The Chef's Gardener

Welcome to The Chef’s Gardener

Grow food worth cooking

I’m Minze Vries, founder of The Chef’s Gardener.

I’ve been growing my own food for over 20 years, from a traditional allotment to herbs on a windowsill and even hydroponic growing systems.

Over the years, I’ve become particularly interested in growing ingredients that belong in the kitchen – not just vegetables that look good in the garden.

I love discovering unusual herbs, vegetables and other edible plants, and finding ways to turn them into delicious home-cooked food.

That’s what The Chef’s Gardener is all about: helping you grow it, cook it and enjoy it.

You’ll find practical, step-by-step growing advice, ideas for unusual and interesting crops, and recipes showing you exactly what you can do with what you grow.

Whether you have a windowsill, balcony, allotment or hydroponic system, there’s something here for you.

Grow fresh food. Cook something delicious. Enjoy the journey.

Your own fresh ingredients

When cooking then using fresh ingredients will make all the difference – whether it’s using fresh herbs (like basil or thyme), peppers or vegetables.

But in addition you can grow ingredients that are not easy to find in shops – on this site you will find my ‘step by step’ methods showing how to grow different types of herbs & vegetables.

If you are new to growing your own why not have a look my guide for the 10 best plants every chef should grow ?

But in addition my guides to growing vegetables or growing herbs at home will show you what to grow for the recipes you like, how to grow them as well as example recipes.

Hydroponics, aquaponics…

I decided to change the way I looked at growing my ingredients and stumbled upon hydroponics and decided to give it a go.

The first unit I bought was the pictured 11 hole unit (For price & to order visit Amazon) and used it to grow Roma tomatoes.

Very happy with the results I build my own DIY hydroponic unit, which became a focal point in my kitchen.

Having looked at the growing options I have become an Aquaponics enthusiast – and will be adding my own tank in the back garden soon. Aquaponics combines growing fish & plants at the same time, and works even better than hydroponics. (How aquaponics works)

Example recipes

I just love cooking – which is why I gave myself the country recipe challenge, where I’m trying to cook 1 recipe from every country around the world.

But in addition there are lots of recipes you can make from all the different types of herbs & vegetables.

For example there are many different types of basil, each one ideal for a recipe (like the pictured Japanese basil shiso lemonade)

In addition (when growing your own) you will undoubtably end up with a lot of crop – which is why I also have specialised recipes showing what to make if you have to much left over – like roasted cherry tomato sauce or sweet basil cubes

• Home & Allotment Gardening for 20+ years
• Recipe developer focused on homegrown ingredients
• 40+ years in the food & agriculture industry, working with some of the world’s top chefs, food companies and restaurants. (Ranging from dairy products, recipe publishers to ice cream
• Practical growing advice based on real-world results
• Aquaponics enthusiast – will be adding my own tank in the back garden soon
• Herb cultivation & tomato growing specialist