The best vegetable garden I’ve ever had is not one I planted; it’s one I inherited.

When we moved into our first house, we were pleased about the large garden, consisting of two rectangular patches of earth and one L-shaped plot, all bound by railroad ties. We didn’t move in until August, but there were still plenty of carrots, onions and other goodies left over from the previous owners, who had cultivated the land so carefully.

I don’t have much gardening experience, myself, and I would probably be too lazy to try if not for my wife’s interest. But I’m learning on the job as we now enter our fourth season of gardening &045; the third we planted ourselves.

Far from a master gardener am I. I am to gardening what that Swedish Chef from the Muppets is to Wolfgang Puck, or what the FBI is to a bunch of Barney Fifes.

This year, we’re doing lettuce, spinach, snow pea pods and a few carrots, as well as a few oddities like sunflowers, corn and bok choy. I didn’t even know half this stuff could grow here. We also have picked up a couple of tomato plants and a green pepper plant.

So, we’ve got plants springing up all over the place, all under a foot high, and I’ve got to say it scares me. It’s like having 20 babies and not knowing if you can put food on the table for them all &045; that’s how much confidence I have in my own gardening abilities.

The first garden we planted was a learning experience. One thing I learned, for instance, is that you have to weed it. I learned that one the hard way. Then I learned that it would have been easier to pull the weeds when they were small.That year, we had carrots, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes and a patch of pumpkins. Things went well in a sense: We managed to harvest many onions and carrots, and made some nice salads out of the lettuce, although the potatoes didn’t grow and most of the pumpkins rotted on the vine. Even the successes, however, were a lesson in scale. While we used up most of the lettuce, there ended up being enough carrots to fill a small warehouse. I think we still have some in the fridge.

We were also set upon by what appeared to be slugs. They were slimy, black and, at the risk of sounding like a wimp, really, really yucky. They had some kicks burrowing into the carrots and pumpkins, which made my skin crawl. Every time I cut up what appeared to be a good carrot, I wondered if I’d be finding a couple of those little suckers squirming inside. I had horror movie images in my head.

Overall, that was one of our better gardens, which gives you an idea of how our next effort went.

Last year, we decided that even though our yard in Albert Lea was smaller than our previous one, we’d take another swing at a garden. This yard didn’t have one built in, so we spent hours with shovels digging up a plot and turning the soil over. Did you know there are roots everywhere? I didn’t know that before. There must not have been a single square inch in the yard where I could stick that shovel in the ground and not hit a stubborn tree tentacle. And there isn’t even a tree very near by.

Well, after we planted our seeds last year, a few little sprouts started coming up. But then we had a week of heavy rain and strong winds. By the time things dried out, the poor little plants had perished.

Which brings me to the latest garden. So far, it’s actually going well. The lettuce is looking robust and the pea pod plants are snaking their way upward with reckless abandon. But just when I thought my digging days were done, we decided to expand the garden and line it with little bricks that we picked up last week.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out this time. Because having a successful garden, despite all the kneeling and pulling and digging it requires, is worth it. Especially if it can draw attention away from our lawn &045; or, as the neighbors call it, the Belden Dandelion Farm.

Dylan Belden is the Tribune’s managing editor. His column appears Sundays. E-mail him at dylan.belden@albertleatribune.com.