Look for creative ways to get children involved in gardening. Tap into other interests or skills like art, reading, writing, insects, and birds, if you need to persuade reluctant participants into growing plants.

Include lots of colors and unique plants that kids will love. Crested celosia resembles brains, making it a good choice for the zombie fans in the group.  Eyeball plant (Acmella oleracea), balloon plant (Gomphocarpus physocarpus) with its hairy inflated seedpods, snake plant, and kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos favidus) are a few to consider.  Gardeners of all ages will appreciate the popcorn plant (Senna didymobotrya) with its buttered popcorn-scented leaves or bat-faced cuphea and the hummingbirds it will attract.

Consider adding features that make the garden a fun space to visit.  There is a reason that bean teepees, sunflower houses, and tunnels in the garden have remained popular with kids of all ages for decades. Or grow a garden shaped like a slice of pizza planted with all the key ingredients or a salsa garden. Everyone will benefit when using freshly harvested ingredients to create these dishes.

A pot or flat of grass makes a nice field for superheroes and a lawn for dolls.  A bare patch of soil is perfect for digging, driving cars and trucks, or sculpting hills and valleys. All these build skills that can be applied to future gardening efforts.

Plant some salad radishes that are ready to harvest in 25 to 30 days. This will help keep the kids interested in the garden when waiting for the tomatoes, beans, and other vegetables to ripen. Call it harvesting when you are thinning the radish planting. Use these greens as a snack or in a salad. Harvesting and eating is more fun for all of us than just thinning the excess plants.

Use rainy days to create plant labels from paint sticks or stones. Paint individual words on some of the stones and place them in the garden. Let children leave messages for each other or write poetry. Or repurpose pickle jars into garden treasure jars. Have children decorate the jars. Then you fill the jars with messages or treasures before hiding them in the garden.

Explore ways to reuse and recycle landscape trimmings. Put twigs to use creating small-scale wattle fences for a fairy, gnome, or zombie garden. This is great practice for building a larger-scale wattle fence for the garden.

Go on a bug hunt to see who is living in your garden, yard, or neighborhood. Look for good bugs like lady beetles that eat plant-damaging aphids and bees that pollinate our flowers.  Then log what you find in a backyard journal.

Gentle guidance, realistic expectations, and age-appropriate activities will help get kids excited about gardening. The gardens they create and the plants they grow are often amazing but more important, it is the experience of growing together that makes it worthwhile.

 Poinsettias are available in a variety of colors including white, pink, hot pink, yellow, peach, marbled and speckled. These colorful parts of the plant, often referred to as flowers, are actually modified leaves called bracts. The real flowers are small, yellow and appear at the tip of the stem surrounded by the bract.

 Look for new places to display your poinsettia. Place a plant on a side or serving table. Remove the foil and set the plant in a decorative container. Try a hot pink poinsettia in a white pot or several different colors set in a serving tray, basket, or unique container. Add a table runner, candlestick, bowl of colorful fruit or other decorative touches.

 Dress up an individual plant or a group of poinsettias. White poinsettias donned with colorful berries, Chinese lantern pods and bobbles may be all you need for an eye-catching display.

Use poinsettias as a centerpiece for your holiday meals. Place several potted poinsettias in the middle of the table. Cover the plastic pots with greens. Then add some colorful pepper berries, cranberries, apples, or ornaments. Compact poinsettias like the Princettia® poinsettia with its abundant vibrant flowers work well for this application.  Your guests will be able to see across the table as they visit over dinner, enjoying the holiday ambience created by these beautiful plants.

 Dress up each place setting with a cut poinsettia bloom. Simply cut the flowers off a potted poinsettia plant to the desired length. Place it in a floral water pick, the water-filled tubes used for cut flowers. Tuck the bloom into a napkin, set it in a small bud vase or add a ribbon to dress it up. They make great party favors for your guests.

Look for other ways to include these in your holiday décor.  Even one cut poinsettia flower set among a bowl of silver, gold or white ornaments adds a nice holiday touch. Set a few cut flowers aside to use as unique package adornments. Just secure the flower, floral pick and all, with a colorful ribbon to the gift.

 Use cut poinsettia flowers in a vase like you would other blooms.  Even one of these large blossoms puts on quite the display and is sure to brighten even the smallest of rooms.

Combine your poinsettia with a few greens and other flowers. Quickly sear the cut end of the poinsettia stems to prevent the sticky sap from leaking into the water. (The sap of the plant is mildly toxic to cats and dogs, so be sure to keep your furry friends away from them.) Dress up your arrangement by filling the vase with cranberries, small ornaments, or other colorful adornments.

 While enjoying your holidays, a discussion on the proper pronunciation of the plant’s name may arise. Some say Poinsett-a and don’t pronounce the second i. Others include it and say Poinsett-e-a? You will find both pronunciations in various dictionaries. In other words, either one is considered correct, so no one loses this debate.

Most people have seen pictures of the giant allium but there are many other options of flower sizes and heights suitable for any size and style garden. Most allium flowers are globe shaped and all are made of tiny florets. They make great cut flowers, the pollinators love them, and deer tend to leave them be.Plan for months of color by including a variety of alliums that bloom from late spring through early summer. Longfield Gardens’ Planning Guide for Alliums (Longfield-gardens.com) showcases the various alliums, their size and bloom time to help you plan. Add alliums to the zone four to eight garden in fall when planting your other spring flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils.Dress up the front of a flowerbed or rock garden with Allium karataviense. It may be small in stature at only eight to ten inches tall, but the broad grey-green leaves and five-inch round, silvery-pink flowers provide big impact in the late spring garden.Add years of spring beauty with Purple Sensation. Its shimmering four-inch diameter, violet-purple flowers are held above the leaves on 24 to 30” tall stems. It provides nice height and vibrant color to the early season garden. You will enjoy these alliums and their offspring for years to come.For something uniquely different add Allium bulgaricum, also known as Nectaroscordum bulgaricum, to perennial and informal gardens. The cluster of drooping cream and burgundy bell-shaped flowers are followed by seedpods that lift themselves skyward. This provides an interesting vertical accent in the garden.Gladiator and Globemaster are sure to have passersby and visitors stopping to take a second look at your garden. Mix them in amongst perennials and add to mixed borders. Gladiator has blue-violet, six-inch diameter flowers that are smaller than Globemaster but Gladiator blooms earlier and stands a foot taller and the leaves are long lasting. Both are sure to grab your attention and that of pollinators.Stretch your enjoyment into early summer with Ambassador. Its dense five- to six-inch, violet-blue flowers are a deeper color than most alliums. What’s even more impressive is these large flowers are atop four- to five-foot stems. Like the other alliums, bees and butterflies love it.It’s no surprise that Allium christophii is a favorite among gardeners. The eight- to ten-inch diameter, violet-pink flowers have spikey florets and a silvery sheen that makes them look like globes in the garden. Though this allium is only 12-18” tall, it has a big presence in the garden and is very long-lasting.Allium schubertii produces even larger, 12” diameter flowers on stems of a similar height. Some of the star-like florets are closer to the center of the flower than others and this makes the blossom appear to be expanding, like fireworks in the garden. Save some of the seedheads and use them in dried flower arrangements.The flowers of heirloom Allium atropurpureum are dome-shaped rather than round. Their dramatic, dark burgundy color and upright stature add structure to the garden. They are also long-lasting cut flowers.End the season with Drumstick allium. The egg-shaped flowers are raspberry on top and green on the bottom with long slender stems. They are perfect grow-through plants and good companions for ornamental grasses. Add a variety of alliums to your garden this fall and enjoy the added color, texture, and height this group of plants provide. You and the pollinators will be glad you did.Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the recently released Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2^nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD instant video series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Longfield Gardens for her expertise to write this article. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.

Include a variety of plants with multiple seasons of interest as well as bird and pollinator appeal. You will look forward to the change of seasons as your landscape transforms throughout the year.

Use trees and shrubs to provide the framework and longevity in your landscape. Serviceberries, crabapples, dogwoods, and many others have flowers, fruit, pollinator, and bird appeal and add winter interest with their bark or form. Look for those with colorful exfoliating bark like paperbark maple, heptacodium, and river birch for a beautiful statement in the winter garden.

Include a few summer blooming shrubs like St John’s wort, buttonbush, panicle hydrangeas and Rose of Sharon. They add an unexpected fresh look to your summer landscape.

Perennials combine nicely with trees, shrubs, and annuals, adding seasons of color and texture. Include those that also attract songbirds, bees, and butterflies by creating a beautiful habitat. Blue star (Amsonia), Siberian iris, sedum, Rudbeckia, coneflower, and grasses are just a few that can brighten any garden with several seasons of color, provide homes for beneficial insects and food for the birds.

End the season with fall bloomers like goldenrod, asters, and hardy mums. These provide food for late season pollinators.  Leave healthy plants stand, providing homes for many beneficial insects, winter interest in the garden, and food for the songbirds.

Use annuals to fill any voids, add season long color and yearly changes in the landscape. Containers on steps, decks and patios help bring the garden to your front and back door.

Include spring flowering bulbs like tulips, daffodils and hyacinths planted in fall for a colorful welcome to spring. These and many of the earliest bloomers like winter aconites, grape hyacinths, and crocus provide needed nectar for early season pollinators.

Evergreens are always a welcome addition to any landscape. They provide shelter for the birds and year-round greenery.  Find new and interesting ways to include them in your landscape. 

Use taller evergreens for screening bad views, buffering traffic and other noises, or creating privacy.  Use evergreens with interesting form and texture to create a focal point in a garden bed or landscape. Combine them with perennials and flowering shrubs for added seasonal interest. 

Then keep your landscape looking its best by protecting key plants from hungry critters like deer, rabbits, and voles. Skip the fencing and scare tactics by applying a rain resistant, organic repellent like Plantskydd (plantskydd.com) at planting. You will need fewer applications and the odor-based repellent sends animals dining elsewhere before taking a bite out of your plants. Apply repellent before animals start feeding and follow the label directions for best results.

Continue to gather ideas with visits to public gardens and partaking in garden tours. Be sure to take notes and pictures that you can reference later. Creating a year-round landscape is an ongoing process that is part of the fun and adventure of gardening.

Photo credit: MelindaMyers.com

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Tree World Plant Care for her expertise to write this article. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

Always prune with a purpose. Start by removing any damaged and diseased stems from shrubs and roses. Watch for insects like swallowtail butterflies that overwinter in protective cocoons and the egg masses of some like the hairstreak butterflies. Prevent problems by destroying overwintering non-native pests like the gypsy moth. Search the internet and insect books for help identifying the good and bad guys you may find in your landscape.

Additional pruning may be needed to manage the size and shape or encourage better flowering and bark color. Wait to prune spring flowering shrubs like lilacs and forsythia if you want maximum flowering. Prune these shrubs right after flowering before they set their floral buds for next spring.

Keep yourself safe by wearing safety glasses and gloves. It’s too easy to focus on the task and end up with a stick in the eye. Heavy duty gloves protect and support your hands, allowing you to garden longer with less stress, scratches and bruises. Consider synthetic leather gauntlet style gloves like Foxgloves extra protection gloves (foxglovesinc.com) that protect hands and forearms from harm yet are supple enough to allow you to work efficiently. The breathable fabric is durable, machine washable and puncture resistant.

Lightly rake any debris off the lawn and add it to the compost pile. Check for damage and lightly tamp any disturbed areas back in place. Reseed bare spots so grass, not weeds, fill in these spots.

Brush leaves off the crowns of perennials but leave the rest in place for insects that spend winter or summer in the leaf litter. Plus, the leaves help preserve moisture, suppress weeds and improve the soil as they break down.

Pull mulch away from tree trunks and shrub crowns that may have shifted over winter. Keeping mulch off the stems reduces the risk of future problems that can lead to decline and even death of the plants.

Leave perennials and grasses stand as long as possible since many are homes for beneficial insects. Bundle grasses for easy cutting and removal. Once cut, loosely stack or stand perennial stems and grasses at the edge of the garden or natural spaces. This allows any insects still present to safely emerge when it’s time to move to their summer homes. Plus, birds will appreciate the easy access to nesting material.

Enjoy the changing of the seasons and the beauty of nature hidden among the plants in your garden. Protect yourself when preparing the garden for spring so you won’t lose time recovering from injuries. And keeping the pollinators and other beneficial insects safe will improve your garden’s health and productivity throughout the growing seasons.

Featured photo courtesy of foxglovesinc.com

Melinda Myers has written numerous books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Foxgloves for her expertise to write this article. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.

Adding greenery indoors expands our gardening opportunities and provides the many benefits of living with and tending plants.

NOW YOU’RE COOKIN’! PLANTS IN THE KITCHEN

Let’s start with the kitchen. Boost the flavor and nutrition of winter meals by growing leafy greens and herbs in a sunny window or under a cabinet with the help of a Growbar LED light fixture.  Start plants from seeds or purchase transplants to grow indoors. Place your indoor kitchen garden in a brightly lit location, free of cold drafts and with easy access to harvest and use. Then enlist the whole family and even your guests into harvesting greens for their salad and herbs to season their meals. This is sure to turn family and friend gatherings into unique and memorable experiences.

ENJOY SOME OFFICE GREENERY

Include plants in your home or work office. Greenery helps reduce stress even when working at your desk or tackling homework at the end of a long day. Set a few plants on or near your desk or other workspace. And don’t let a lack of light stop you from growing a bit of green stress relief. Stylish energy efficient full spectrum plant lights, like the Felt Pendant Grow Light, fit any décor, direct light where it is needed and promote healthy plant growth.

MAKE YOUR BATHROOM A TROPICAL PLANT ZONE

Take advantage of your bathroom’s high humidity. Grow ferns, orchids, bromeliads and other humidity-loving plants in this space.  Consider these and other low light plants like cast iron, pothos and philodendron if natural light is limited. Imagine stepping out of the shower into a mini tropical zone. What a nice way to ease into your day.

GROW YOUR OWN AROMATHERAPY IN THE BEDROOM

Get a good night’s sleep with a bit of homegrown aromatherapy in the bedroom. Grow lavender, rosemary, chamomile and other soothing herbs in your bedroom in front of a sunny window, on a shelf or other naturally or artificially lit, bright location. Just be sure to give the plants a pet to release their fragrance into the air before crawling into bed for a long restful sleep.

A MINIATURE GARDEN IN YOUR LIVING ROOM

Bring the garden to your living room. Create your own miniature tropical, moss or desert garden in a terrarium that serves as a focal point in any living space or centerpiece on the dining room table.

Use an open terrarium for succulents and other plants that need airflow, lower humidity and space to grow. Enlist closed systems for moss and tropical plants that benefit from the high humidity and condensation that provides continual watering. Select systems like the Botanica Biodome that minimize maintenance and provide easy access for tending mini eco-systems.

Now’s a great time to consider rethinking your home décor to include greenery in every space. You and your family will enjoy improved air quality, elevated moods, a reduction in stress and the many other benefits plants provide.

Featured image credit: Photo courtesy of Modern Sprout

Melinda Myers is the author of more than 20 gardening books and host of The Great Courses’ How to Grow Anything DVD series. Her website, www.MelindaMyers.com, offers gardening tips and videos.

If mom likes to garden, provide her with a few seeds, potting mix and a container. Include a few new varieties of traditional favorites.  Marigold Super Hero Spry is a compact French marigold with 2” dark maroon and golden yellow flowers. The striking bicolor blooms top 10- to 12-inch-tall plants. Best of all, mom will have flowers eight weeks from the time she sows the seeds until frost.

Surprise mom with a container of instant beauty. The 2017 All-America Selections (AAS) winner Calliope® Medium Dark red is beautiful alone or mixed with other flowers in containers, hanging baskets or in-ground gardens.  It was selected by AAS, a non-profit national plant trialing organization, for its outstanding performance for home gardens.

Brocade Fire and Brocade Cherry Night are two more winning geraniums selected for their striking foliage and colorful blooms. The semi-double orange flowers and green and bronze foliage are sure to brighten any garden location or container. The green edged bronze leaves and red blooms of Brocade Cherry Night will surely impress mom and any of her visitors.

Or provide some added seasonal interest with Pinto Premium White to Rose geranium. Mom will enjoy watching the flower petals change from white to pink to rose-pink. The change occurs over time, providing interesting color combinations throughout the growing season.

Help mom bring the birds, butterflies and bees to her garden with a few sunflowers. They’re easy to start from seed right in the garden and mom will enjoy the motion and color the visiting pollinators provide. Don’t let a lack of space stop your mother from enjoying these colorful beauties. Suntastic Yellow with Black Center produces 5- to 6-inch flowers on 20-inch plants; perfect for containers and small space gardens.

Grow the taller, 4- to 5-inch-tall Ring of Fire sunflower for its unique blooms. The flower’s chocolate brown center is surrounded by a ring of red and golden tipped petals. Mom can cut a few blooms to enjoy in a vase and allow the rest to set seed for wildlife to enjoy.

Add more wow to mom’s garden with Onyx red ornamental pepper. The dark black foliage contrasts nicely with the shiny red fruit. Its stunning beauty adds ornamental appeal to containers and garden beds. Ornamental peppers are edible but very hot, so it’s best to look and not taste. Or include the family-friendly Chilly Chili ornamental pepper for all the beauty without the heat. Perfect for families with young children that like to explore. The abundant upright fruit changes from yellow to orange to red, providing a wonderful display throughout the season.

Bring the tropics to your mom’s patio or deck with cannas.  Their large foliage and bright colored flowers make any home feel like an exotic escape.  South Pacific Orange, South Pacific Scarlet and Tropical Rose are compact vigorous varieties suited to containers and the garden. The large leaves add drama to the garden and once their blossoms emerge they’ll provide lots of color and hummingbird appeal.

Make this Mother’s Day one you and your mother will remember throughout the summer. Give her a gift of winning beauties to brighten her containers, gardens and uplift her spirits all season long. 

Photo: All-America Selections Winner2017

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” gardening DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio segments. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by AAS for her expertise to write this article. Myers’ web site is www.melindamyers.com.

The 504 subjects came from 52 countries. Some were retired and semi-retired, while others were working.

The scientist, Philip Guo, studied users of pythontutor.com. A web-based education tool that Guo started in 2010, Python Tutor helps those learning to program visualize their work. Step by step, it displays what a computer is doing with each line of code that it runs. More than 3.5 million people in more than 180 countries have now used Python Tutor, including those around the world taking MOOCs (massive open online courses).

What Guo discovered: Older adults are motivated to learn programming for a number of reasons. Some are age-related. They want to make up for missed opportunities during youth (22 percent) and keep their brains “challenged, fresh and sharp” as they age (19 percent). A few (5 percent) want to connect with younger family members.

Reasons not related to age include seeking continuing education for a current job (14 percent) and wanting to improve future job prospects (9 percent). A substantial group is in it just for personal enrichment: 19 percent to implement a specific hobby project idea, 15 percent for fun and entertainment, and 10 percent out of general interest.

Interestingly, 8 percent said they wanted to learn to teach others.

Topping the list of frustrations for older students of coding was bad teaching. That was mentioned by 21 percent of the respondents and ranged from the use of jargon to sudden spikes in difficulty levels. Lack of real-world relevance came up 6 percent of the time. A 74-year-old retired physician wrote: “Most [tutorials] are offered by people who must know how to program but don’t seem to have much training in teaching.”

Guo, who is currently working on studies to extend coding education to other underrepresented groups, advocates a computing future that is fully inclusive of all ages.

“There are a number of social implications when older adults have access to computer programming – not merely computer literacy,” he said. “These range from providing engaging mental stimulation to greater gainful employment from the comfort of one’s home.”

By moving the tech industry away from its current focus on youth, Guo argues, we all stand to gain.

Guo’s study was recently awarded honorable mention by the world’s leading organization in human-computer interaction, SIGCHI (Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction).

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Although the researchers from Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions believed that past experience in creating art might amplify the activity’s stress-reducing effects – their study found that everyone seems to benefit equally.

“It was surprising and it also wasn’t,” said Girija Kaimal, EdD, assistant professor of creative arts therapies. “It wasn’t surprising because that’s the core idea in art therapy:

Everyone is creative and can be expressive in the visual arts when working in a supportive setting.

That said, I did expect that perhaps the effects would be stronger for those with prior experience.”

The results of the study were published in Art Therapy under the title “Reduction of Cortisol Levels and Participants’ Responses Following Art Making.” Kendra Ray, a doctoral student under Kaimal, and Juan Muniz, PhD, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, served as co-authors.

“Biomarkers” are biological indicators (like hormones) that can be used to measure conditions in the body, such as stress.

Cortisol was one such the hormone measured in the study through saliva samples. The higher a person’s cortisol level, the more stressed a person is likely to be.

For Kaimal’s study, 39 adults, ranging from 18 to 59 years old, were invited to participate in 45 minutes of art-making. Cortisol levels were taken before and after the art-making period.

Materials available to the participants included markers and paper, modeling clay, and collage materials. There were no directions given and every participant could use any of the materials they chose to create any work of art they desired. An art therapist was present during the activity to help if the participant requested any.

Of those who took part in the study, just under half reported that they had limited experience in making art.

The researchers found that 75% of the participants’ cortisol levels lowered during their 45 minutes of making art.

And while there was some variation in how much cortisol levels lowered, there was no correlation between past art experiences and lower levels.

However, roughly 25% of the participants actually registered higher levels of cortisol — though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Some amount of cortisol is essential for functioning,” Kaimal explained. “For example, our cortisol levels vary throughout the day — levels are highest in the morning because that gives us an energy boost to us going at the start of the day. It could’ve been that the art-making resulted in a state of arousal and/or engagement in the study’s participants.”

Start by gathering ideas from magazines, the internet and websites like Gardener’s Supply Company for examples of outdoor garden spaces.

Next, select an area that is convenient and suitable for your outdoor entertaining.  Define the space using outdoor rugs and furniture or tall planters (www.gardeners.com) to serve as the walls for your garden room. A bistro set and a couple of chairs makes for an intimate space on a balcony. Those with more room may want to include an outdoor wicker and teak dining set. Fill the planters with ornamental grasses, papyrus, cannas and other flowering plants to create a living screen.

Add a splash of color and flavor to the space by growing herbs and vegetables combined with flowers in these and additional planters in your garden space. Include ingredients for your favorite drinks, appetizers and meals. Your guests will enjoy plucking a few mint leaves for their iced tea or mojito, harvesting fresh greens from a Salad Garden Bar and dressing up the meal with a few pesticide-free edible flowers like nasturtiums, calendula and daylilies.

Busy gardeners and those that travel may want to try self-watering pots. These containers have built-in water reservoirs to provide a constant flow of water to the plants.  This means you need to water less often, while still enjoying healthy and productive plants.

Add some height and focal points with topiaries.  Purchase a sculpted evergreen or train vines up a twist topiary frame to create a bit of living art. And don’t forget to add some garden art and statuary.

Extend your enjoyment with outdoor lighting. A few votive candles in old punch cups are perfect for intimate gatherings in small spaces. Add a bit more illumination with the help of solar illuminated planters, solar deck lights, post caps, and solar cubes and spheres. No buried electric lines or extension cords needed. Use these lights to lead you down the path to your garden space or brighten the space for an evening of fun.

So get busy creating the garden room of your dreams. Once you get started, you will be looking for more opportunities for that quiet getaway, outdoor kitchen and more ways to enjoy your garden.

Photo credit: Gardener’s Supply Company

Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening and the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening For Everyone” DVD set and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio segments. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Gardener’s Supply Company for her expertise to write this article. Myers’ web site, www.melindamyers.com, offers gardening videos and tips.