Southampton - "We must cultivate our garden" (Voltaire). The process of growth is forever mysterious, and gardens can be places of awe and wonder. But there's nothing mysterious about gardening - it is not an arcane art. Anyone can garden, and I believe that everyone should, even if the "garden" is just a couple of plants in flowerpots. Gardening is the most rewarding of activities, giving us a chance to reestablish our connection with the natural world, and affording us the satisfaction of nurturing our own little bit of the Earth.

So, maybe this is your year to start a garden, and now's the time. Really, give it a try - you might just find that you enjoy it. Want more color in your life? Grow some flowers to enjoy outdoors or to cut for a vase. Do you like to cook? Plant some fresh herbs - basil and thyme, parsley and chives, rosemary, dill, and tarragon - they're a snap to grow. Try some vegetables, too. There's nothing like a juicy-ripe tomato still warm from the sun, or crunchy sugar snap peas right off the vine.

We're blessed with an abundance of local produce in summer from farmstands across the East End, so support our local farmers and shop there. But grow some of your own food and flowers, too. It's not hard.

Here's how to get started:

Start with the easy stuff - leaf lettuce, arugula and mesclun are good bets for beginners.

 • First, pick a location for the garden. A kitchen garden right outside the back door will put fresh herbs and vegetables just steps from the stove. A sunny spot is best. Look for a site that gets full, unobstructed sunlight for six or more hours a day. If you haven't got a bright enough place, try gardening in some big pots on the deck or patio.

 • Make sure your garden spot is within reach of a hose, unless you're planning to install an automatic watering system. The ideal garden soil is dark brown and crumbly (garden cognoscenti call it "friable"), with plenty of organic matter, or humus. Dig compost into your garden soil before you plant.

 • Do yourself a favor and start small. Nothing is sadder than a weedy, overgrown patch in July, where it's hard to find the vegetables among the weeds. Be realistic about the amount of time you're really willing to devote to gardening. If you want to hit the beach on some of those nice days, keep the garden small. You can always expand it next year.

 • Once you've got the location, and a size in mind, it's time to lay out the garden. Your garden can be square or rectangular, oval or round, divided into triangles or other geometric shapes, or in whatever freeform shape you dream up. Traditionally, vegetable gardens were planted in single rows with lots of space between them, like miniature farm fields. But you can plant a garden in wide rows or bands, in blocks with the plants staggered in a diagonal grid pattern, or in a grid with plants equidistant from one another in all directions. You can garden in raised beds with paths between them.

 • Decide what to grow. This is the fun part. If you want to grow vegetables, plant what you like to eat. Start with the easy stuff - leaf lettuce, arugula and mesclun are good bets for beginners. So are snap beans and peas. Tomatoes are a must. Spinach bolts to seed in hot weather, but chard keeps going all season, and the red-stemmed variety is both vigorous and great-looking in the garden. Eggplant has pretty purple flowers, and the oriental and Italian types bear long, slender fruits that are never bitter. Try some strawberries, too.

 • If you want to include herbs in your little plot, grow the ones you use most often in cooking. Mints will spread, so grow them in pots. But the others are easy and some, like chives, tarragon, sage, thyme, and oregano, are perennial and will come back next year.

 • Want some flowers in your garden? Plant them in colors you like. To have flowers for cutting, choose colors that will complement the colors of your rooms indoors. Some flowers are edible - plant nasturtiums and calendulas to dress up summer salads.

Ladybugs, green lacewings, braconid wasps, syrphid flies and praying mantids are all good guys. So are bees, who do the essential work of pollinating flowers to produce fruit.

 • As the plants grow, give your garden some TLC. Pull the weeds before they get big and overwhelm your plants. If you have trouble keeping up, at least try to get them out before they bloom and scatter their seeds all over the garden. Water when the soil feels dry below the surface (don't wait until your plants look wilted - by then they're already suffering water stress).

 • Keep an eye out for pests and diseases, and take appropriate measures if they strike. There are lots of effective organic products available to combat them. Keep in mind, though, that not all bugs are bad. Some of them are very helpful in the garden, and actually help fight the pests. Ladybugs, green lacewings, braconid wasps, syrphid flies and praying mantids are all good guys. So are bees, who do the essential work of pollinating flowers to produce fruit. Don't be afraid of bees - if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. (Yellowjackets and hornets are a different story).

 • You probably have deer in your neighborhood - most of us do now - so you'll need to fence your garden. You don't need a 10-foot fence if your garden is fairly small - deer won't jump into an enclosed space. My own kitchen garden is enclosed with deer netting about six and half feet high. If you use netting, it's a good idea to tie some streamers to it so passing birds won't fly into it and get caught. And pin the bottom of the netting to the ground (I use irrigation pins) so rabbits and other critters can't come in underneath it.

Gardening can be the passion of a lifetime, and the gardener a relentless seeker of knowledge, on a quest for new and different plants, and better ways to grow them. But gardening can also be simply a pleasant way to spend your free time, and excuse to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, an enjoyable activity that is healthy for the gardener and for the planet. So, cultivate your garden.