After spending a year of its life as not much more than a website, North Salt Lake’s Orchard Community Gardens are finally starting to see its first signs of life.

Crews have been out getting the dirt ready for planting beds, and the city has been requesting board members and volunteers to help shape the space at orchardgardens.blogspot.com. Though the gardens won’t be ready to grow anything by summer at the earliest, with enough help there might be the chance for some new leaves or blossoms to make their appearance by this fall.

It’s getting that help, though, that’s always the tricky thing about gardens. Like many people, I have a love/hate relationship with the practice — while I love the results of gardening (there’s nothing better than a sun-warmed tomato or a flowerbed bursting with six different colors of spring flowers), the memory of all the work it takes to get there leaves me wishing that gardening could be more of a spectator sport.

True, it’s slightly easier to find willing diggers and planters in Davis County, where people will still sneak piles of zucchini onto their neighbor’s porches when garden output becomes more than family consumption can handle.

My own family had a garden, but like many kids I had to be physically dragged out the door to pull weeds from dry dirt in the middle of the hot sun.

Even now, with adulthood having brought its usual list of unpleasant but necessary responsibilities, I’d still rather do almost anything in the world than have to weed a vegetable garden on a July afternoon. As an apartment dweller I am completely gardenless, and can spend my summer days either lounging in the shade or inside with the blessed cool of the air conditioning.

Still, it’s not quite that simple. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized the importance of having something green and growing nearby, that trees, bushes and flowers lift the spirit in addition to making the world a prettier place. When you’ve done something to help that growth along, no matter how small or fumbling your efforts, you feel connected to life as a whole. At Orchard Gardens, all they’re doing is giving as many people as they can the chance to feel that connection.

Back in my garden-free apartment, I have an entire window sill lined with flowerpots full of different blooms. I will admit to having spent an innumerable amount of time fussing over their varied states of health, adjusting their water levels and worrying over whether or not they’re getting enough light.

And, though I don’t particularly miss that old vegetable garden (except for those tomatoes ....), I’m always excited to help my mother buy a new brace of plants every spring for her flower garden.

I will, every once in awhile, even help her weed it.

jwardell@davisclipper.com