May/June 2000 Living Now
Harvest For the Hungry
by Shannon Dwyer
Turn
your mini harvest into a mega harvest and give the surplus to the
hungry. It's not too late to join the Plant A Row for the Hungry
campaign, according to the Garden Writers Association of America.
With a little patience you can double what you take from your garden
now, and later this season, and have plenty to give to a local food
bank.
Plant A Row for the Hungry is a national people-helping-people
project launched this spring by GWAA. Its aim is to enlist the nation's
78 million gardeners in helping to feed the hungry by donating fresh
produce to area food banks.
Here's what you can do right now to increase your harvest and have
surplus to give.
Wait - and harvest more. Let your crops go - and grow! Pick four-inch
bean babies for your own table, and let a give-away portion of the
crop mature to seven and eight inches. Too many tomatoes is what
happens when you let the plants sucker; they'll slow the crop a
bit but yield lots later. You'll have loads of extra cucumbers,
zucchini and squash if you allow the plants to mature to 10-inch
vegetables instead of harvesting four and five inchers. Ditto the
root vegetables, and much else. Don't allow fruit to rot on the
ground - bag it and take it where it will do some good!
To sustain the extra growth, scratch a little compost, or fertilizer,
into the soil beside the plants designated for in- creased yields
and PAR giving.
To have produce to give later, start seeds of the cool-weather
vegetables now. Some of those have time to mature here - the lettuces
including mache, arugula, and mescun mixes; radishes, as well as
carrots, parsnips, turnips and the cabbage group including kale
and broccoli.
A few apples or oranges,, a sack of tomatoes or a handful of cucumbers
may not seem like much, but when the gardeners in a community get
going, they can deliver big time! In a single month in San Jose,
Texas, the donations of gardeners responding to Plant a Row appeals
amounted to 6,500 pounds of citrus fruits!
Who needs the little, or lot you've got to give? Here's a list
of local centers that provide food to the hungry in our area:
Oregon Food Bank - 503-282 0555
Neighborhood House - 503-246 1663: W & Th 1-4pm
Life Center - 284 6878: 9-11am, 1-3pm
St Vincent de Paul - 503-235 8431, 503-282 6405: M-F 10-12 & 1-4
Salvation Army - 503-239 1226: M-F 9-11 & 1-3
SNOW-CAP - 503-674 878: M-F 10-2 & 6-8; and 503-667 4300: M-F 10-1.30.
We Care - 503-287 5796: M: 10-12
William Temple House - 503-226 3021: M-F 10-4, M 5-8pm
For more information of how to begin PAR, call Shannon Dwyer,
503-658-8231
Garden Writers Association of America
10210 Leatherleaf Court, Manassas VA 22111; Tel 703 257 0213