Every year, we excitedly await their arrival. Once again, the University of Vermont Service TREK Farm and Food team transformed The Garden at 485 Elm.
As always, UVM Service TREK team members arrive ready to rock.
The team turns the garden waste windrow downhill. The low end, where garden waste has cooked the longest, will break down further into rich, nutritious compost to enrich the garden soil next spring.
The team harvests the last of the onions and shallots and weeds the beds.
Service TREK team members and gardeners dig potatoes and weed the beds.
Harvesting is a garden task too. Provider bush beans are a favorite among gardeners for deliciousness. They’re so productive that the garden shares them with the Montpelier food pantry and the Unitarian Church’s free community lunch.
Team members harvest pole beans in the shade of their vines. Even large, mature beans are tender and delicious.
Snacking on fresh garden crops is part of garden culture!
Where potatoes grew until their harvest, the team plants and waters in seed for buckwheat and oats. These cover crops will add nutrients to the soil for next season’s crops.
A month after the team planted the seeds, this cover crop is thriving. Later, when frost sets in and the cover crop’s productive life ends, gardeners will drag boards over it to mulch the beds for winter.
