Cover Crops: A Long-Term Success Story
In August, a University of Vermont Service TREK Farm and Food team transformed the garden, digging in to turn a huge windrow, move compost, and pull copious weeds. One transformative act whose results were not visible that day was planting cover crop. Not long after...
What else is growing at the garden?
Garden task: Harvest and eat garlic scapes
This is the time of the season when we watch the garlic crop for scapes. Scapes are the flowers each growing garlic bulb sends up. Harvesting them keeps the sun, water, and soil nutrients feeding the bulb (our target crop) instead of the beautiful flower that would...
It’s food, beautiful food
Maturity came early to French sorrel, chives, Good King Henry, and a few other perennial and self-seeding plants. Suddenly, the garden is bursting with fresh food. With nearly twenty gardeners' households harvesting crops, how do we share the food? When everyone grows...
A Garden with Good Friends
A gardener here for several years is now a Friend of the Garden. Friends of the Garden join us for work parties or show up to do some weeding and watering without committing to the season. With friends like this . . . we are very fortunate indeed.
Planting Potatoes
Gardeners dug eight trenches and turned compost into the soil. Planting potatoes while prepping new trenches. Gardeners planted seed potatoes in six of the eight trenches—two furrows each of Chieftain, Kennebec, and Superior varieties. If we score more seed, the last...
It begins: First big work party of spring
A beautiful day beckoned gardeners for the first big garden work party of the season. We dug potato trenches (and found some garlic & carrot treasures), planted flowers, prepped beds for onions and squash, turned the compost between bins, and said hi to the worms...
Spring Planting Begins
Even with some frosty nights left, we start planting the moment we can work the soil. What are we planting? Salad greens, kale, Asian greens, mustard greens, collard greens, broccoli raab, carrots, parsnips, and more. This long box is divided into sections with a...
First Work Party of the Season
A gardener arrives for the first work party of this garden season on an irresistibly beautiful day. Flower power as lovingly wielded by the flower team. They cleaned up the flower rows, planted some seed, and laid down burlap. These rows will produce flowers that...
Signs of Spring
We are here for it! Spring rhubarb peeks out of winter's protective mulch. Good day, sunshine.
Early March Catnip Interlude
In 2021, we planted catnip. We learned it had insect-repelling properties and held a catnip distilling workshop. A few months and feet of snow later, we all need a charge. That's also part of catnip's potential. Have a look. What a catnip harvest! Back on September 7,...
2021 Boutique Crop: Seed Pumpkins
Here at the Garden at 485 Elm, we grow crops that are shared and distributed among gardeners and the community in one of three ways: First, we grow crops that produce continually, such as lettuces, kale, summer squashes, beans, and peas. Gardeners harvest as much as...
