505 Games has announced that the Cooking Mama brand is set to branch out its pick-up-and-play game play and fun mini-games into the world of gardening with the release of Gardening Mama.

Springing up on the Nintendo DS in Spring 2009, Gardening Mama sees Mama heading into the great outdoors to turn an empty garden into a tranquil paradise. Green-fingered players use the touch screen to dig holes, plant seeds, mix fertilizer and ultimately grow a range of fruits, flowers and vegetables.

Just like Cooking Mama saw players engaging in different stages of a recipe, Gardening Mama breaks the plant growing process up into small bite-size chunks of game play. The simple mini-games can be played by wannabe gardeners of all ages, as they grow increasingly more colorful and rare flowers.