Gardens have themes. Well, really, they’re just giant science experiments each year to figure out what breeds life. In our case, we have wisely chosen to build a garden in a backyard surrounded by very tall trees. The brilliance is so evident, is it not? For this reason, we have done our best to improve that which we can control. Each year, we’ve put more intentionality into our soil. We’ve learned how to physically prop plants up well so they can thrive. Our selection on what we actually do plant has narrowed and become more focused with regionally-specific varieties so we can see success. We’ve added plants to attract pollinators so pollination occurs more frequently.

This year, in addition to layering our soil, a big focus has been pruning. When I think of that word, my thoughts go to cutting away that which is no longer growing well. Maybe the leaves have a disease or have yellowed, or maybe parts of the plant have simply died off. It makes a lot of sense to rid plants of those trouble areas to give them the ability to channel their energy towards what is healthy.

What I have not focused on is the idea of pruning something healthy to promote even more growth and harvest. We’ve never done the best job with thinning out plants once the seedlings start to show. This year, it was painful to pull up tiny, thriving plants in order to leave space for the select few to have the real estate to actually grow legitimate fruit (or in this case, mostly vegetables). But while it was painful, we’ve seen some real results. 

Who knew that tomato plants have different kinds of branches that grow from the main stem? We do now, and we have started cutting the branches off below where fruit is growing to help the plant focus its energy. And guess what? We actually have grown many tomatoes (in the past we were lucky to get a handful).

I learned, recently, with herbs, the more you cut them, the more they will grow and get bushier, provided you know where to cut. I tried it and let me tell you, it works! Pruning in this way has actually paved the way for double the amount of growth to take its place.

Sometimes it requires cutting away something that is actually still good in order to leave room for even greater goodness. 

Not an easy thing. How to decide what is worth keeping and getting rid of? How does one embrace that some good things are temporary and should be let go of before they stop serving us as well as they currently are? 

We need to give ourselves permission to use up some of the good growth and recognize it’s a one time use, but that doesn’t mean the one time isn’t worth it. Pasta sauce with fresh basil (even if the basil was cut from its parent plant to grow no more), is much better than without it. 

I think what I’m learning is how to strategically prune both the good and dying to promote good growth. When and where should I cut the plant? 

In a real world context, sometimes we might be managing something very well, but there’s the feeling it’s not bringing us the life and joy it once did. It’s not draining us, but it’s stunting us and not giving us room to say yes to something else. Or maybe we need to accept a relationship we thought was intended to be evergreen was actually only meant to last one season. We need to cut, or perhaps release, the good thing.

And you know what’s cool about that? Someone else will step into our place, take on our ceiling as their floor, and thus double, triple or even more growth can occur. Space is created for new relationships to occur.

Pruning has multiple applications, not just cutting that which is dying. We have the invitation to say yes to both kinds of pruning, in our gardens, but also in our lives. Easier said than done.

So, where in your world do you sense the invitation to let go of something good to leave space for more growth to occur? Where do you see the Lord showing you something that He intended to be an annual, but are holding onto as if it were meant to be perennial? Is there anything taking energy from your ability to produce truly good fruit for His Kingdom?

Tough questions folks, but the pruning is worth it.