Just in time for the summer vegetable season, the Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community held an event to promote home gardens on Saturday. With nearly 90 people in attendance, the garden forum was a great success, organizers said.

“It was very much a wonderful day,” partnership Executive Director Regina Brayboy said. “We had a series of hands-on demonstrations, the opportunity to network with other gardeners and family activities for children.”

There were also demonstrations on cooking with herbs and container gardening and a special session set aside just for young gardeners. Those attending the event learned about canning fruits and vegetables, about using pesticides safely and about the hardiest plants for local garden plots.

All of this took place at Johnson Gardens, where a memorial fishing tournament scheduled for the same day helped drive dozens of interested people to the gardening event and where a garden-centric tone was to be expected, anyway.

With folks just starting to enjoy the fresh fruits and vegetables planted earlier this spring, now is when many people are starting to wish they were looking forward to their own harvest.

The program on Saturday won’t help much for those just looking for an immediate fix for their craving for summer vegetables and fruits, but it provided a good kickstart for those considering late-summer or fall harvests, and it helped remind folks that gardening might not be easy, but it’s surely worth the trouble.

That message is one the Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community can hardly do enough to share. The benefits of home gardens include exercise, better health, great opportunities for socializing with neighbors and, of course, great food. Those are all good reasons to join the community-gardens movement.

For more information about how you can get involved — either with your own home garden or by helping with a community garden in your area — visit www.suffolkpartnership.com.