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Community Corner

Grow Your Dinner: How to Plant Pretty, Palatable Pots this Season

Renowned gardener Melinda Myers will visit local English Gardens locations this weekend.

You might ask your dinner guests to help you remove something from the oven or dress a salad, but how about requesting that someone run out to the garden and harvest part of their dinner?

That’s exactly what garden expert Melinda Myers does when entertaining. Getting your guests involved in dinner or beverage preparation adds special pizzazz to at-home entertaining, she said, especially if it means heading to the great outdoors.

“Just imagine sending your guests out to pick their own mint for a fresh mojito or iced tea,” said Myers, who has written several books on gardening, including The Michigan Lawn Guide.

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She’ll be sharing mint-growing tips and more “garden-taining” wisdom at 1 p.m. Saturday at the in West Bloomfield.

The renowned, green-thumbed Myers is also the author of Can't-Miss Small-Space Gardening and is the host of Melinda's Garden Moments, which airs on 50 network television stations throughout the United States. In addition, she writes scripts for her host position on Great Lakes Gardener, aired on PBS stations throughout the nation.

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During her visit at English Gardens, Myers will teach area gardeners about everything from which types of herbs to grow near your grill to which plants have stems that can be used as drink straws. 

In addition, she’ll cover aesthetically pleasing container plantings that combine edible and decorative items.

“It’s just so nice to, say, reach over to a pot and grab some rosemary or dill when grilling out,” she said. “Fish is especially great with fresh dill,” she noted. “I grow lovage in a corner of my garden and use its hollow stems for bloody marys."

Myers said that she prefers the plant's "celery taste" that lends itself so well for this type of drink. 

“There’s a huge trend right now to grow your own edibles, which is part of a ‘slow food’ movement,” she explained. “It’s great to have items growing right out your back door, including cherry tomato plants.” 

Myers believes this emphasis on eating from your own backyard is catching on with 20- to 30-year-olds.     

“When my daughter was in high school and college, her friends would come over for dinner, and they loved harvesting items right out of pots and containers,” she said. “The kids who didn’t grow up with gardening families are now becoming gardeners.”       

The nice thing about container gardening is that you can jump-start the season, Myers said. “If a spring frost hits, you can easily move the containers (consider a pot lifter tool if you need one) indoors or into the garage.” 

Myers lives in Milwaukee on a small city lot with a big patio and 100-plus pots. She said items such as Swiss chard and pansies (yes, these flowers are edible) are cold-weather tolerant.

As for aesthetics, consider planting, say, eggplant with flowers.

“I’d mix eggplant with purple basil and tricolor sage with a variegated leaf plant and throw in a flower. They can all go in together and look great,” Myers said.

 The gardener also recommends planting lettuce with pansies and snapdragons.

 “You could start lettuce by seed and get an early start inside, and seed in some beets, but then buy some plants to mix in. That way, you not only get quick results with the purchased plants but also have the joy of growing the others by seed.

"Planting by seed also saves you money.” 

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