Best Restaurant Gardens | 2014 Home & Garden Awards

[slideshow post_id=”550181″] What could be better for a restaurant than an on-site garden? With menu ingredients just a few feet away, these restaurant gardens redefine the word “fresh.” Here are the winners for best restaurant gardens in Yankee Magazine’s 2014 Home & Garden Awards. URBAN EXPERIENCE Ledge Kitchen & Drinks2261 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester, MA. 617-698-2261; ledgeboston.com Outdoor space isn’t abundant in Boston, but that didn’t stop the folks at Ledge from creating a 4,000-square-foot garden on the roof. Somerville-based Recover Green Roofs installed it, and another Somerville-based firm, Green City Growers, maintains it and ensures that it’s producing plenty of produce to star in Ledge’s modern comfort food and craft cocktails. RURAL OUTING Primo2 South Main St., Rockland, ME. 207-596-0770; primorestaurant.com Chef/owner Melissa Kelly calls her restaurant a “full-circle kitchen,” and she means it. In the 14 years since she and husband Pierce Kushner founded the restaurant, they’ve grown their onsite farm into a thriving operation supplying meat, vege­tables, honey, fruit, eggs, edible flowers, and micro-greens. Then Kelly’s team in the kitchen prepares them to their full glory in their signature rustic Italian style. FARM DINNERS The Herb Lyceum368 Main St., Groton, MA. 978-448-6499; gilsonslyceum.com This hidden gem of a country dining experience, set amid four acres of herb gardens (which guests may visit before sitting down to their meal), trees, and greenhouses, is more like a dinner party than a restaurant. There’s a set menu, it’s BYOB (with no corkage fee), and the food—which showcases herbs grown onsite—is carefully and thoughtfully prepared.