Robbins Farm Garden

A Cooperative Learning Project

Notes to the Future

2017 Root Crops (end of season notes)

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General: keep volunteer dill and fennel out of beds
Beets: 1st crop (started indoors) did best, covering with screen helped, hit with ants & moss, just grow seedling crop & replant with fall peas?
Jerusalem Artichokes: did really well
Sweet Potatoes: slips started well, decent crop, but fewer full-sized tubers than usual, soil too cool? keep volunteer dill and fennel out of bed
Turnips (cooking): Golden Globe did well, Gilfeather didn’t have nearly enough time to mature
Turnips (salad): 1st crop did well, 2nd crop didn’t, try planting in onion bed with radishes next year?
 

2017 Squash Family (end of season notes)

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Butternuts: Metro PMR wicked awesome, good spacing. Butterbush (3 sisters) bombed
Cucumbers: renegades did well, main planting did even better, picking and slicing types easier to tell apart
Delicata: best yet, good yield, less mildew but hit by borers
Pumpkins: grow Baby Bear (single plant did great), start seeds in sterile soil, be vigilant about borers
Watermelons: tasty, but stunted and unproductive
Cousa squash: wasn’t as special, and didn’t do as well, as we hoped. Just grow zucchini next year?
Zucchini: did well (one plant produced into November), 2nd crop should be started earlier (almost had time to produce)
 

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.

 

2016 End of Season Notes

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2016 gardening season image
Our seventh year of gardening year began with the January seed meeting, followed by some excellent research for new varieties in February. March saw the first seedlings started indoors and opening day at the garden. In April, the final 2 (of 12) main garden beds were double-dug, and our first seeds (and seedlings) went into the garden.

In May, we discovered a rabbit's nest in some knee-high winter rye, causing a delay in planting our bush beans. (All bunnies successfully fledged and eventually graduated out of the garden.) For the first time, we started sweet potato slips from our previous-year's tubers and experimented with row cover on the Swiss chard.

Drought was significant for most of the season. Watering seemed relentless, especially in early summer when many young seedlings were getting established. Our carrots suffered, tomatoes were once again a target for thirsty wildlife and (for the first time) our eggplants were targeted.

June saw a bountiful crop of peas, our earliest cherry tomatoes ever, and the best-looking spring broccoli and bok choi to date. Sadly, our okra seedlings struggled… and the seedlings purchased to replace them didn't fare much better. In July, we harvested our best-ever garlic, along with our earliest summer squash and full-sized tomatoes.

August was abundant, and graced us with another beautiful crop of bok choi. Yet, we suffered disappointment when our onions died off before reaching full size. September (always our most productive month) saw the additional payoff of our pelleted seed experiment, with our best crop of parsnips to date.

October saw our last harvests of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, and our first harvests of cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Garlic (reserved from our June harvest) was replanted in November, which also saw the last harvest for most crops. We enjoyed lettuce and arugula (under plastic) through mid-December and hardy collards and kale through the end of the year.

2016 Alliums (end of season notes)

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2016 alliums image
Garlic: best ever (see journal post)!
Leeks: did well, despite drought
Onions: less impressive than 2015 (due to drought?) – try mid-season feeding, more compost, increased spacing? Sets did well
Scallions: bad year, poor germination on both plantings – try more vigorous variety? try switching location with Shallots? add nitrogen fertilizer?
Shallots: plants from seed did better than sets – try 2 seed varieties?
Walking Onions: 2nd planting of bulblets did well (1st planting mostly failed), harvest of previous year’s plants tasty

2016 Brassicas (end of season notes)

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2016 brassicas image
General: buy more shade cloth to cover late-season broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower transplants
Broccoli: best early crop ever, late crop did great too (especially single plant left in nursery bed) – leave more seedlings in nursery bed next year?
Brussels Sprouts: both varieties strong (see journal post), but hit with cabbage worms and aphids
Cabbages: early crop slower & stunted w/bad cabbage worms, late crop did well, but some savoy didn’t mature – try row cover in spring? transplant savoy earlier in fall?
Cauliflower:  good varieties, but small & late (needs more time than broccoli & standard cabbage) – transplant on 1st week into potato bed next year, leave some seedlings in nursery bed? start in pots?