Robbins Farm Garden is a cooperative community garden project at Robbins Farm Park in Arlington, MA. Since 2010, we’ve grown vegetables organically as a group, created an educational resource in the community and continued the agricultural tradition of the farm at the park. We garden Saturday mornings April – November and Tuesday evenings June – September. The project is run through Arlington’s Recreation Department.
Hoping for fabulous Favas
Watching the seasonal BBC program Gardeners’ World on YouTube each week has some of us sorely disappointed with our fava beans. Gardeners in the UK grow fava (or broad) bean plants that reach 5-6’ and produce 10-12” pods full of big plump beans. The fava beans we’ve grown are less impressive (I’m embarrassed to share how much less). So we’ve decided to try doing things a bit differently this year.
We’re trying a new variety called Ianto’s from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This variety is advertised as having “massive beans borne on impressive 6-foot-tall plants.”
We’re also seeding our fava beans indoors. (We typically plant them in the soil the first Saturday in April.) The beans were planted in 6-packs and placed under lights on March 18. The germination was astonishingly good, and they emerged significantly faster than our outdoor sowings.
The seedlings were planted in the garden on April 8 (see photo above). Their first week inflicted the classic New England spring indignity of overnight lows of 30° and daytime highs of 90°… though they’re still standing tall. Watch this space!
Opening Day Rock Stars Reprise
In a reprise of last year, Opening Day 2023 ushered in the discovery of a very large rock in one of the garden beds. David is pictured above seated on the rock after removal, joined by Steven, Suzy, and Carol.
Very few of the garden beds have not been dug deeply. We only do this once, thereafter we simply fork the soil to loosen it. The perimeter beds at the back of the garden are the last to be dug. Our fingers are crossed for clear sailing from here.
Seedlings at Week 3
The seeds we planted 3 weeks ago are off to a solid start. The lettuces and spinach are ready to begin hardening off. The broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower are stronger from their transplanting into 6-packs last week. And the leeks, onions and shallots were transplanted into small 6-packs (and given a haircut) this week. We also seeded our peppers!
Say Hello to the Seedlings!
Last Saturday, Lisa, David, Wendy and I began seeding the garden’s first crops of the season indoors. We started with the alliums (leeks, onions, and shallots), brassicas (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower) and greens (lettuce and spinach).
After one week under the lights in the basement, most of the seedlings are up and growing. The trays containing the alliums and brassicas also spent the week on heating pads. (Our basement barely reaches 60 degrees this time of year.)
Next week, we will be seeding the celery, fava beans, marigolds, and sesame, along with transplanting the young brassicas. It feels good to have the garden underway!
2023 virtual Seed Selection Meeting – January 7
The seed catalogs are arriving!
Our annual seed selection meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 7 from 9:30am to 11:30am. Due to continuing COVID concerns, the meeting will be held virtually. Please contact us to get info to join the meeting.
Everyone interested in the crops and varieties we plan to grow at Robbins Farm Garden this season is welcome. Prospective new members of the garden group are especially encouraged to attend and join in the discussion. Collect your seed catalogs and your great expectations for the upcoming gardening season!
2022 Notes to the Future (end of season notes)
This year’s weather gave us the usual New England spring temperature swings, followed by a hot and unusually dry summer, a long autumn pleasantly punctuated by rain, and no hard frost until well into November.
It was a great year for brassicas, nightshades and root crops, and a less great year for legumes and squashes. New crops this year were ginger and ground cherries.
Work at the garden began with double-digging beds not dug in 2021; nearly all of the rearranged beds have now been done! Other infrastructure projects included: building a metal structure for the peas and pole beans; filling and sinking defensive fencing under the raised beds; and installing soaker hoses in all the perimeter garden beds.
We assisted dedicated Friends of Robbins Farm Park volunteers who watered the new trees at the park, and participated in other Friends activities: Town Day, Field Day, and Spring and Fall Cleanup Days.
None of this would have been possible without the ingenuity, persistence and genuine good humor of our amazing gardeners: Alan, Carol, David, Deepa, Elisabeth, Lisa, Martha, Mike, Nicole, Shakti, Steven, Susan, Suzie, Tim and Wendy. Thank you all!
