Notes to the Future

At our seed selection meeting in January, Alan suggested growing runner beans on the garden’s entry arbor. Though we’ve grown many types of beans, runners were something new.

Alan chose an heirloom Scarlet Runner that he remembered seeing at Michelle Obama’s Kitchen Garden on the White House grounds in 2012. A section of that garden was dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, with plants grown from seed saved each year since Jefferson’s time at the Monticello gardens.

The seed was sown at the same time as our bush beans in mid-May. Germination was excellent, and by mid-June the plants were scrambling up the trellised sides of the arbor. Flowers and the first snap beans appeared by mid-July, and we had the first dried beans in late August.

The dried bean pods are a boring dead leaf brown, but the beans themselves are positively stunning. Over the course of the season, the vines have nearly covered the arbor, and the prolific flowers are pollinator magnets – including hummingbirds! We also discovered that the flowers have a yummy bean flavor.

It looks like we will be harvesting lots of these beauties before the season ends. And it’s fair to say that the Scarlet Runner beans have been a real highlight of this year’s garden. Well done Alan!

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!

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!

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!

Don’t overwater, especially during cool spring weather.
Egyptian Walking Onions only had one clump survive winter; transplanted bulblets.
Garlic did well again, wrappers were strong.
Onions all survived to maturity, but were smaller than their potential, damaged by mildew (be careful not to over-water in cool spring weather). New storage onion Frontier was a keeper!
Onion (sets) did well back in the perimeter of the tomato bed.
Leeks did well but were slightly small and had some rot (be careful not to over-water in cool spring weather).
Scallions needed some infill after initial planting but did great, and lasted to the final day of the season.
Shallots did well, but were slightly damaged by mildew (be careful not to over-water in cool spring weather).