You just might come to feel this positivity about container gardening. You can get a taste of gardening magic on your patio, balcony, front stoop or back steps. A few very easy plants to try are lettuce, arugula and cherry tomatoes.

You’ll be disappointed if you try larger tomatoes in pots, unless you are a super diligent waterer. Nothing could be more discouraging than putting a lot of energy into expecting big beefsteak tomatoes but then only producing one puny specimen by Labor Day. Instead, begin container gardening with cherry tomatoes which can produce bountiful fruit from one pot.

Some pots come with plastic trellises attached to the pot which means you won’t need to add stakes, which tomatoes will need. Be sure to purchase only determinate types for container pots because they won’t grow as tall.

Other easy container plants are lettuce — leaf lettuce, not iceberg — or arugula. The gratification of forking your homegrown lettuce or arugula leaves into your mouth at dinner can’t be fully appreciated until you experience it.

BONALYN MOSTELLER/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Shown is a cucumber plant growing in a pot.

You may not have heard of arugula which is a bitey relative of lettuce. You either really like it or you don’t. But the flavor of homegrown arugula simply can’t be duplicated by the plastic box arugula from the market: it’s worth the effort. Mine will be ready for harvest soon.

You may also want to try a pot of cucumbers, another rewarding item to eat right off the vine. Cucumbers also would need to be staked. Rosemary, basil and chives are also easy successes from the herb family.

How about fertilizers? There are many common fertilizers used for garden plants and often are added to potting soil. Special fertilizers just for tomatoes can be found, however most products aren’t natural, if that matters to you.

But today many people are raising chickens, so nabbing some aged (not fresh) chicken manure is a good choice which avoids unwanted chemicals, depending upon what the chickens ate.

Keep in mind that even large amounts of fertilizer won’t help if your plants don’t get many hours of outdoor direct sunlight. Even a lot of direct sunlight coming through your windows will not be strong enough to produce vegetables or annual flowers.

And, of course, the other major error is not watering deeply and regularly.

As with anything new, the hardest part is getting started. Go buy some arugula seeds, a pot, a bag of potting soil and get started.