A love of gardening is one of the biggest gifts my mother gave me as a child. When I was three, she allowed me to choose my first flower seeds from the seed catalog. We raised them in the back yard of our townhouse. I’d chosen tall red amaranth, which towered above me. I was so proud.

We planted our first big vegetable garden when I was six (way back in 1977), and I helped out from beginning to end. I'll never forget the bumper crop of small pumpkins that year!

After a move to a larger house when I was five, we started our first family vegetable garden. It was a fun learning opportunity with lasting effects. The simple act of starting food crops and watching them grow gave me an understanding of plant life cycles, where food comes from and how much better fresh food is. It also gave me a love of nature and the outdoors. Early experiences such as these stayed with me up until adulthood and guided my decision to study horticulture as a young adult.

Now I garden with my own daughter. She is only three but considers herself a garden pro. Together we plant seeds, watch them grow and harvest together. This year she has her own little plot to plant up (and play in), and I gave her another row to plant ‘Romeo’ carrots, which she has watered diligently (sometimes too diligently). The carrot sprouts came up this week and boy was she excited! Next week we are going to plant containers of strawberries (her favorite!).

The bean teepee house we built last year was a big garden hit and so easy to make.

Something as simple as planting garlic with your child is fun and a great learning experience. My daughter can't wait to harvest it this summer.

Gardening is something so small and simple to share with our children. It takes little money and little space. Just a few large pots can be turned into a “children’s garden.” Start simple and easy to maximize the rewards and your kids will be hooked. Easy herbs, like basil, thyme or oregano, tough and beautiful garden flowers, like marigolds and Madagascar periwinkle, or nearly fail proof veggies, like cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers, are all good kid's garden candidates.

Harvest time is fun time, whether pulling carrots, plucking cherry tomatoes or just picking a few flowers.

Here are three simple, cheap ways parents or guardians can share gardening with their kids:

1. Plant a bean teepee playhouse.

2. Pick up a cheap, large pot, a bag of good potting soil, a kid’s watering can and a four pack of mixed zinnias for a quick and easy patio butterfly pot.

3. Dig up a 4'x4' area in the garden, work up the soil, amend with compost, and burm it up into a mound. Buy a packet of dwarf pumpkin seeds, like 'Baby Bear', 'Jack B-Little' or 'Mystic Plus',  plant three seeds in the burm and maintain. Your kids will be so excited to have grown their own Halloween pumpkins!

Felder Rushing also wrote a wonderful article chock full of easy kid’s gardening projects.

So, if you have kids and are thinking about gardening, pick up some plants, grab a shovel and get going. It’s fun and there’s good incentive.

Even tilling the garden can be good fun for kids to watch from afar. As soon as the tiller is turned off, my daughter whips her shoes off and goes running into the fluffy, tilled earth.