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...
What else is growing at the garden?
First Garden Food of the Season
French sorrel is among the first garden crops to appear and the last being harvested before the garden goes to sleep for the winter. This perennial herb has a lemony tang to brighten up any salad or sandwich. It is a cooking herb, and gardeners share French sorrel...
What’s new in the garden includes history
Gardeners have been busy planting early crops. Seeds now growing include arugula, chard, kale, pac choi, snow & snap peas, mustard greens, and spinach. Garlic planted in November 2023 emerges this spring. Crops planted in previous seasons are coming up too....
A Flurry of Spring Planting
Gardeners planted arugula, carrots, chard, kale, mustard greens, pac choi, snap and snow peas, and spinach in beds that had been covered in leaf mulch for the winter. They created narrow furrows, they mixed in compost, and dropped in the seeds. Finally, they watered...
A Sure Sign of Spring
This haul of beautiful Vermont Compost is now covered and awaiting the first plantings of spring.
Goodnight, Sweet Garden
Sleep well. We look forward to seeing you in the spring.
Planting Garlic in 2023 to Harvest in 2024
Once Vermont is well into fall frosts, it's garlic planting time. Waiting until extended warm spells have ended ensures the garlic won't germinate and begin growing until spring. Flashback to midsummer: We harvested the garlic planted in 2022 and reserved hundreds of...
The Winter Squash Bed Becomes the Garlic Bed
Winter squash harvest day comes before the first frost or after the squash have stopped maturing in each day's reduced sunlight and warmth. Gardeners harvested the squashes for sorting and distribution then pulled up the vines, which went onto the garden waste...
Harvesting, Processing, Cooking, and Eating Edamame
Most of the garden's edamame was ready to harvest. These green plants in the foreground will grow a while longer, but the yellow plants you see the gardeners working on, and the ones way in the background between them, were ripe and ready. Instead of pulling out whole...
Potato Harvest Day
Potatoes are one of the crops we harvest all at once and divide among gardeners. The others are edamame, garlic, onions, and winter squash. Other share-divided crops, when we grow them, include Brussels sprouts, seed pumpkins, and peanuts. Potatoes took up four short...
In Which College Students Transform the Garden
Each garden season as the fall college semester approaches, students participating in the University of Vermont TREK program arrive at the garden. The Garden at 485 Elm is so lucky to be a destination for TREK service volunteers! Several 485 Elm gardeners joined the...
