Create a garden that involves and teaches

A garden offers an educational lesson that the classroom can not - one of reaping what you sow, of respecting and appreciating the land upon which we live and, at its most basic, of teaching tomatoes don’t grow on shelves at the Acme. Children get excited to see what they grow, notes "because they were the ones responsible for planting and harvesting." has maintained a children’s garden for the last eight years, starting when their now-teenager was just five, to today, when their youngest owns her own flower press.

You want your little gardener to feel good about this first endeavor, so choose vegetables and/or flowers that are almost fail-safe. suggests tomatoes (try a couple different varieties), cucumbers, carrots, pumpkins, squash, and lettuce, as they are hardy and grow well in most conditions.

For flowers, suggests giving cone flowers, black-eyed susans, daisies and salvia a whirl. "These flowers are easy to grow and nice for cutting. They’re also very colorful and they bloom for a long period of time," he says. Better yet, they’re perennials, so your hard work will pay off in the coming years as well.

Look for an optimal place to put your garden, one with plenty of sun, gardens like up to six hours per day. If space is a constraint, or lack of sun, consider a container garden. "Some gardening centers sell big containers on wheels, like a little dolly, that you can move around to capture as much sun as possible," says

Once your plants are in (sometime around Mother’s Day, after the last frost), watering should be an almost daily chore. "Water early in the morning or in the evening when it’s cooler and the water doesn’t evaporate as much," says . You don’t need to water every day, but you do need to monitor the soil. If the top layer is dry and crusty, time to get out the hose.

And especially with children, keep garden safety in mind. "Children’s tools really are made just for children. They could snap and break in tough clay conditions," says. (He suggests mixing compost into the soil to make it looser.) And don’t forget to wash your hands when you’re through working, to rid yourselves of any bacteria from the soil.

Most importantly, make sure you and your child visit your garden every day. Don’t miss its rewards. Make it theirs, make it together and make it fun!

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