I grew up in the country. My family always had a vegetable garden. For us, gardening meant a large plot, plowed and raked, then planted with long, widely-space rows of vegetables. It also meant weeding and hoeing, weeding and hoeing. Lots and lots of weeding and hoeing. Gardening was a chore. When my ex-wife and I bought our first home, we both wanted a vegetable garden, but we didn't want the drudgery that came with it.