Series one: post one
Whenever I think of spring, a picture of a lush garden full of life always comes to mind. I’m blessed to have a few different botanical gardens close to home and it’s always such a delight visiting them. I usually want to bring my DSLR camera and just have fun taking picture after picture as I explore all the natural wonders and experiment with different camera angles. There’s nothing quite like a flourishing garden to remind me of what health looks like. Every corner is filled with signs of growth-overflowing beds dense with greenery, vibrant flowers in technicolor, the scent of freshly cut grass, and the hum of happy little bees at work. The scene reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: “The surest sign of health is growth.”
Growth is most evident through health. I remember when my oldest, Naomi, was still a baby. She remained quite small, even after a month. On my follow-up appointment with the doctor at six weeks, he told me that her small size was probably due to her not getting enough to eat. It turns out she wasn’t getting enough breast milk, so the doctor prescribed formula to supplement the breast milk. In a matter of days, I could see her improvement. Her health showed me she was getting what she needed. It wasn’t long before I needed to change out the size of clothes in her drawers, and that assured me she was growing nicely.
As I see the evidence of spring all around me here in north Georgia, it got me thinking about gardens. Springtime and gardens just naturally make me think about life, health, and growth. It’s really hard not to smile as yellow forsythia branches wave hello in the breeze and purple wisteria drape their lovely scented blossoms on the trees in my driveway. Life greets me on every side.
These incredible reminders of life all around me has had me contemplating the similarities between gardening in the natural world and gardening in the spiritual sense (world). I thought it would be an ideal time to share what I have learned through my own experience with gardening. The next several weeks will carry that theme and will become the series “Graveyards to Gardens.” I would like to show how the natural experience of gardening can become a spiritual lesson as the natural parallels the spiritual.
Now, I must confess, I never realized how much work went into owning and maintaining a garden until last year when my family tried gardening ourselves. Naomi had been dreaming of planting our own garden for years and often would try to convince us by explaining the advantages. She finally talked me into it last summer, and I talked my mom (Mimi, to my girls) into joining in on the fun.
We found ourselves walking the aisles at Lowe’s trying to decide what to plant. We didn’t really do a whole ton of research, so we were a little confused about where to start. We finally decided on some tomatoes and peppers. The plants there had some growth on them already, so I figured those would be easy enough. Mind you, this was the middle of June, and I have since learned that is not the best time to start a garden.
We purchased what we needed and brought everything home to begin our bed preparations. We had decided to position our container bed on our back porch by our kitchen window so it would be easy to keep an eye on it. We officially named it “Kitchen Garden.” Naomi rather insisted we write it on the side as a reminder. We got right to work. We put in the filler, added the potting soil, watered the soil, and then positioned the plants on top to see how they would fit. Next, we dug the holes, placed the plants in the holes, firmly pressed the soil in around them to secure them in place, and watered once again. It really was tough work in the summer sun. We rewarded ourselves with our own water break.
Naomi was so excited her garden dreams were finally coming true. She and Eva (my youngest) felt like all the plants needed names, so they gave every last one a name. They even created a drawing to remember all the names. Every day, they would eagerly water them, talk to them, and check on them. Naomi would enthusiastically offer verbal encouragement for added growth. Both my girls were in garden heaven.
As the weeks went by, things didn’t seem quite right. We noticed the plants weren’t really showing signs of growth—not like we expected. We continued to water them and kept checking on their progress. There was one particular week in July that it rained a lot. We had to give watering them a rest so as to not drown them. I must say, after that week break from watering, it was hard to get back into the habit of it. It reminded us that gardening takes some real dedication. Further on into summer, we noticed some of the tomato plants’ leaves turning yellow, and some of the peppers’ leaves were getting eaten. We went back to our studying to see if we could figure out a solution and ended up using some natural bug repellent. We also tried monitoring the water better. It seemed like they improved for a time, but things still weren’t looking right. We just didn’t see the growth we thought we would see. The lack of growth became the red flag that something wasn’t right. Our poor little plants weren’t healthy.
By the end of the summer, it seemed obvious we had done some things wrong. Like, maybe we had failed to do enough research on the front end of things, or maybe we waited too long into the season to get started, or maybe we hadn’t been diligent enough keeping care of them? Either way, our lack of expertise was showing. We managed to harvest two tomatoes and three tiny peppers in November, long past harvest season. It wasn’t much for our first attempt, but my girls were pleased. They hated to say goodbye, but we put the bed to rest shortly afterwards.
I realized that even though we hadn’t made a big harvest like we were hoping, we had gained some valuable insight. Here are a few things we learned in the natural world:
#1 Desire is the best place to start.
Without a passion or desire to begin a garden, it’s hard to stay focused, remain motivated, and reach your goals.
#2 Ask the experts.
Completely researching before you begin helps you understand what kind of garden you would like, how to create a plan, where to plant, what tools you will need, and how to maintain a healthy garden through to harvest.
#3 You will need the right tools.
Knowing the right tools to complete the job increases your chances of success—one of those tools being good soil. Good soil is best for optimal growth. We made the mistake of using mostly non-biodegradable materials.
#4 Timing is of the essence for the best growth.
We waited too long to plant our garden. We should have been planted in mid-March, not in mid-June.
#5 Observation is key for care.
Check your plants constantly to make sure they have enough air, water, sun, and fertilizer to stay healthy. Also check to see that nothing is hindering their growth like bugs or deer. We were not the best at checking daily.
#6 Perseverance will result in a harvest.
Although our harvest was small, we enjoyed experiencing the “fruit” of our labors. It was a reminder that if you keep at it, there is a reward in the end.
As you can see, gardening requires knowledge, skill, and dedication. I learned I’m ok with absorbing information, but translating that information into a learned skill takes way more dedication than I am willing to put into tending a garden. I think I will be just fine sitting this gardening season out. But in the meantime, I will be sharing more about the subject of gardening and what I learned about how it applies to our spiritual journeys. There is quite a bit to unpack over the next several weeks, so I want to break it up into smaller bites. This way it comes to you in smaller, digestible pieces and won’t feel quite as overwhelming. Please join me again next week as I dig deeper into the first two lessons we learned in the natural world of gardening.
#1 Desire is the best place to start.
#2 Ask the experts.
I am excited to share the spiritual insight the Father showed me with these two lessons and how they can be applied in your own journey. Until next week, here are three songs I thought of as I was writing this portion of the blog. I hope you enjoy!
Much love and blessings,
Tami
Songs I thought of while writing:
-Elevation Worship “Graveyards to Gardens”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YihKbG8-X3U
-Steven Curtis Chapman “Spring is Coming”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bco4kmBHEKQ
-Casting Crowns “Thrive”
Hello