, moisture needs and vigorous underground spread.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Apple mint flavour, container growing, watering and division.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Edible leaves, light, soil, creeping spread, cut-and-regrow harvest and caution about large amounts.
Reviewed 2026-09-06Permanent crown planting, moisture and drainage, establishment, stalk harvest and inedible leaves.
Reviewed 2026-09-06