Welcome to The Garden!

On a perfect cool, cloudy, comfortable day, gardeners worked all day long to get seeds and seedlings into the ground. Bed selection and prep, planting techniques, and camaraderie got the job done. Flower team dug out self-seeding Shasta daisies and ubiquitous...

Here at the Garden at 485 Elm, we acquire starts for some of our crops. At the beautiful Pleasant Mount Farm Greenhouse in Huntington, Vermont, we got our starts for hot-weather plants and herbs. We grow food and flowers to share among the 20 families who tend the...

Food and flowers aren't all we plant here at the Garden at 485 Elm. The "back 40" is what we call the 7/10 of an acre beyond the garden fence. It had been lawn for over half a century. In 2015, we partnered with Friends of the Winooski River and U.S. Fish &...

With 16 percent humidity and a few clouds overhead, it was a perfect day to spend hours in the garden. Gardeners dug trenches and planted 30 pounds of seed potatoes. The varieties are Reba, Red Chieftain, and Superior. The weather's beautiful to be out in, but it's...

https://youtu.be/O2DTFkZErBA Before planting, gardeners gently turn the soil. Tilling breaks up the soil structure and cuts up the worms who live here and add nutrients to the soil. Using this deep-spader (or maybe a broadfork) preserves soil structure while aerating...

After nearly two inches of rain, the soil was moist, fluffy, and perfect for gardening. Gardeners are edging the garlic bed. Grass is wonderful to walk on, but it relentlessly works its way into garden beds. Edging prevents the garlic from being choked out. It also...

Today we relocated two perennials: asparagus and French sorrel. The right time is when the roots are robust but the plant hasn't yet done much leafing. Asparagus went into these two boxes in April 2020. They were too shaded and the plants didn't do much. This is a...

Thanks to generous donations, we have delicious peas and seed for many other crops to grow. Pea seeds are just peas. Very special peas that grow into very delicious peas. The peas are planted and the soil is being mulched. This holds the moisture so the peas require...

It's nearly time to roll up some of the netting we used to anchor leaves last fall. The leaves served the newly planted garlic seed well. They protected it from heavy snow all winter long so the moment the ground and air warm enough, the garlic seed can sprout for our...

The Vermont Community Garden Network (VCGN) has been there for us since before we dug up the south lawn and invited the community to garden together here. Way back in the winter of 2014, I went looking for a community-garden template (my favorite way to work). I...