Best plant nursery near me

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MEG’s Edible Landscapes is the best plant nursery near me! We not only sell plants, but we help you grow using easier methods.

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Best plant nursery near me

Contents

Who is MEG’s Edible Landscapes?

MEG’s Edible Landscapes is an edible plant nursery located in Denison, Minnesota. We’re just a couple of minutes east of town located in the majestic SOGN Valley where the deer dance and play with garden gnomes. MEG’s deals exclusively with edible plants, and we are the only one located in the state of Minnesota. Looking for ornamental plants? We offer edible ornamental plants like purple cayenne pepper and Thai Super chili pepper plants too! MEG”s also offers an edible plant knowledge base online and helpful garden services.

Why we’re the best plant nursery near me!

MEG is dedicated to being a local resource for edible plants and edible plant growing. Minnesota has a tough growing environment for sure. The short window for growing is the primary concern because frost is a big problem for warm-season plants. Plants that are traditionally grown further south like tomatoes and peppers cannot be direct-sown in Minnesota gardens and make it to harvest with a full crop. Meg, therefore, uses innovative systems and techniques to bypass the normal growing traditions. We know you’ll love growing with us because the systems are tried and truly work!

What we do

We grow plants from seed, pot them up into our growing bags and then sell them. We also provide a newsletter with techniques and tips on growing food in our climate. You can sign up for that newsletter here. We also offer a knowledge base on our website to help you grow successfully no matter if you use the grow bags or growing traditionally.

How we do it

All of our grow bags are set up with a custom potting soil mix that is specifically blended for the plant that’s going in the grow bag. Many commercial potting soil blends on the contain mostly peat moss. Our blend contains more than just peat moss including slow release fertilizer and compost for example. This creates a much more balanced and healthy soil mix for the plants. We also offer rigging and other devices to help support the plant and optimize its growth through the season. Bamboo steaks, bamboo cages, and hemp twine or a few example of the devices we sell with our plants.

What our customers are saying

Once a new customer tries our grow bag system, they tend to become hooked on it. That’s because MEG Edible grow bags take all the guesswork out of growing successfully. All our customers have to do is find a sufficiently sunny spot and add water. That’s all there is to it, and there really isn’t any easier method using soil currently. Our customers also love the performance of the plants (i.e. volume of pepper harvest per plant). MEG is a great friend for new gardeners or inexperienced gardeners. We have many self-proclaimed “brown thumbs” who have become empowered and excited to use the grow begs with exuberant success because why —it’s easy! Click here to read a customer reviews.

Our commitment

Our commitment to you is to help you become successful at growing food. Even if you don’t use our grow bags, you can still get help through our knowledge base. The number one goal is that you have success, and that means we’ll do what’s necessary to make sure that you’re successful. We’ve helped customers in the past with something as simple as repositioning the grow bag for optimal results. Other times little bunny rabbits liked to nibble on basil, and by repositioning the bags to a higher elevation, it ended the fur ball problem. That’s one example, and there are many more of how we’ve helped customers in the past.

What does the future hold?

No one knows what the future holds silly! However, we are going to continue to develop unique and clever products to help make gardening easier. That’s for sure. We’re continuing to add new varieties of plants and products to accompany the successful growing of those plants. Our knowledge base will continue to expand with helpful relevant local information for growing success. We’re also positioning ourselves to be the local experts for growing food that will not be comparable to any other business in Minnesota. It’s an aggressive stance for sure, but it’s needed because there really isn’t anything else like it currently. We started at the beginning of the pandemic by responding to the needs of people who wanted to grow food, and that will not change.

Why only edible plants?

Many nurseries in the state of Minnesota and across the country pretty much provide the same things because that’s the status quo. They offer shrubs, trees, ornamentals, and then edible transplant starts in the spring. That’s where a lot of the problems come in for the home grower who wants to plant tomatoes and peppers for salsa. A typical scenario goes like this:

  • Develop cabin fever in February due to 2′ of snow being on the ground for the previous 3 months
  • By the time April rolls around the snow is starting to melt
  • Head to the local big box store or to the local plant nursery in May and purchase tomato and pepper plants.
  • Transplant half the plants and the other half stay in their containers waiting to get into the ground because the owners too busy with life and is unable to transplant before they become root bound
  • June rolls around and half of the transplants in the ground are failing
  • There is no follow up service from the nursery or the big box store (they already got their money)
  • The home grower gets frustrated
  • What the home grower didn’t know is that the soil is not conducive to growing tomatoes and peppers! There’s not topsoil!!!

That’s why MEG’s Edible Landscapes chose to work with edible plants exclusively. It allows us to focus on the one thing that matters to many home gardeners — growing food! And we followed up with support all along the way.

Final Thoughts

So if you’re thinking of looking for the “best plant nursery near me”, look no further than MEG. MEG has a proven track record at this point and our customers reflect that.

Best Vegetables To Grow In Minnesota

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A List Of The Best Vegetables To Grow In Minnesota

Here are some of the best vegetables to grow in Minnesota! Just because we may have snow on the ground for what seems like nine months of the year … well, it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy homegrown vegetables!

Cucumbers/Squash/Pumpkins

Cucumbers, squash and pumpkins (We know they’re technically fruit) do great in Minnesota. Most varieties have short vegetative growth periods. Once these plants transition to fruiting, it’s game on! Cucumbers can grow to harvest size after only a week in many cases. Also, it’s common to get multiple waves of cucumbers per plant per season as the vegetative/flower/fruit stages repeat. Squash and pumpkins will thrive as long as we don’t get a late frost in the spring or early frost in the fall.

Photo of a cucumber plant flower
Cucumber Plant In Its Flowering Stage

Leafy Greens

Lettuce, chard, kale, mustards and many other types of leafy green vegetables do well in Minnesota. These edible plants can typically withstand a frost. That’s good since we have plenty of opportunity to see frost and snow. This means these plants can start growing well before other heat-loving plants like tomatoes and beans.

Photo of a table set for Taco Night featuring "Green Towers" romaine lettuce grown in MEG's Edible Grow Bags
Taco Night Featuring “Green Towers Romaine Lettuce” Grown in MEG’s Edible Grow Bags

Legumes

We’re surrounded by (on average) 7 million acres of soybeans a year in Minnesota! “Legume” is another word for the Fabaceae family and contains garden favorite plants like peas, beans and peanuts. These all grow in Minnesota. The best part about legumes is their ability to “fix” Nitrogen through a special relationship involving rhizobia. In a “pea” nutshell (cue cymbal crash), the rhizobia bacteria is able to take the unusable N2 gas out of the atmosphere and process it into a form the plant can use. It’s basically making its own fertilizer. How cool is nature!?

Scarlet Runner Bean plant with red flowers
Scarlet Runner Bean

Melons

Melons will grow in Minnesota. However, these can be tough due to the weather. Watermelon plants thrive in warm weather. If we get a late frost in spring or early frost in fall, it can significantly narrow the growing window for these delicious treats. The best way to grow these is by using equipment which helps speed up the growth of the plant like a grow bag! Since grow bags are above ground containers, the roots warm up quicker than traditional garden soil.

Mini Love watermelon grown in a MEG's Edible Grow Bag
Mini-Love Watermelon Grown in an Edible Grow Bag

Peppers and Tomatoes

Peppers and tomatoes are two of the best “heat-loving” vegetables to grow in Minnesota (pssst. I thought they were considered fruit). HOWEVER, due to the ridiculously short “frost-free” days during the Minnesota Summer (roughly 120 days as a rule of thumb), some planning is needed. Direct seeding is not an option. Also, if you ever see volunteer peppers or tomatoes coming up in the garden, they’ll most likely not produce as much fruit (if any) as other transplanted peppers and tomatoes. Transplanting, therefore, is your best option for growing peppers and tomatoes successfully here in Minnesota.

Cherry Tomatoes are one of the best vegetables to grow in Minnesota. The photo shows a "Sweetie" cherry tomato cluster
Cherry Tomatoes are one of the best summer treat vegetables to grow in Minnesota. “Sweetie” Cherry Tomato shown

Root Crops

If it grows below ground, it will most likely grow just fine in Minnesota! Carrots, beets, radishes, onions and potatoes are no problem for our climate. In fact, these plants typically thrive in the early spring and fall due to the cooler weather. They typically don’t experience the same stresses other “cool season” crops face like lettuce since they’re below ground.

Photo of a watermelon radish on a plate. The radish was grown in a grow bag.
Watermelon Radish

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