Soup Garden
An 8×4 stockpot bed: leeks, celery root, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and kale — plus thyme, parsley, and a bay corner.
About This Template
Every great soup starts with the same supporting cast, and this bed grows all of it. The top rows carry the aromatics-and-body section: a full ribbon of leeks (the soul of potato soup), celery and celeriac for stock depth, onions in quantity, and the cabbages — green for minestrone, savoy for the pot, kale and chard for everything green. The lower half is the hearty section: six potato plants, a parsnip block that turns sweet after frost, a long double-sown carrot strip, and beets for borscht. The front corner plants the seasoning shelf — thyme, parsley, and a bay laurel whose leaves you will never buy dried again. Nearly everything here stores in the ground or the cellar, so the soup season runs as long as winter does.
Benefits
- 1Grows the base of nearly every soup: mirepoix, alliums, potatoes, greens
- 2Parsnips and kale actually improve after the first frost hits
- 3Potatoes, roots, and cabbages store for months without processing
- 4A bay laurel pays for its corner within one winter of soups
- 5Harvest runs from late summer straight through the snow
Growing Tips
- 1Hill soil around leek stems as they grow for long white shanks
- 2Leave parsnips in the ground and dig them as needed — frost is free seasoning
- 3Cure potatoes dark and cool for two weeks before cellaring
- 4Simmer celeriac trimmings and leek tops into stock instead of composting them
Included Plants (15)
Leek×8
Allium ampeloprasum
Spacing: 15 cm · 6 in
Celery×2
Apium graveolens
Spacing: 25 cm · 10 in
Celeriac×2
Apium graveolens var. rapaceum
Spacing: 30 cm · 12 in
Onion×8
Allium cepa
Spacing: 15 cm · 6 in
Cabbage
Brassica oleracea var. capitata
Spacing: 50 cm · 20 in
Savoy Cabbage
Brassica oleracea var. sabauda
Spacing: 50 cm · 20 in
Kale
Brassica oleracea var. sabellica
Spacing: 45 cm · 18 in
Swiss Chard
Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris
Spacing: 30 cm · 12 in
Potato×6
Solanum tuberosum
Spacing: 30 cm · 12 in
Parsnip×8
Pastinaca sativa
Spacing: 10 cm · 4 in
Carrot×12
Daucus carota subsp. sativus
Spacing: 8 cm · 3 in
Beet×6
Beta vulgaris
Spacing: 10 cm · 4 in
Thyme
Thymus vulgaris
Spacing: 30 cm · 12 in
Parsley×2
Petroselinum crispum
Spacing: 20 cm · 8 in
Bay Laurel
Laurus nobilis
Spacing: 120 cm · 47 in
Ready to Start Growing?
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