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

Planting Day: Basil, Cukes, Eggplants, Peppers

On a blustery day in early June, gardeners planted seedlings for hot-weather crops.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Amy-plants-basil-seedlings-1024x663.jpgBasil varieties this year include these classic Italian basil seedlings from Cate Farm and Heartwood Farm. A gardener started sweet the sweet basil, and the cinnamon basil and Thai basil came from Cate Farm.

Ananda Gardens grew the Japanese eggplant seedlings and the jalapeño, Flamingo Flare hot peppers.

The Ananda Gardens cucumber seedlings are under there, nearly sixty of them! This row cover protects the baby plants from cold nights ahead, as well as the blazing sun and hungry pests. Gardeners will wait for the plants to get established, then remove the row cover before pollination time.

While the planting continued, gardeners handy with a power saw created new growing boxes. The garden’s hemlock boxes are ten years old, and some of them had rotten wood and needed replacing. With fresh boards from Fontaine Sawmill, new boxes are coming on board board by board.