Robbins Farm Garden – July 21, 2010 from Nathan Robbins on Vimeo.
Plenty of visitors, including a hummingbird!
Yesterday, I was at the garden from 4:30 until 6. An exuberant crowd of mothers and children looked at — and commented on — practically everything. Everyone likes the squash we have. They find the eggplants to be terrific, and so are the flowers, the greens, the beans, etc.
Another mother and child were serious; it was the first time they’d found the garden open.
After I’d put the cards and signage away, a mother with a soccer child was so enthusiastic that I gave her my card so she could be in touch with us.
I supplied two boys with water for their sand pails and to wash off, and another young man who came by tried to treat the faucet like a pump when I said he, too, could have some water. I showed him how it works.
Finally: Would you believe that while I stood by the gate, I got to see a (female) hummingbird come to taste a nasturtium blossom? She was there only for a brief moment in time!
I have to say that I feel a little guilty from all the praise people give the garden, and for the envy sometimes betrayed by visiting gardeners whose plots are not doing so well. I always say we have some terrific gardeners, not myself!
Our first big tomato of the season
Okay … Who wants this one?
What a Difference Full Sun makes!
Like most home gardens in Arlington, the plot we gardened at 13 Addison Street for several years was mostly full sun. (There were no apologies for the soil, which couldn’t have been better.) Regardless, it seemed that the Robbins Farm garden was outperforming the 13 Addison Street garden in number of days to harvest.
So I looked for veggies in both gardens that were: 1) easy to determine when the first harvest occurred, 2) grown from seed sown outdoors at the same time in the season and 3) that were the same varieties from the same seed source.
Three veggies fit the criteria. And the results are significant, even if you factor in the more regular watering the Robbins Farm garden enjoys. I can’t wait to see how much faster the pole beans grow!
Mid-July Bounty
Veggie School meets again
Altogether, close to 90 exuberant, inquisitive, and pretty well-behaved students attended one of three 25-minute classes this morning at the Veggie School in Robbins Farm Garden.
We talked about different veggies’ origins, the different parts the plant we eat with different vegetables, what kinds of bugs we like and don’t like and why, and what were our favorite and least favorite veggies.
Tops in students’ favorites were tomatoes and carrots, with onions coming in third. Least liked in general were beets and eggplant, though most everyone agreed that the deep-purple eggplants were among the most beautiful vegetables in the garden.
The few students repeating from last week marveled at how some of the garden’s plants had grown, like the three squashes (pattipan, crookneck and zucchini), the cucumbers, and especially the sunflowers, reaching now to almost 9 feet tall.