• Landscaping with your child could instill a life-long love of gardening.tiny flower image by Vanessa van Rensburg from Fotolia.com
  
  Most children love to get their hands dirty. Children are also innately curious and like to know how things grow and work. Landscaping part of your yard with your child's help is a good way to spend time together, and it could inspire a life-long love for gardening.
  
  

Grow a Salad

• Parents often struggle to get children to eat more vegetables. Encourage them to eat more vegetables by getting them to grow them. Position tomato plants near the back of the bed and provide cages or a trellis on which the vines can grow. Plant rows of radishes, carrots, lettuce and green onion by seed. Children will love to pull these vegetables from the ground when they are ripe.
  
  

Sunflower Fort

• A sunflower fort is a fun project for kids of all ages. Select a sunny area of your garden and clear a space that it is at least 48 by 60 inches. Prepare the soil by removing all weeds and adding compost. Let your children mark off the edges for their fort and plant sunflower seeds along the border. Make sure to leave at least a 24-inch space that will later serve as the fort's 'door'. Keep the soil moist until the sunflowers emerge and then continue watering as the plants grow. For more privacy, once the sunflowers have started to grow, plant morning glory vines between the sunflowers. These vines will grow up the stalks of the sunflowers. By the middle of summer, when the children are out of school, they will have a shady, blooming escape from the summer sun.
  
  

Edible Flower Garden

• Many flowers are edible and delicious when added to soups and salads. Children will enjoy the whimsy of having flower they can munch on. Select a sunny area of your garden or, to make a clear distinction which flowers your child can eat, choose a large container. Plant English daisies in the center of your container or the back of the bed and alternate pot marigolds and viola seeds around or in front of the daisy seeds. At the edge of the container, or the front of the bed, plant nasturtium seeds. These will grow and spill over the edge of the container or flower bed. Keep the soil moist until the seedlings emerge and continue to water when the top 2 inches of soil is dry. Do not use pesticides on flowers you plan to eat.