Gardening in Pots

Every year I garden, I like to try new things: new plants, new methods, or new vegetables. This year I am working on learning to raise plants in pots. This is a new endeavor, as in the past I couldn’t seem to get plants to thrive in pots. In fact, I did a very good job killing them, whether they were houseplants or outdoor plants! But this year I decided to try a lot of plants on our south-facing exposed to the baking sun all day patio. Along the way, I’ve learned a few things. Many of these lessons make great analogies about Jesus’ work in our lives, and the lives of those around us.

The first thing I learned is that soil is everything to a pot plant. If it has poor soil, that plant is doomed from the start. (Isn’t that what Jesus said about humans, too?)
The pot is also important: if the pot is too small or has too many plants crammed into it, the plant can’t fully develop and won’t look nice. That’s like us, too. If we get into a legalistic environment that binds us and constricts us, we don’t develop fully. We can’t show the beauty God designed us to show if we are constrained.

Water is important: 1) Quantity and 2) Timing; are integral components. Obviously, plants need water. If the pot is porous (like a clay pot) or very fully planted, or placed in a special environment (like a pot placed under the eaves where it doesn’t get rain water), it needs special attention, and MUCH more water. A pot without drainage holes needs much LESS water than a pot with drainage holes. Same ideas apply to us: if we are in a special environment—with many difficulties, for example,--we need more of Jesus’ life in us. If we are a “porous pot” where we are giving out a lot of the time, like a Mom with her children; we will need extra refreshing.
Timing of watering is important too. Some plants, like begonias, react very poorly to stress. They really dislike drying out. Some plants, like coreopsis, actually thrive and bloom better after the stress of drying out a bit. We are like that too. Person A might seem to thrive in peaceful times, while Person B grows in the Lord during times of stress. Sometimes, the pot plants on the patio would get REALLY DRY. So dry that the soil pulls away from the pot, and becomes hard. I found that if I just dumped water on the pot, most of the water would run out without soaking into the soil, leaving the plant still dry and thirsty. I had to water the pots just a bit, wait, then add more water; wait, then add more water. In an extreme case, I would set the pot in the birdbath to soak up water gradually. The soil would slowly soften, and soak up enough water that it again filled the pot. Aren’t humans like that too? Some folks need to see the Lord working in our lives slowly, over a prolonged period, before they can trust the Lord for themselves and fill out their potential.

Bugs are still a problem for pot plants. On my patio, the worst offenders are the ants. They actually set up colonies in the bigger pots—not just under the pots, but in the pots. Their active tunneling in the potting soil so disrupts the roots that the plants die. I have to control the “bugs”. As humans in the body of Christ, we need to control our “bugs” too. Ephesians 4 starting in verse 25 does a good job of listing our “bugs” that we need to let the Lord eliminate in our lives, so we can flourish.

The end result of all my “trials” this year was a very pretty patio, and a few dead plants. But I learned a lot, and now am no longer intimidated by raising pot plants! Hurray!