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

Welcome to The Garden!

Feeding and Seeding with the Garlic Harvest

Feeding and Seeding with the Garlic Harvest

As the garlic harvest work party began, rain fell steadily. Gardeners wondered whether many team members would be up for a very wet harvest. No worries. Gardeners turned out for one of the most fun and satisfying work parties of the season....

read more

What else is growing at the garden?

In Which the Garden Has a Chicken Visitation

In Which the Garden Has a Chicken Visitation

Aster, Ophelia, and Winifred live near the garden. Recently, they arrived to spend a couple of weeks here. Aster, Ophelia, and Winnie are helping prepare the garden beds for planting. Chickens use their strong, sharp feet and beaks to search for bugs and seeds....

read more
It Begins

It Begins

In November 2022, we planted garlic on a day like this one. Partway through the season, there was a harvest, not of garlic but of the scape each plant was sending up. And here's how garlic harvest day goes. Today falls between planting day and scape-harvest day. More...

read more
Last garden work party: brussels sprouts harvest

Last garden work party: brussels sprouts harvest

Autumn activity in the garden has been varied, busy, and delicious. Posts here have not kept up. Until we get to posting about garlic planting and other garden doings, please enjoy these images from the last garden work party of the season. It was brussels sprouts...

read more
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...

read more
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...

read more
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...

read more
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...

read more
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....

read more
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...

read more
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...

read more