All is peachy in the garden

May 24

Let me start by stating the obvious: my hoverflies and bumblebees don't care about a coordinated color palette in the kitchen garden.

There are plenty of studies showing that pollinators have color preferences, but with enough variety planted around the property, I feel confident about what's happening within the fence posts of my vegetable garden. When I talk about beneficial kitchen gardening, it's about creating a space that supports the ecosystem, yes, but also one that supports your wellbeing, physically and emotionally.

Earlier this year I read Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee, a quick and wonderful read I'd recommend to anyone who spends time thinking about the spaces they inhabit. She devotes an entire section to the power of color and how the physical world around us, color, shape, texture, directly shapes how we feel. That idea landed even more deeply after hearing her speak to a group of landscape designers.

With that in mind, I've decided to go soft and pretty this year: peaches, salmons, and apricots.

The dahlias are sprouting (a few, predictably, rotted). The Precious Metal and Dawn Creek zinnias are hardening off, along with Apricot Peach strawflower, Apricot Profusion zinnia, and Strawberry Blonde calendula. I'm off to source Ladybird Rose nasturtium as I write this.

One telltale sign that a gardening blog was written by ChatGPT is the peculiar overuse of the word "quiet." I do crave a certain gentleness in my kitchen garden this year, so maybe the robot is onto something.