The Garden at 485 Elm
People growing together:
A collaborative community garden in Montpelier, Vermont

Welcome to The Garden!

Plant Onions Early for Bigger Bounty Later

Plant Onions Early for Bigger Bounty Later

While we directly sow many seeds in the garden, our allium seedlings come from beautiful Cate Farm. We pick them up and plant them as early as possible to give onions and shallots time to grow. Onion seedlings are hardy and do fine in nighttime temperatures as low as...

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What else is growing at the garden?

Early Garden Doings and Growings

Early Garden Doings and Growings

With nighttime temperatures still dipping into the low 30s, seeds for cold-hardy plants are sown and work parties happen every other week or so. The big push, when everything happens at once and gardeners scramble to prep beds, plant seeds and seedlings, and keep all...

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Spring into the Garden!

Spring into the Garden!

Every year, gardeners ask when the garden starts for the season. The answer is: When the snow has melted and the soil has thawed enough to dig in. This year, the first work party was in mid-April. Volunteer crops from the previous season are hardy and delicious, like...

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Happy New Year from the Never-Ending Garden

Happy New Year from the Never-Ending Garden

The garden is entirely snowed under. The snow and a thick layer of leaf mulch protect the growing beds beneath, preventing soil compaction and keeping the earth a bit warmer. You might think that means gardening is done for the season. If we're talking planting,...

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Prepping and Planting Next Season’s Garlic

Prepping and Planting Next Season’s Garlic

One of the last tasks we do each season is plant garlic. This task happens only after hard frosts have begun so the garlic seeds don't sprout before spring. https://youtu.be/16WzNcQOqw8 This garden bed grew summer squash and zucchini, which were prolific and...

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Cold-Weather Squash Scramble

Cold-Weather Squash Scramble

The frost that looked likely did not come to pass, but we took that as a signal to harvest all the winter squash. Gardeners planted fourteen rows of winter squash: buttercup, butternut, and delicata seeds. Some squash plants grow into widely sprawling vines. This is...

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Huge Flower Grab

Huge Flower Grab

The temperatures in the next few days will be in the 30s. Even if it's not a hard frost, this kind of cold will finish off many of the flowers. Team Flower Power has us covered. These goddesses of garden glory remind us that it's time to harvest huge bouquets for...

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A Bouquet a Day Is the Beautiful Way

A Bouquet a Day Is the Beautiful Way

Flowers are a cherished garden crop. Gardeners snip blooms to brighten their homes and give gifts that warm hearts. For garden flowers to look like this, gardeners put in planning, work, and TLC. Members of the garden's Flower Power team select, start, plant, tend,...

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Potato and Shallot Harvest

Potato and Shallot Harvest

The potatoes were ready, so gardeners dug them up. They were divided into shares, with each of the garden's households getting a bucket of red and purple and a bucket of white potatoes. Unlike potatoes, which must be dug up, shallots lift easily out of the ground....

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A Taste of the Garden

A Taste of the Garden

So much food is ripe and delicious. Here are a few favorites. Tasty, colorful bush beans grow on vines that will continue producing as long as we continue harvesting them. In the basket are Maxibel haricots verts from High Mowing Organic Seeds, Tricolor beans from...

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Aromatic Garlic Harvest Day

Aromatic Garlic Harvest Day

Warm weather moved garlic harvest day to two weeks earlier than last season. Gardeners were ready! Gardeners harvest what they want of most crops as they're ripe and ready. Garlic is one of our share-divided crops: We harvest it all at once and divide it by the number...

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