Welcome to The Garden!

At a children's center garden, woodchucks ate the vegetables they'd planted. Only the watermelon was spared. So Irina Markova, who has been gardening here for three years, brought children to the Garden at 485 Elm for a midsummer visit. Irina said they would cook and...

It's disappointing when a favorite crop doesn't produce well. This season, for example, our lushly leafy eggplants are not laying many eggs. Other times the food is plentiful but in hiding. Recently, gardeners here have mentioned difficulty finding enough cucumbers,...

It's obvious that harvesting ripe squashes, cucumbers, and tomatoes will result in meals. Some plants require harvesting to stay healthy and continue producing. Peas and beans left to rot on the vine signal the plant that it's time to die. Continually picking these...

Last fall we planted garlic. We used a combination of garlic seed we grew here and some we purchased from nearby organic growers: porcelain stiff neck, Moreno hillside, and elephant garlic. Before rinsing off the heads, we snipped the stems instead of braiding or...

In early August, another garden pest arrived:  squash bugs. These are not squash borers, another challenge we've been working with since our squash seeds became plants. What you see here are eggs and newly hatched bugs. They are on the underside of the squash leaves,...

Today, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) staff paid us a visit. Clean Water Initiative Operations Coordinator Helen Carr and Best Management Practices Verification Coordinator Jordyn Geller assessed the riparian buffer planting that came into...

Last season we noticed deterioration on garlic and onion plants. When we reserved garlic heads for seed, there seemed to be more than usual rotten cloves and heads. This season, with more plant damage evident, we learned why. A pest called the leek moth has migrated...

Every season, The Garden at 485 Elm contributes fresh, delicious, organically grown food to local organizations feeding Central Vermonters.

Gardeners at 485 Elm are welcome to initiate projects here. Liz visited last year, and we were happy she joined this season. Before moving to Montpelier, Liz operated a gallery-B&B-CSA in Moscow, Vermont. She continues to make art and garden, sometimes together....

Many farms around us were all out of hay mulch. We finally found a source, and brought home fifteen bales this week. Why do we use straw and not hay? Straw has had seed heads removed. When we spread straw mulch, we're not planting unintentional crops, i.e., weeds....