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

Welcome to The Garden!

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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What else is growing at the garden?

Garden Cleanup

Garden Cleanup

There's still collards, kale, mustards, collards, and Brussels sprouts growing in the garden. But after several frosts many annuals are done for the season. Gardeners removed plants that are done for the season and laid them on the garden waste windrow to break down...

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Edamame, Year Two

Edamame, Year Two

Last season a gardener scored edamame seed, which can be hard to come by. Perhaps you've eaten edamame at a Japanese restaurant. You might have been served a steaming plate of salted pods for eating the tender legumes within. That's an experience the garden now allows...

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Winter Squash Harvest

Winter Squash Harvest

Harvesting the winter squash happened so quickly that it was over before we could grab photos in the squash bed! Over at the seed pumpkin bed, the work went fast as well. These small pumpkins are called "hulless," as in no pumpkin flesh to eat. They're full of seeds...

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A Taste of What We’re Enjoying in Late Peak Garden

A Taste of What We’re Enjoying in Late Peak Garden

In addition to what's pictured here, we're harvesting and enjoying arugula, basil, beans of many colors, beets, carrots, catnip, chili peppers, chives, cucumbers, edamame, eggplants, French sorrel, ground cherries, lemon balm, nasturtiums, oregano, sunflowers, summer...

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Harvesting Edamame—Except for the Seed Plants

Harvesting Edamame—Except for the Seed Plants

When the edamame plant leaves turn yellow, it's time to harvest the crop. Gardeners harvested all but the sixteen plants closest to edamame perfection. Those will continue to mature. We'll harvest them later and save and dry the seeds to plant next year's crop....

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University of Vermont TREK Team: Gratitude All Around

University of Vermont TREK Team: Gratitude All Around

For several season, the garden has partnered with the University of Vermont TREK program's service track for incoming first-year students. Enthusiastic teams spend a couple of hours pitching in to help projects feeding the community, including community gardens like...

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The Potato and Onion Harvests Are In

The Potato and Onion Harvests Are In

For most crops in the Garden at 485 Elm, gardeners harvest whatever's ready to eat. Greens, beans, peas, eggplants, peppers, summer squash, and herbs are harvest as we go. A few crops we harvest all at once then divide by the number of gardener households for...

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Garlic harvest day

Garlic harvest day

Every fall, we plant garlic from seed. A garlic seed is one clove of garlic. We harvest the crop the following season just after midsummer. Garlic is the one crop we save seed from for planting the entire next crop. On a perfect July morning, gardeners from sixteen...

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The Garden of Eating

The Garden of Eating

Ripe husk cherries, aka ground cherries. These sweet-tart treats are related to tomatoes and grow on low bushy plants. Haricots verts and other bush beans are bursting on the vine. We cleared the vines of mature beans so new ones can grow and brought packed full-size...

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The garden is flowers!

The garden is flowers!

The garden is a DIY CSA for gardeners not just for food but for flowers. The Flower Power Team suggests gardeners bring a container, grab scissors from the garden shed, and help themselves to a bouquet. There's bee balm, bachelor's buttons, poppies, and some pinks....

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