“At Lowe’s, they had little kits that they gave to kids with a seed and a little bit of dirt,” Luke said. “I took it home and planted it, and it grew. Then the next year my family started a garden.”

Luke enjoys the entire process of gardening, and, even though it is a long and tedious process, it yields experiences that make everything worthwhile.

“The best part about gardening is getting a result,” Luke said. “Waiting many months for something to grow makes the reward worth the wait.”

Though Luke enjoys growing a variety of fruits and vegetables, he still has favorites based on the experiences he has had and his own taste in food.

“My favorite plant to grow is Sugar baby Watermelons,” Luke said. “They get huge and it’s kind of a challenge to grow them and I also really like watermelon.” 

Along with the positives of gardening there are plenty of challenges that come with it as there are many factors that can keep a garden from flourishing.

“The most difficult part about gardening is that anything can kill a plant like a rabbit or any kind of disease, or if you don’t water the plants enough,” Luke said. “Plants take a lot of maintenance, which makes it really hard to care for them.” 

Luke has to be prepared to keep his garden safe through any of the weather conditions that may arise.

“Hail storms are usually really bad because they tear up leaves and then it’s really hard for the plant to come back,” Luke said. “Obviously it is really hard to keep the plants going in the middle of June when it’s a hundred degrees outside and they need constant water.”

Gardening has helped Luke learn a new sense of responsibility as it takes him time and effort to keep his garden going.

“The process of gardening has taught me how to care for things,” Luke said. “I’ve never had any pets or anything like that, and looking after something is a valuable lesson.”

Luke has learned many lessons from gardening and understands how difficult it is for farmers who have to grow hundreds of acres of crops for a living.

“Gardening helps me understand how hard it is to make food because when I go to the grocery store and buy watermelons for a few dollars, it’s really easy, and I don’t think about how much time and effort goes into that watermelon,” Luke said. “But when I grow my own, it’s 75 to 90 days and hundreds of gallons of water and fertilizer that go into just making that one watermelon, and I respect the process more.”

Gardening does not have to be difficult if someone is willing to put in the hard work.

“If anyone wants to get into gardening, I recommend that they start small with easy plants like green beans or tomatoes that are kind of hard to kill,” Luke said. “This gives them a lot of produce and going through the gardening process is important.”