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Kitchen gardens: good soil in small spaces.
You don’t need land to grow your own vegetables. Sacks, tyres, buckets and raised beds all work, as long as the soil mix is good. Kenyan extension officers describe a simple recipe: half soil, half manure, six hours of sun and clean water. This guide covers the main garden types, how to fill them, and how to keep what you grow safe to eat.
The numbers that matter
Pick a type to suit your space
The Ministry of Agriculture lists wooden crates, old tyres, sacks, buckets, tins, flowerpots and plastic containers as options. Kenyan press reports describe these designs.
| Type | How it works | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Multistorey (sack) garden | A feed or cereal bag filled with a stone core and a soil and manure mix. Plants grow out of the sides. | Leafy and root vegetables on a very small footprint. See the steps below. |
| Keyhole garden | A raised round bed with a compost basket in the middle. Kitchen scraps and water go into the basket and feed the soil around it. | Leafy greens, herbs and root crops, such as onions, garlic and carrots. |
| Tyre, jerry can and drawer gardens | Cut the top off a tyre or one side off a jerry can, then fill with a 1:1 soil and manure mix. | Vegetables, herbs and spices. Drawers suit strawberries, with mulch to save water. |
| Wick garden | A wick runs from a water reservoir, such as a cut plastic bottle, into the soil. Plants take water as they need it. | Dry spells, and people who can’t water daily. |
| Oasis garden | A bed dug about a foot deep and about a metre wide. A perforated pipe carries water to the roots. | Watering from below, which reduces evaporation. |
| Shade net garden | Mesh over beds, basins, containers or bottles. One report says it cuts strong sun and heat by up to 50 percent. | Hot areas. A shade net structure was quoted at about Sh40,000. |
| Vertical bag | A purpose-made bag with its own irrigation system. The Standard reported Sh800 a bag, holding about 90 plants. | Balconies and compounds. |
Prices are as quoted in the articles and may have changed. We have not tested these designs ourselves.
SOURCES: THE STAR, “KITCHEN GARDEN MODELS IDEAL FOR URBAN FARMING” (2020); STANDARD (FARM KENYA), “STARTING YOUR HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN”; NATION, “TURN THOSE USED BOTTLES, BUCKETS AND CLOSETS INTO GARDENS”
Fill it with half soil, half manure
- The mix. A 1:1 mix of soil and manure is the standard for tyres, jerry cans and drawers. The multistorey garden uses equal buckets of soil and well-decomposed manure.
- Which manure. The Standard says chicken droppings can supply enough manure for a small kitchen garden. Use it well rotted. See the safety section for why.
- Which soil. The Dagoretti South agricultural officer advises having officers check that your soil suits the crop before planting, and the Standard suggests testing soil acidity first. Red forest soil is named as preferred for oasis gardens.
- Compost. The sources we read say “manure” and don’t give a separate compost rate. Well-finished compost is a reasonable substitute for manure, but that substitution is our own reading. See our guides to heap, bin and worm composting.
- Mulch. Mulch reduces water loss and keeps fruit clean, according to the Star’s advice on drawer gardens.
SOURCES: THE STAR (2020); WOCAT, “MULTISTOREY GARDENS [KENYA]”; STANDARD (FARM KENYA)
Building a multistorey sack garden
This design was documented in Embu County by researchers from JKUAT, KARI and ICRAF (2012). For one garden you need an empty feed or cereal bag, an empty oil can or a 6-inch PVC pipe with holes, 2 buckets of small stones, 6 buckets of soil and 6 buckets of well-decomposed manure.
- Lay the stone basePut about 15 cm of small stones in the bottom of the bag.
- Set the central coreCut the bottom out of the can and punch holes in its sides. Stand it upright in the middle of the bag.
- Fill in layersFill the can with stones and the space around it with the soil and manure mix. Lift the can a little as you go, and repeat until the bag is full.
- Soak the soilPour water through the stone core until the soil is wet right through.
- Plant the sides and topPlant kale, spinach, carrots or onions. The drawing shows kale and spinach at 8 plants per line.
The record gives no bag size, no yields and no water volumes. It says establishing 10 bags takes about 2 man-days, and that the garden needs less irrigation water than a conventional bed, according to land users. It also notes low adoption, because the technology is new. The record’s cost table is unclear about its currency, so we don’t quote costs.
SOURCE: WOCAT, “MULTISTOREY GARDENS [KENYA]” (EMBU, COMPILED 2012)
A raised bed with its own compost basket
How it is built
- A round bed, about 2 m across and about 1 m high in the African design, with walls of stone, brick or any material that holds the soil.
- A wire-mesh basket in the middle, standing about a foot above the wall.
- A drainage layer of gravel or twigs, then layers of grass clippings, leaves or straw, then at least 8 inches (about 20 cm) of topsoil.
- Kitchen peelings go into the basket, with water, so nutrients seep out into the bed.
Where it comes from
Keyhole gardens were developed in Lesotho in the mid-1990s, for people who were ill or unable to work a normal garden. They are now found in Kenya and across Africa. The charity Ripple Effect promotes them in Kenya, and describes its work in Migori. The raised wall reduces bending, and the bed is small enough to reach from one spot.
Wide-rooted crops such as tomatoes may not do well in them, according to Wikipedia’s summary of the design. Dimensions vary between sources.
SOURCES: WIKIPEDIA, “KEYHOLE GARDEN”; RIPPLE EFFECT, “HOW TO CREATE A KEYHOLE GARDEN”
Manure, water and pesticides
A kitchen garden feeds your own family, so it is worth getting these right.
- Don’t use fresh manure. The University of Connecticut’s extension service says even aged manure can carry E. coli, and that plant-based compost is safer than manure for edible crops. It recommends commercially composted manure from a reputable supplier as the lowest-risk manure.
- Backyard heaps may not get hot enough. Heat is what kills pathogens. The same source says unmanaged compost can carry Salmonella and E. coli, and that temperature must reach 130–140°F (54–60°C) for composted manure.
- Be careful with wastewater. The Ministry of Agriculture’s advice, as reported by the Standard, is to avoid kitchen wastewater, which can carry pathogens, and to use safe water. Some keyhole garden guides suggest putting used wash water into the basket. Our reading is to keep wash water off edible leaves, and use clean water on the crop.
- Know your site. A study of kale at three peri-urban Nairobi sites found elevated levels of metals, including lead, chromium and nickel, in vegetables irrigated with wastewater at two of them. It linked high soil metal loads to chicken manure. At one site, pesticide residues in kale exceeded permissible limits. The abstract gives no measured concentrations.
- Respect pesticide waiting periods. The Dagoretti South officer says to use pesticides only when necessary: “Every pesticide has a number of days” before harvest.
What we couldn’t confirm.
The Connecticut guidance is from the United States, where the temperature figure applies to manure composting. We found no Kenyan guide with waiting times between applying compost and harvesting for home gardens. If you want to eat from a bed soon after adding manure, ask your ward agricultural officer.
SOURCES: UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT SOIL NUTRIENT ANALYSIS LAB, “COMPOST, COMPOST TEA, AND MANURE: FOOD SAFETY IMPLICATIONS”; STANDARD (FARM KENYA); THE STAR (2020); FOOD SYSTEMS JOURNAL, STUDY OF KALE IN PERI-URBAN NAIROBI (ABSTRACT)
Crops, watering and pests
Crops that suit small gardens
The Standard names spinach, leafy onions, sukuma wiki, bok choy, lettuce, terere, strawberries, mint, dhania, broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes. For growing details, see our kale and vegetables guide.
Tomatoes are harder. The Standard says they are difficult to manage in kitchen gardens, especially in the rainy season, when pests and disease are common. An extension officer quoted by the Nation says one container tomato plant can give 7 to 10 kg of fruit. That is her claim, not a trial result. See our tomato guide.
Water and pests
- Check each plant daily and pick insects off by hand.
- Use coloured sticky traps and insect-proof nets.
- Plant basil, parsley, spring onions, chillies or mint among the crops, which the Standard says repel insects.
- A bucket drip kit (Sh2,000) with 10 m perforated lines covers about 150 plants, according to the Standard.
SOURCES: STANDARD (FARM KENYA); NATION, “SEEDS OF GOLD” (CONTAINER GARDENS)
Gaps in the published advice
The Kenyan sources we found don’t give plant spacing for sacks and containers, kilograms of compost per square metre, or yields for the multistorey garden. We haven’t made figures up. Your ward agricultural officer, or the Ministry’s lessons for urban farmers at its Nairobi headquarters (reported as held on Wednesdays), can give local numbers.
Questions people ask
What is the best soil mix for containers?
Equal parts soil and manure, according to Kenyan extension advice. Use manure that is well rotted, or well-finished compost.
How much sun does a kitchen garden need?
Six to eight hours a day. Tomatoes and peppers need full sun, and lettuce does well in light shade.
Can I water with kitchen wastewater?
The Ministry’s advice is to avoid it, because it can carry pathogens. Use safe water for irrigation.
Can I put kitchen scraps in the garden?
In a keyhole garden, scraps go into the central basket. You can also compost them first in a bin or a bokashi bucket.
Is chicken manure safe?
It can supply enough manure for a small garden, but use it well rotted. One Nairobi study linked soil metal loads to chicken manure, so don’t over-apply.
Start your garden with good compost
We run training for households, schools and estates, and can help you set up small-scale composting.