Robbins Farm Garden

A Cooperative Learning Project

2021 Journal

Successive Zucchini Crops – The Third Time’s a Charm

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We’ve had success growing successive crops at the garden, most with very little trial and error. Yet, this was our first successful year with a second planting of zucchini and yellow squash. Now that we’ve done it, let’s document it.

We seeded our first crop indoors on May 16, planted the seedlings in the garden on May 31, and harvested 48 days after seeding on July 3. (That’s our normal schedule.) The second crop was seeded indoors on June 13, planted in the garden on July 5, and harvested 55 days after seeding on August 7.

Four weeks between seeding the crops seems right, and using a super-size 6-pack for the second crop was also helpful because the space for the seedlings wasn’t open for 3 weeks. It’s important to note that giving the seedlings their own space in the garden (rather than tucking them between the older plants) also made a big difference.

For the record:
In 2019, the second crop was seeded on June 22, planted on July 13 and did not produce a harvest, primarily because the seedlings were crowded and shaded.

In 2017, the second crop was seeded on July 9, planted on August 19 and did not produce a harvest, primarily because it was seeded too late.

Scabby spud

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Our potatoes this year aren’t as perfect as they could be due to scab disease, all the little brown bumps on the skins. Potato scab is caused by a common bacteria found in soil There are plenty of good references discussing scab, its causes and prevention, like Vegetable: Potato, Scab | UMass Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment and Potato Scab (cornell.edu). Scabby potatoes are edible, but the scabby parts should be peeled, which reduces the nutritional value.

A summary of how we can reduce the risk of scab on our spuds:

  1. Grow scab-resistant varieties, such as Superior, Russet Burbank and Red Norland, and others listed in the references. We’ve had pretty good results with Red Norland in the past. We should always check our selections for scab-resistance.
  2. Buy certified scab-free seed potatoes from reputable sources. We do that.
  3. Keep the soil pH below 5.2. We really can’t do that because of our crop rotation, unless we want to juggle sulfur and lime ever year and do a lot of soil testing. Most of our other crops do best in a pH of 6.0-7.0, and would suffer in acidic soil.
  4. Keep the beds well watered in the 2-6 seeks after planting. We can do that.
  5. Minimize organic soil amendments, which encourage scab growth. So we shouldn’t add compost or manure to our potato beds.
  6. Don’t plant potatoes in the same bed more often than every three years. Our crop rotation does that.

Garden Accessibility Progress Report

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Accessibility improvements to the garden were included in the Robbins Farm Park Field and ADA Renovation Project, which was overseen by the Park and Recreation Commission, approved by the Friends of Robbins Farm Park, and funded through the Community Preservation Act Committee. These improvements were made in coordination with the garden cooperative’s plan to replace the aging fence and gate.

Though other portions of the park project were completed previously, it has taken time to implement the garden updates because much of the labor was done (as planned) by the gardeners.

The report submitted today to the Friends of Robbins Farm Park, the Park and Recreation Commission, and the Community Preservation Act Committee documents this work. View the Progress Report (pdf).

2021 Potato yield

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On April 18, we planted about 7.5 pounds of seed potatoes from High Mowing (from left to right – Red Chieftain, Adirondack Blue, Peter Wilcox), at a total cost of about $37, and today harvested about 45 pounds. 6X – not a bad return.