Gleaning Gore Place

This summer and fall, crews from the Boston Area Gleaners came to Gore Place several times to harvest the crops and deliver them to area food pantries, meal programs, and homeless shelters.

From the field grown produce, crews picked approximately 10 boxes of green beans, 12 boxes of cabbage, 6 boxes of turnips, 12 boxes of sugar pumpkins, and 54 boxes of butternut squash. The squash boxes weighed 50 to 60 pounds, totaling well over two tons of produce for those in need! And from the garden, crews picked 6 boxes of beans, 15 boxes of collard greens, and 5 boxes of mustard greens.

All this produce from Gore Place was delivered to Rosie's Place in Boston, the Salvation Army food pantry and meal program in Waltham, the Red Cross Food Pantry and the Sandra's Lodge shelter in Waltham, and also to food pantries in Cambridge.

Picking butternut squash in early October

Garlic

Scott has started to plant garlic in the field north of the cottage. Not knowing which variety of garlic will perform well in our soil, he has selected three different varieties, all of which are reported to be very cold hardy and are of the hardneck type. Softneck varieties of garlic are the ones which are most commonly found in supermarkets. The hardneck varieties have a rigid stem, called a scape, that coils from the top of the garlic and has bulbils growing from it. Bulbils look like mini bulbs and can be cut off the top of the garlic and eaten or replanted.

The three varieties of garlic being planted are German Extra Hardy, Siberian, and Chrysalis Purple. A total of 65 pounds of seed garlic will be planted and if all goes well, we should have a total yield of 300-350 pounds of garlic around mid-July. The garlic will then go through a curing process of about 3 weeks.

North of Cottage field planted with garlic seed.
There will be four 100-foot rows of each garlic variety.

Lettuce!

The first bed that was planted with the fall lettuce mix in early September produced its first harvest this week. You can buy some at the Gore Place farm stand, yum!

Lettuce 10.2.09

The second lettuce garden bed was planted two weeks later. Since the weather has gotten cooler, Scott built a greenhouse over the lettuce to keep the plants warm. The incoming heat from the sun warms the plants and soil inside the structure faster than heat can escape. We can extend the growing season a bit more this way.

Lettuce garden bed #2 9.25.09

Lettuce greenhouse 10.2.09

Inside the lettuce greenhouse 10.2.09

At the farm stand this week

Ring of Fire hot peppers

Sugar Pumpkins

Kale

Waltham Butternut Squash

Waltham Butternut Squash

At the end of May and early June, Scott planted Waltham Butternut Squash in the back field. During the first week of September, he began to harvest the squash, and is still harvesting the vegetables. The Boston Area Gleaners also come to Gore Place to pick and collect the butternut squash, delivering them to food pantries and shelters. Scott has estimated that about 2400 pounds of produce will have been harvested by the end of the season.

The Waltham Butternut squash field on August 6, 2009

Waltham Butternut Squash was developed at the Waltham Field Station in 1972. It is a popular winter squash, with pale yellow skin and a slightly sweet-tasting orange flesh. It is called a winter squash because of its thick skin and long shelf life. In the past, people would store this squash, knowing that they could eat it well into the winter months.

Waltham Butternut squash growing on September 1, 2009

Come visit the Gore Place farmstand for some Waltham Butternut squash!

Update on the farm

The weather has been getting cooler, but did you know you could still be growing and planting vegetables?
The fall crop of chard and radishes that were planted just over two weeks ago are thriving. Scott is removing the tomato plants from the garden bed, and replanting the bed with a fall lettuce mix. And the Waltham Butternut squash will be harvested for the next few weeks.

Red Meat Radish and Daikon Radish

The first Waltham Butternut Squash harvest of the year

And now for some fun garden photos:

Eggplant flower

Ring of Fire peppers

Purple Top Turnip in the ground

Purple Top Turnips for sale

North of Cottage Field update

The north of cottage field began producing vegetables last week. The mustard greens and late-season green beans that were planted six weeks ago have been nicely growing. The first harvest was sold last week at Scott's new farm stand, with more produce available this week.

Delicious green beans

Mustard greens

The unplanted area of the north of cottage field has been cultivated and covered with compost. Cultivating means an inch or so of the topsoil is loosened up and turned over in order to prepare the land to grow crops.

Changing seasons

As seasons and the weather change, the farmer or gardener adapts and changes as well. The raised bed that was so lush with different vegetables was recently full of dried leaves and dying plants. Scott cleaned almost everything out and planted it with a fall crop this week. He planted the seeds of Rhubarb Red Swiss Chard, Red Meat Radish, and Daikon Radish.

Ready for clean-up 8.12.09

Planted with fall crop (the plant left standing is lemongrass)

Now you can eat veggies grown at Gore Place!

Many types of vegetables have been growing in the raised garden beds. Whenever the vegetables are ripe, Scott brings them into the office and we all take them home to enjoy (after I take some photos of them). It's been a delicious experience and now our visitors can get a taste of the freshly-picked produce!

Scott has created a self-serve honor-pay vegetable stand near the farm cottage. Presently, the selection is limited and the hours are not set. As produce is available, he'll place it at the stand for sale and put up a sign on Waltham Street at the South Gate. Drop by on your next visit and see what's available!

The new vegetable stand is located to the right of the farm cottage drive

Orange veggies

This Boston Marrow squash, weighing 14 pounds, was picked from the back field. Scott is going to cure it for a few days, then cook it.

The Dragon carrots, being grown in the raised beds, are ready for harvest and taste delicious! They don't taste as sweet as most carrots you might be used to, but still delicious.

Sliced Dragon carrot

More on the Back Field

The field of Boston Marrow Squash has been doing well and should be ready for harvest later this week.

A couple of Boston Marrow squash vegetables.

This summer cover crop of buckwheat has been cultivated, and the field recently reseeded with oats. These cover crops, which are a method of sustainable agriculture, improve the quality of the soil and keep weeds from overtaking the field.

Harvesting the back field

Last week, the Boston Area Gleaners picked over a hundred pounds of beans and delivered them to Rosie's Place in Boston. They will return again this week for more beans and some cabbage.

North of Cottage

The crop field north of the farmer's cottage

In June, Scott began to establish a new row crop field in the animal enclosure. As it is located north of his cottage, he began to call it the North of Cottage field. He spread compost over the area to enrich the soil, then in mid-July planted a summer cover crop of oats.

Last week, the north of cottage field was planted with late-season green beans (which may not work), and seeded mustard greens and collard greens. Scott is now trying to locate some kale transplants. Where can he find them?

The Back Field

The "back field" is the area of land behind the animal enclosures, behind the trees. In the fall it had been planted with winter rye, which suppresses spring weed growth and adds organic matter to the soil.

In May, while Scott was building the raised garden beds, he also was preparing the back field for planting. He applied a layer of compost and cultivated an 8,000 square foot area of soil. On May 25, he planted 4 rows of Boston Marrow Winter squash, a variety that was obtained from Native Americans in New York state and brought to Salem, MA in 1831. He also planted 4 rows of Waltham Butternut Squash, a variety developed at Waltham Field station in 1972.

In June, Scott planted 2 rows of bush beans (Provider variety), plowed the section of the field that was previously planted with winter rye, and seeded it with a summer cover crop of buckwheat. He mechanically and hand cultivated for weed control.

Scott began the month of July by cultivating a new area of the field to be used during next year's growing season. He planted it with a summer cover crop of buckwheat. As of this week, the Waltham Butternut squash and Boston Marrow Winter squash are doing well, with the winter squash in flower. The first planting of beans should be ready for harvest next week, though the second and third plantings of beans are not doing as well. The first planting of buckwheat cover crop is in full bloom! (Photos to come when the weather clears up.)

Harvest on July 13

The cabbage, zucchini, cauliflower and turnips are ready for harvest. These are the first of the ripe vegetables.

The tomato plants that were planted on May 18 are growing nicely and have some green tomato fruits hanging on the vines.

Yellow Gooseberry

Speckled Roman Paste

Oxheart

Black from Tula

Time to make some tabbouleh

The parsley has been harvested and is sure to be delicious! The plants were set in the raised bed on May 25 and grew for 6 weeks before being harvested by Scott.

Parsley plants in the raised bed on May 26

Parsley plants on June 8

Parsley plants on June 29

Second harvest

Swiss chard, arugula, and some radishes were harvested today. Yum!

Arugula in the garden on June 23

Harvested arugula on June 29

Radishes in the garden on June 23

Harvested radishes on June 29

cute little radish

The Sensory Garden

The sensory garden bed was primarily designed for your sense of touch and sense of smell. It was planted with several varieties of thyme, sage, rosemary, and scented geraniums. It also has fennel, sweet mace, lemon balm, lambs ear, anise hyssop, and curry. These plants are all meant to be touched and smelled.

Come to Gore Place and enjoy the garden yourself! You'll have a great time smelling all the amazing herbs and feeling all the different textures. Gently rub a leaf of each plant with your fingers, then smell the aroma on your hand.

See how much the plants in the sensory garden have grown since they were planted on May 18.

Left and right sides of the sensory garden on May 18

Left and right sides of the sensory garden on May 26

Left and right sides of the sensory garden on June 8

Left and right sides of the sensory garden on June 15

Left and right sides of the sensory garden on June 23

The back side of the sensory garden on June 23