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When I was a kid, I didn’t fully appreciate the joys of gardening.

From my young perspective, gardening meant spending summer evenings using a hoe to chop weeds – not very entertaining or comfortable work – and getting up early in the mornings to pick the vegetables which were ready for harvest. (And after that, if we’d picked snaps or peas or corn, then we’d have to spend extra time shelling or shucking. I did not enjoy finding worms whenever I’d peel back corn husks!)

During the summer, I just wanted to play!

Nevertheless, growing a garden was something my family and I did every year.

As I got older, I gained a different perspective on the work. Even if I didn’t like chopping weeds or waking up early, I did enjoy eating the food that came out of it. It was a nice variety of vegetables – tomatoes, squash, and corn being the biggest producers, but we always included a few others too. Mom always had plenty of extras to can and freeze for later. I did have fun watching that process play out… mostly because I didn’t have to help out!

And looking back now, those times shelling and shucking weren’t so bad. It was extra family time, where we got a few minutes to sit down together and talk and laugh while we did the work. I appreciate that now so much more than I did when I was a kid and teenager.

Since I moved out on my own a few years ago, I’ve been trying to grow my own garden too.

Sometimes I’m a little too ambitious for my skill and energy level. I used to have a traditional garden like the ones I grew up with: tilled rows in the yard for the vegetables. It meant I had to spend late evenings and early mornings chopping the weeds. If you miss a week, suddenly your garden is a wild jungle. (I used to describe it as “nothing in my garden grows better than the grass apparently.” It was very frustrating.)

But one year, I got sick and was unable to take care of all the hard work that goes into tending a garden. I’m still upset about all the vegetables I missed out on that time. So after that, I decided to switch gears and try container gardening.

Last year was my first attempt, and I think it turned out pretty well. I planted my usual vegetables (tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants, snaps) in the biggest pots I could find. It was a little more expensive at the beginning, because I had to buy pots, soil, and the plants first. But I feel like it was worth it in the end.

I didn’t have to worry about weeds growing in the pots, so that cut out having to break my back chopping every other night. Thank goodness!

And I put the pots closer to my water hose, so I didn’t have to lug a watering can multiple times to the garden to water everything. It was so much easier to make sure all my plants were well-watered when all I had to do was turn on the water hose and spray. The plants really did flourish like that – especially in June when it was really dry last year.

But I did still have to deal with other usual garden problems, like checking for bugs that can damage my plants, fixing blossom end rot on my tomatoes and peppers, and covering my plants for a late frost. But, in the end, everything turned out well.

So this year, I’m expanding a little. Adding a few more pots and trying out some more vegetables. I’m not sure how all of them will do growing in pots and containers instead of the ground, but I’ll never know until I try it out.

The thing about gardening is that it’s a lot of trial and effort over the years, trying out new things and getting rid of ones that don’t work.

But I’m always excited to see how things grow. I like watching my plants get bigger and bloom. I planted a few seedlings over Easter weekend, and they’re already twice as big as they were at the beginning.

If you’re thinking about starting your own summer garden, now is the perfect time. (Though in years past, I have planted as late as the end of May and things were still good to grow.) You don’t have to have a big yard and fancy gardening tools to get started. You can try some unconventional ideas to work with the space you have available.

My other advice to gardeners is really simple. Plant things you actually want to eat! If your garden turns out well, you are going to have a lot of vegetables to work with. I had so many eggplants last year that I had to start looking up new recipes to try out.

But it’s also nice to share the extras with your neighbors too!

I still consider myself a novice when it comes to gardening, but it’s been fun learning more and more every year. So I think I’ll be doing this for a long time to come.

There are plenty of local businesses in our four-county area that have plants and seeds for sale along with all the tools you’ll need to get started. I recommend checking them out and shopping local.

Good luck to everyone gardening this year. I hope y’all get to enjoy the fruits… or rather, the vegetables… of your labors!

Holly Taylor is a staff writer for Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact her at holly.taylor@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7206.