A new gardening book is to be published by US first lady Michelle Obama, who helped create the first edible garden in the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden during the second world war.
The book, entitled American Grown will be instructive and provide readers with tips on how to use a garden to help local communities and support local produce.
Concern with her own children's eating habits is said to have prompted Obama to take to the lawn and her book will explore how improved diet can benefit the health of an entire nation.
Practical gardening advice and tips will also feature in the tome – which is set for publication in April 2012 – in addition to recipe ideas that use home-grown food.
Another benefit parents may take from their experience of gardening is calmer behaviour in children, as a recent survey conducted by the Royal Horticultural Society found youngsters are more likely to focus on the activity than mums and dads.
Almost half (48 per cent) of respondents admitting their kids have the same level of horticultural knowledge as they do, if not more.
