Category: Programming

Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, herbs, celery, zucchini, carrots, beets, broccoli and so much more can be found at the Orwell Community Learning Garden. The garden is located between the Orwell Town Hall and Congregational Church. Each bed is meticulously cared for by Vermont Master Gardeners and used as a teaching tool for local children and adults.

2024 Community Learning Garden Blog
2025 Community Learning Garden Blog

We thank Orwell Village School for working with us to make this garden such a success.

Visit the library calendar to view learning garden work hours and join us!

• June 13 – prepping the beds, seeing what survived the winter and what reseeded.
• June 20 – Garden planted, pot bound plants, snacking rabbits & Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp recipe
• June 25 – planting, applying organic fertilizer properly, plant labels (including latin names!) and thank you to Orwell Congregational Church for the hose hookup again this year
• July 9 – watering, seed saving, staking & caring for tomato plants, herbs to harvest & Spicy Thai Basil Chicken recipe
• July 14 – prepping for another raised bed, blueberry bush addition, Crustless Zucchini Pie

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6/13/2026

            Welcome to the 3rd season of the Orwell Community Learning Garden! We had a nice turnout this Saturday, with an EMG intern. H, joining us for 2 hours. We also had a community member help us with some of the weeding and composting of the beds for a few hours, which was very welcome! The Orwell Village Store Committee had a festival on the Town Green during our work hours, so there was a food truck and excellent music by the Sap Tappers, which was an amazing background as we toiled in the already fierce heat. I’ll be glad for the slight cooling in the upcoming forecast.

            As we surveyed the beds for the first time this summer, we noted some damage to the bed frame of Bed #1, numerous weeds, but also wonderful discoveries—a full bed of ripe strawberries (Fragaria spp.), garlic (Allium sativum) with full on scapes to harvest, some calendula (Calendula officinalis) that had reseeded and is almost ready to flower, and gorgeous native perennials with pollinators a-buzzing! Between the scapes, strawberries, and a mound of fresh dill (Athenum graveolens) that I took home to dry, we collected 3.75 pounds of produce on the first day of gardening. We sent the 1 ¾ lbs of strawberries over to the festival for townspeople to enjoy with the free ice cream, and sent the scapes home with some community members who stopped by the gardens as we were working. Once the dill is dried, I will package it up and bring it to the library to take home as an herb. A few other herbs also survived the winter, including chives (Allium schoenoprasum), lavender (Lavandula spp.), and some Tulsi basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) had reseeded, as well. One interesting find was a huge parsnip (Pastinaca) that we had obviously missed during harvest (one that the bear did not get!), and it was very tall and flowering. This looks almost exactly like the dreaded, very invasive, and toxic poison parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), but this was just the garden variety parsnip that we eat. One should still be very careful handling the leaves, flowers, and sap of ANY parsnip plant, as even the edible varieties can be toxic to your skin, especially when combined with sunlight. I used a spade to dig it up by its root, and then carefully removed it by the base, not letting any leaves touch my skin.

            We were able to fully weed five of the vegetable beds, and planted many of the veggie starts that were more than ready to go into the ground. These included: lettuce (Lactuca sativa), kale (Brassica oleracea), Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris), arugula (Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa), spinach (Spinacia oleracea), red cabbage (B. oleracea var. capitata), cauliflower (B. oleracea var. botrytis), a mystery brassica, cherry and full size tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), delicata and buttercup winter squash (both varieties of Cucurbita pepo), yellow squash, zucchini (also both varieties of C. pepo), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), scallions (Allium fistulosum), curly parsley (Petroselinum crispum), Tulsi basil, chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile), rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), marigolds (Tagetes minuta), calendula, and a red, native columbine. We also planted cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) from seed around the tower.

            Speaking of weeding—there was one weed that was a dominant presence in the beds called field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense). I fear that its seeds were present in either the compost or mulch from last year, as it was most prevalent in the new beds that we filled last year. Unfortunately, some of it was already going to seed again, so it is likely we will see another few “crops” or cycles of this tall, fast growing weed this summer, and possibly even next year, as some of it was placed in the compost bin with our mature, ready to use compost that was leftover from last year. We cleared as much of this out from the mature compost as possible, and moved it to one of the other bins that still needs breaking down. With our compost set up the way it is, it is unlikely to get “hot” enough to break down and kill the seeds as intended. However, we can see how long it does take to break down and become useable in the next few months.

            The perennials are already stunning, especially the foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) with tall, stately white blooms that were attracting bees and swallowtail butterflies. The columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) are finishing their blooming, as well as the lupine (Lupinus spp.). The yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is just beginning to bloom, and the coreopsis, heliopsis, and echinacea are not far behind.

            This was a jam-packed day of garden work, and it was very satisfying to see the “fruits” of our labors (haha, strawberries!) even on the first day in the garden beds this year. Next week we plan to get the rest of the plants in the ground, as well as some more seeds. We also hope to finish weeding the vegetable and perennial beds, see if there are any seeds to collect from the perennials already done flowering for the year, and possibly get started on mulching the beds. Sorry, there is not a recipe ready for this week, but I will plan on them for the weeks to come. The next gardening day is Saturday, June 20^th at 10 am, and after that, we will be there every Thursday at 10 am throughout the summer.

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June 20, 2026

This past Saturday morning brought much cooler temps than the previous week, some welcome shade and a sprinkling of rain. There was 1.6” of rain in our gauge, which was also very welcome. We did not have to come back during the week to water at all, for which we are thankful. Christina and I were joined by Carol, an intern who had joined us last year, and another certified EMG, Nancy. The four us accomplished a great deal, and we’re well on our way to getting the beds ship-shape!

            We had our first damage to plants, in the far bed closest to the church, where we mostly have the “greens”. This was a strategic decision (remember the Master Gardener classic saying? The “right plant in the right place”.) This bed is actually shaded during the hottest part of the day, so it is perfect for these greens. Some of these, especially the arugula, will get very bitter if they are in too much heat. They will also “bolt” more quickly, sprouting flowers and then seed pods. Once they are near to this stage, they are not nearly as tasty. Therefore, we try to plant these all in waves, so we will have continuous harvests of sweet, tender, young greens throughout the whole summer. Back to the damage, though—all of the kale plants were chewed to their stems, leaving almost no leaves. This damage really looks like it would be from rabbits or other small mammals, as opposed to larger mammals that would have ripped the whole plant out, or from insects, as they were too cleanly cut off for most insects out now. We will continue to watch these plants to see if they will survive and put out more leaves, or if we just need to pull them and start from seed again. Time will tell. We also noted after weeding the perennial beds that our bee balm (Monarda didyma) has disappeared, and the lupine is very small, being shaded and crowded out by the baptisia, columbine, and yarrow. We will have to space these more carefully in the beds this year.

            If you remember from last year, we mulched all the beds with old straw/hay. This is probably the most important step in a garden such as this one (raised beds with excellent drainage, and one where there is not a person available to water every single day). We have plenty of compost and mulch leftover from last year—Thank you to the Wilbur Family at Lazy Dog Farm for donating all of this last year!

  Starting this week (week of June 22) our Community Garden open hours will move to Thursday mornings at 10am, and this will continue until the start of school. Please follow the Orwell Free Library’s Face Book page to see updates in case there is a week where we can’t be there, or if there will be postponement due to weather. You are also welcome to email either Christina or myself to check if we’ll be there.

Happy Summer, and see you in the garden!

Karen DeMoy and Christina Shaw, UVM Extension Master Gardeners

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Fruit filling:
3 cups rhubarb, peeled and diced into ¼” chunks
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and cut up (pieces should not be too small)
2 Tbs corn starch
¾ cup granulated sugar
(I also added 1 tsp vanilla, but this is optional)

Topping:
½ cup flour
1 cup oats (quick OR old fashioned)
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ cup cold butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 8” x 8” baking dish and set aside.
2. Toss to combine the rhubarb, strawberries, cornstarch and granulated sugar until all the fruit is well coated. Pour into greased baking dish.
3. In another bowl, stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt. But the cold butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender. Work in the butter until the mixture clumps together into crumbs.
4. Top the fruit mixture with the crumb topping.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crumbs are browned slightly, and the fruit is bubbly.
6. Serve warm with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Recipe courtesy of “Chocolate With Grace”, by Mary Younkin.

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June 25, 2026

Today we finished planting—a sungold cherry tomato plant (Solanum lycospericum), (and really, in my opinion this is the only cherry tomato one needs!), Genovese basil plants (Ocimum basilicum), and kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes) seeds. The sungold tomato and basil were donated by Singing Cedars Farm—thank you very much! We put out all the labels today, as well. You’ll notice that I’ve been including the Latin or scientific name for the plants (at least when they are mentioned initially). These names help avoid confusion when trying to differentiate plants.

Once the final things were planted, we applied a general organic fertilizer surrounding the larger plants, careful to not actually touch the plants/stems, watered everything in well, then mulched all the beds with straw. The straw will help suppress weeds, and more importantly, will help hold moisture in, allowing us to water less frequently. This was incredibly helpful to us last summer during the months of drought. The rain gauge showed 0.3” of rain this week. This is interesting since last weekend forecasted a soggy week, which did not happen.

There were only a few straggler strawberries to harvest, and they made their way directly to our mouths. Not enough to save, unfortunately. It’s always sad when the strawberries are done for the year. We did see some fruit on the sweet peppers, and a few on the tomato plants, so it won’t be long until we have produce to share at the Orwell Free Library. Watch for the posts and pictures on Facebook, or just stop at the library on Thursday afternoons. If people are interested, there are some herbs that could be picked, if you’re short for a recipe—dill, sage, basil, thyme, lemon thyme, Tulsi basil, and rosemary are all ready to have a few stems cut. 

There was a bit more damage to plants this week. A rabbit ate an entire cabbage plant, likely. The kale from last week is trying to grow again. 

Some of the seeds have germinated from last week—beets, turnips, rutabagas, and radishes are all up. I love a radish for how fast they grow! We’ll be ready to harvest them in two weeks. 

See you next Thursday at 10am, Happy Gardening!

Karen DeMoy & Christina Shaw, UVM Extension Master Gardeners 

(Sorry, no recipe this week. I am writing this in the airport before flying to England tonight!)

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7/9/2026

          Wow. It was another very hot day today. We actually cancelled the previous week’s work day due to extreme heat, but apparently this is the new normal, so we’ll try not to cancel again for weather. At my house, on Saturday, July 4^th, we had a nice rainfall of at least 0.5”. I did not go down to water the beds on Sunday, nor did I check to make sure that it had rained down in town. Well, it did not. I went to check on things on Tuesday the 7^th, and the beds were DRY. Zero moisture in the rain gauge. Needless to say, I watered nice and thoroughly. Everything looked OK, but I am glad I went down to check.

          Speaking of seed collection, we collected the pods from the columbine this week. We knew they were ready as the pods were all brown and dry, and the seeds “rattled” inside when shaken. We cut these stems and put them in a bag to continue to dry, and will shake them loose and collect these seeds. These are the native, wild red and yellow columbine, and they will be available soon over at the seed library. We also collected coreopsis seed heads, and there are already bachelor button and calendula seeds from the plants that reseeded themselves from last year.

       

The goal is to get the leaves and fruit off the ground where they will pick up diseases and excess moisture; allow for better air flow among the leaves and flowers—this will not only prevent diseases by preventing excess moisture, it also allows for better pollination of the flowers if they are not all in a clump. Once these are staked and adjusted after a few weeks, we can see where there are excess stems and do some pruning, to allow better fruit to “set”. We don’t want the plant to spend all of its energy in growing the plant and leaves—we want it to produce the fruit that we can pick and eat. We’ll keep you posted on this, and show some pictures as the fruit hopefully ripens in the next few weeks.

          On the horizon we have a few projects to add to the regular tasks of watering, weeding, and harvesting. One of these is a mapping of the beds, both on paper and with permanent signage—posts with hanging wooden signs with what is planted in each bed, and with a notice for what is ready to pick. I saw this idea at the Duke University community garden in North Carolina last fall. I took some pictures and spoke with their caretakers. They are on a very different level than us, but inspiring. Interestingly, the gentleman I spoke with there had been a UVM EMG in Vermont for 25 years before moving down south just a few years ago. The gardening world is small, and there is always something to learn!

          Until next week, happy gardening! Stay out of the sun, and keep your gardens watered!

Karen DeMoy and Christina Shaw, UVM Extension Master Gardeners

Spicy Thai Basil Chicken (Pad Krapow Gai), (All Recipes)

• ⅓ cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, or as needed
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, finely chopped
• ¼ cup sliced shallots
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced Thai chilies, Serrano, or other hot pepper
• 1 cup very thinly sliced fresh Tulsi basil leaves
• 2 cups hot cooked rice

Directions

1. Gather ingredients.
2. Whisk chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a bowl until well blended.
3. Heat large skillet over high heat. Drizzle in oil. Add chopped chicken and stir fry until it loses its raw color, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Stir in shallots, garlic, and sliced chilies. Continue cooking on high heat until some of the juices start to caramelize in the bottom of the pan, about 2 or 3 more minutes.
5. Add about a tablespoon of the sauce mixture to the skillet; cook and stir until sauce begins to caramelize, about 1 minute.
6. Pour in the rest of the sauce. Cook and stir until sauce has deglazed the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until sauce glazes onto the meat, 1 or 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
7. Stir in basil. Cook and stir until basil is wilted, about 20 seconds. Serve with rice.
8. Serve hot and enjoy!

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July 14, 2026

          This Thursday was a beautiful day! The severe humidity had broken, and there was a very nice breeze for Nancy, H, and I to be working in the garden beds.

         

     

      

We also were able to pick a beautiful bouquet of flowers, including bachelor buttons, calendula (both of these reseeding from last year, bonus!), yarrow, mountain mint, echinacea, blue vervain, and baptisia greenery. I just love fresh flowers, and while I am not going to win any prizes for my arrangements, they are pretty any way they are put together, I think.

         

          Enjoy the first zucchini recipe of the season, and see you next week!

Karen DeMoy and Christina Shaw, UVM Extension Master Gardeners

Crustless Zucchini Pie (Recipe courtesy of Skinnytaste online)

10 oz zucchini or yellow squash, shredded and all liquid squeezed out
½ cup shallots (or onions), chopped
¼ cup fresh chives, chopped
½ cup cheese, shredded (cheddar, mozzarella, other to your taste, or a mixture)
2 Tbs parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup flour (AP, gluten free 1:1, or white whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 large eggs, beaten
½ tsp salt
Black pepper, to taste,
Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray pie dish with cooking spray.
2. Combine zucchini, shallots, chives, and shredded cheese in bowl, and mix.
3. In a separate bowl, add flour, baking powder, milk, eggs, salt, and pepper, and mix well.
4. Combine zucchini mixture and flour mixture, then pour into pie dish. Top with parmesan cheese.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.
6. Let stand for at least 5 minutes prior to cutting and serving.