Just after college, while living in a small town in Austria, I spent time working as household help for a family that had a large garden plus a vineyard with several rows of grape vines on a hill overlooking the Danube River.

I spent many afternoons working in their garden, learning from their master gardener how to grow vegetables and fruit for the family. During a few weeks of fall, I spent day after day working alongside other workers harvesting mountains of grapes on the breezy, scenic hillside.

During those days, newly saved and reading the Word for the first time in my life, I was amazed at how many times Jesus Himself used agricultural illustrations to teach spiritual truths, and how many times while out in the gardens working my morning devotions seemed to just come alive with real life object lessons.

I think those days gave me a passion for gardening that has lasted, even as I look out my office window at the snow-covered grape vines, apple trees, and raspberry canes in my own backyard.

Why garden? The answer to that question varies based on whom you're asking. Personally, I find time in the garden fun and refreshing, as well as a money saver. Others may simply have a passion for plants and flowers, and others concerned about chemicals in our foods.

With spring well on its way, now is the time for many of us to plan our gardens for the coming season. When those first few warm days of spring beckon us outside, the last thing we want to think about is planning a garden, rather than digging in immediately. However, I've found that a little bit of planning early in spring makes the gardening season go much smoother.

Certainly, gardening is a little bit easier when you have a piece of land to call your own, but I've had gardens even while single and living in an apartment. How? There are several possibilities.

The first is container gardening. Some plants, especially herbs, and strawberries, can be easily grown in pots and planters, and placed in the sunlight. You just have to remember to water them more frequently, as potted plants dry out faster than others, and you must make sure there is enough room for the roots to spread out and grow. There are many resources online or at the library about container gardening, including some great tips at the Garden Guides website.

Second, you can ask a home-owning friend or fellow church member for a piece of their back yard garden. I've had several friends use parts of my large garden for their own plants, and this has worked out well for both of us. Not only were they able to garden, but we were able to fellowship while working out in the fresh air. Just be sure to not allow your garden to turn into an unsightly jungle in their back yard or the offer may not stand next year!

Although they are more common in Europe, there are also farming co-ops or community gardens which may rent out garden space for a price. You can usually find out more about these arrangements at local health food stores or by calling your county agricultural extension agent (look in the yellow pages). Sometimes you can even find community gardens or co-ops that are exclusively organic. My time spent in a community garden co-op while living in Salzburg, Austria in my early 20s afforded me a unique opportunity to both grow some fresh vegetables and get to know others in my community. You can find out more about Community Gardens at the American Community Gardening Association website.

Next, you need to decide what you're going to grow. Too many times, new gardeners will go shopping for seeds and plants without a plan, and return home with whatever appealed to them at that moment. Shopping for seeds when spring fever hits is the gardener's equivalent of shopping while hungry. Instead, think through how to make best use of the land you have available to you. The Colorado State University website has some great resources on garden planning with planting guides.

Obviously the first concern is to only grow what you use anyway. If you hate turnips, why plant them? You should also think about how you're going to store what you're growing. Planting a whole seed pack of lettuce may seem like a savings until the day you realize you can't possibly eat or store 100 heads of lettuce in the next few days. Instead, plant only a few seeds of lettuce every week, so that you have a continuous harvest, week after week, instead of all at once. The same is true of zucchini. No one person could possibly eat all of the zucchini a seed pack of it would produce. Instead, plant 2 seeds, and plan to give away the excess zucchini if you have an overabundance, for example.

Finally, especially when your garden space is small, only plant those things which are easy to grow and can't be purchased for less elsewhere. For example, I love potatoes, but there is no point in planting them when a nearby farm sells them to me for less than the cost of my labor and supplies. If all of my gardening friends are forever unloading unwanted zucchini on me, why bother planting it?

Gardening does involve work, beyond just planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall. Because of the fall in Genesis 3, we can't just plant seeds and hope for the best. Just as the seed of the Word needs to land on good soil to take root and grow fruitfully, we also need to start with the best soil possible. Good soil is loose, but not sandy, with plenty of organic matter in it. Usually mixing in compost or composted manure into the soil will help it become as healthy as possible.

Plants also need plenty of water, especially if it hasn't rained in a while. Watering in the morning is the best time, so that the heat of the afternoon sun doesn't cause the water to evaporate before the soil and plants have absorbed it.

Weeding has to be the least favorite jobs that every kid has been drafted to do in mom's garden. I suppose it even seems pointless to spend so much time pulling up weeds only to have them grow again, faster than whatever I've planted! But weeding does two important things. Weeding loosens the soil around your plants so that the soil drains well, and it keeps other unwanted plants from stealing nutrients from wanted ones. If you keep up with weeding during the first month, your job will be much easier for the rest of the season.

In many ways, this work is a reflection of the work of sanctification in my own heart, that is making sure the soil of my heart is the best it can be. Giving my heart plenty of living water from the Word daily, preferably before the heat of the day can cause it to evaporate away, letting it do its refreshing work. Making sure that the weeds of sin don't use up my valuable resources by removing them before they have a chance to grow.

No wonder our Lord used gardening illustrations to teach spiritual truths! May your garden be a blessing both to your spirit and to your body.