Garden Lesson #12

Roots are a metaphor for countless things...family, community, knowledge, faith, etc. Generally, roots are used to explain how someone or something is able to grow and flourish, and to withstand adversity and the storms of life. The equation is simple; healthy roots equals healthy life above ground. We can then assume that the opposite is also true.

Several weeks ago, we planted our tomato and squash seeds indoors, in the hopes that they would be ready to transplant outside by the May long weekend. We start our seeds in small 1 inch cells, and then once they've sprouted and grown a little, we transplant them to bigger pots where they have room to grow before moving them to their permanent homes in the garden. I once heard that the radius of tomato roots is twice the length of the height of the plant above ground. In short, tomato plants need a lot of room.

Our squash seeds grew as expected and are even sporting a few blossoms already. The tomatoes are a different story. They sprouted about the same time as the squash. They grew to about half an inch and then stopped. We waited for over a week for them to do something before transplanting, but they just sat there, looking healthy, yet not growing.

We hypothesized that the roots had nowhere else to go and therefore the plants weren't growing either. And, boy, were we right. As we took the little one inch cells out of their trays we found a virtual maze of roots all intertwined and confused. It seems as though the roots were growing, but with limited room they became a tangled mess that sucked the moisture and nutrients from the same small bit of soil. It's been about 2 weeks since we gave our tomato plants more room, and lo and behold, they are growing.

Regardless of what you want roots to symbolize, the message is the same. If you want to become strong, healthy, and productive, you need room to grow. We need to be continually seeking out new sources of life-giving materials; whether that be new relationships or deepened relationships, new experiences that teach us and grow our faith, learning new things or expanding knowledge. Life-giving nutrients will be different for everyone, but if we don't seek out that which helps us grow, we become root-bound. We may not wither or die, but we won't grow and blossom either.