TIPS TO DESIGN A KITCHEN GARDEN

March 11, 2025

 Soul Therapy - Gardening

Gardening is therapy for my soul. The sense of beauty, pure joy, and accomplishment that comes from garden design—starting with a blank canvas, playing with color, height, and a touch of whimsy—is nothing short of life-giving and soul-renovating.

There’s something deeply satisfying about putting your hands in the soil, planting tiny seeds of flowers and vegetables, and witnessing color, beauty, and purpose unfold over time—at just the right time. I love slowly watching the beauty of the garden come to fruition.

Here are my beginner's gardening tips...

1 - It’s a Garden, Not a Yard.

I’ve been gardening to various degrees since 1982. One of the first things I learned is to always call the space you’re creating a garden. 

We often refer to our outdoor spaces as “yards;” for the sake of vision, begin to call it a garden—even if it’s just dirt. What you call it matters. Words shape vision. In time, that space will transform. Beauty doesn’t appear overnight; it emerges one corner, one stone, one flower at a time. What you call it, I believe, it will become.

2 - The Table as Your Starting Point

Every garden I design begins with a table. Before the first bed is mapped or the first seed is sown, I bring a small table to the space, sometimes placing it in the center, other times near the edge. In the cool of the morning, with tea/coffee in hand, I meander to the table. I sit. I observe. I watch the wind patterns, notice the birds, and the quiet stirrings of the space. I listen. I journal. I pray.

I will take at least a few weeks to discover what the space will become. So, besides my morning matcha, I’ll bring a notebook and a basket with a few of my favorite inspirational garden books to the table. Flipping through their pages, ideas pop out and often one idea sparks another; creativity and design begin to unfold.

3 - Define the Purpose of Your Garden

Is it a Kitchen Garden -with herbs and vegetables, or, would you like to incorporate dimension and pops of color with flowers?

Do you envision a dedicated flower garden or a beautiful blend of both? Do you want to grow what you cook with - beautiful vegetables like Swiss chard, broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, dill French thyme, squash (summer and winter), cucumbers, French breakfast radishes, carrots, turnips, beets, French lettuce like Merveille des Quatre Saisons, arugula, cilantro, cauliflower, cabbage, and more . . 

 

PART TWO

1 - Kitchen Garden Location

Now, we’ll back up just a bit . . . (coming soon)