Robbins Farm Garden

A Cooperative Learning Project

Elisabeth

2018 Seed Selection Meeting – February 3rd

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Save the date – our annual Seed Selection Meeting will be on Saturday, February 3rd in Community Room of the Community Safety Building from 9:30 am to Noon(ish).

Everyone interested in the crops & varieties we will 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. Bring your seed catalogs and great expectations for the season to come!

You will find the Community Safety Building (Arlington Police Headquarters) at 112 Mystic Street. When you enter the building, go directly up the stairs; the community room door will be on your left.

Potato Dividends

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As an experiment, Lisa, Shakti and I each planted leftover seed potatoes in pots at home. The results were good!
Single seed potatoes (Yukon Gold, Purple Viking and Dark Red Norland varieties shown below) each produced nearly 2 pounds of nice spuds.
Next year, we encourage others to join in the fun!
 

First seedlings are up!

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first onion seedlings of 2017
We had an enthusiastic crew to plant our first indoor seedlings last Saturday. [Thanks to Lisa, Shakti, Mike, Martha, Melissa and Beth!]
One week on, we have some lovely seedlings up and growing. I'm partial to the onions (shown above) but all the photos from this week are available on the gallery.
 

Annual Seed Selection Meeting – Saturday, January 28

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Save the date – we will hold our annual Seed Selection Meeting on Saturday, January 28 in Community Room of the Community Safety Building from 9:30am to 12:30pm.

Everyone interested in the crops & varieties we will grow in the garden this season is welcome. Prospective new members of the garden group are especially encouraged to attend and join the discussion. Bring your seed catalogs and great expectations for the season to come!

You will find the Community Safety Building at 112 Mystic Street. When you enter the building, go directly up the stairs in front of you. Our meeting room is on the left.

 

Proposal for fence & accessibility improvements

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In the fall of 2015, we prepared a proposal to replace the fence and improve the accessibility of the garden. The proposal was developed with guidance from the Town's ADA Self-Evaluation Report on Arlington's public parks and open spaces (prepared by the Institute for Human Centered Design for Arlington's Recreation Department and Park and Recreation Commission).

Our proposal was presented to the Park and Recreation Commission and the Friends of Robbins Farm Park Board in October 2015. The proposal was subsequently included as part of the Robbins Farm Park Field and ADA Renovation Project in the Community Preservation Committee's 2016 Funding Application, approved at the 2016 Town Meeting.

Engineering consultants hired by the Town for the Park Renovation Project are currently developing plans through a series of public meetings. It's our understanding that our garden proposal will be the subject of a separate review of as part of this public process. We hope to begin the work in 2017.

Our Proposal submitted in October 2015 (pdf)
Options submitted with proposal (pdf)

 

Celebrating the Garden’s Flowers

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There’s a rule at the garden: all the plants we grow must be edible. You might think this would eliminate flowers. Yet, we grow several plants that (though edible) are most cherished for their blooms.

Flowers attract pollinators, welcome visitors and cheer weary gardeners. And too often we forget to mention them. Here are a few of our favorites.