Tending the Garden as a Prayer

March 18, 2025

written by Samantha Worthing for The Ember Journal Issue Seven.

In November of 2009, Pope Benedict XVI had a meeting in the Sistine Chapel with a few hundred artists. He addressed them as “custodians” or “guardians” of beauty and shared many profound remarks on the importance of beauty as people of faith. He said, “Authentic beauty… unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond. If we acknowledge that beauty touches us intimately, that it wounds us, that it opens our eyes, then we rediscover the joy of seeing, of being able to grasp the profound meaning of our existence, the Mystery of which we are part; from this Mystery we can draw fullness, happiness, the passion to engage with it every day.”

“Therefore we are to see a certain vision, my brethren, that no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived: a vision surpassing all earthly beauty, whether it be that of gold and silver, woods and fields, sea and sky, sun and moon, or stars and angels. The reason is this: it is the source of all other beauty.” - St. Augustine

The late pope, God rest his soul, also quoted Saint Paul VI when he said, “This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart, and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration. And all this through the work of your hands . . . Remember that you are the guardians of beauty in the world.”

Not many of us truly consider ourselves artists. We go about life, accomplishing tasks, wiping counters, hugging friends, kissing little cheeks. But it is a beautiful thing to ponder – the admiration of the Lord’s creation as a profound prayer, as well as the small ways we can create beauty in our homes as gifts for those around us. How can we be more intentional with this?

One of the things so many of us long for with the return of spring – to be back in the garden. To tend, to nurture, to admire, to get our hands in the soil and create something out of a seemingly plain spot, however small or large. The separation from nature that often coincides with the bitterly cold days of late winter often causes an even deeper longing for the warm sunshine and new growth that seem so very far away. To everything there is a season, and the return of spring with its lushness, color, and light is truly a beautiful tiny glimpse into the Creator’s eternity.

“Creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God’s works.” – CCC 198

Potager Gardens

What are Potager Gardens and what do they have to do with our prayer? Potager, pronounced “pow-tuh-jay,” literally translated from French means, “for the soup pot.” A potager garden is essentially a kitchen garden with both practical and aesthetic value. Their history actually stretches all the way back to the monasteries of Medieval times.

“The term potager carries with it a much deeper historical tradition. This meaning stretched back to the Middle Ages when all of Western civilization – literature, history, science – was hanging by a slender thread, hidden behind the high stone walls of medieval monasteries. These cultural outposts were small, isolated, and largely self-sufficient. For the most part, monks and nuns grew their own food, herbs, and medicines. Within small geometric plots, useful herbs, vegetables, and perhaps some flowers were grown for daily use. Monastery gardens were more than vegetable gardens, however; they were also used as sites for meditation and prayer.” – Jennifer Bartley, Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook

You may consider yourself a seasoned gardener or just a novice, but gardening has something to teach all of us. The question is – how can we take this idea of the potager, a place of beauty, color, life, and practicality, and apply it to our own homes and gardens? To create spaces, however large or small, that turn our gazes upward and make us pause and admire the beauty? Garden writer Joy Larkcom said, “Potagers are like painting pictures in your garden: the colors of the vegetables, flowers and herbs are your palette.”

Anyone who has ever grown a garden knows that it can often be just as frustrating as it is gratifying, that things often don’t go according to plan, and that by mid-summer you can often have quite an overgrown jungle on your hands. It’s very tough to not become discouraged in these moments but every year we garden we learn a bit more about how to use our “palette” to create a beautiful space, as a prayer.

10 Tips for Creating Your Potager

Incorporate plenty of variety into your space. Herbs can be planted among flowers which can be scattered among the veggies. Potager gardens are known for being practical spaces, often right outside the kitchen door, where you grow the things you eat and enjoy. So don’t be afraid to mix some new things in with old tried and true favorites, like a handful of lovely new-found varieties.
Grow things you know you and your family will eat and enjoy. If you don’t love tomatoes, don’t feel like you have to grow them just because you are a home gardener. If you prefer bouquets with softer colors, keep this in mind when picking out flower varieties.
Add texture. Plants like globe thistles, dahlias, lamb’s ear, lupines, zinnias, and even curly kale can add more interest with their various textures.
Encourage visits from wildlife/pollinators. By planting things that pollinators love, like their favorite flowers amidst your veggies, you’ll encourage visits from them that will enhance the life of your garden. Easy favorites are yarrow, milkweed, coneflowers, and asters. You can look into the varieties that are native to your region.
Mix perennials with annuals. It’s good for adding depth to the garden to continue to tend to returning perennials, and it’s good for the soil too! You can plan each year to fill gaps between the perennial plants with annual ones.
Don’t be afraid to add more color. Even as someone who prefers cottage garden varieties to loudly-colored ones, my garden has given me a deeper appreciation for the Lord’s gift of color. There are an infinite number of new varieties out there to try!
Use height. Arbors and trellises are a lovely way to do this, where you can grow things like sweet peas, beans, cucumbers, small pumpkins, climbing roses, morning glory, clematis, etc. This can be as simple as tying together some bamboo poles, or you can get fancy with a DIY project.
Succession planting. Once a crop finishes out, like early-planted potatoes, greens, carrots, etc, plan to fill that space in the garden again to have things growing all season. Also, if an annual flops, falls victim to pests, or doesn’t sprout, try not to get discouraged and just sow a few more seeds.
Let it be a bit wild. While the monastic gardens of old were traditionally quite orderly, a little bit of wild can be profoundly lovely. One of the enjoyable things about tending to a garden year after year is seeing self sowing plants reappear throughout. These can be things like hollyhocks, nicotiana, valerian, chamomile, tomatoes, carrots, calendula, and cosmos.
Tend to the health of the soil. Continue to work to enhance the life underground by applying good quality compost yearly, mulching with organic materials, limiting your disturbance of the soil, and avoiding the use of harsh chemicals.