KAYSVILLE — It takes a lot of volunteers to plant and cultivate the Food Pantry Garden at the Utah Botanical Gardens, but the volunteers keep coming and seem to enjoy weeding and harvesting the vegetables.
The garden, in its third year, has grown from one-third of an acre to over five acres, although this year it is smaller because of the wet spring weather.
“It is the first garden in Kaysville that gives all of its harvest to the food pantry,” said USU Extension Food Pantry Garden Volunteer Coordinator Robyn Knight. “We gave 36,000 pounds last year.”
According to Knight, they worked with the food pantry to find out what vegetables they would want.
“We don’t want to give them what they don’t need,” Knight said.
So the most popular vegetables were planted including tomatoes, corn, beans, peppers, melon, squash and cucumbers.
“They didn’t want zucchini because they get plenty of it,” said Knight.
There were a few problems planting because of the rain last year and again this year, she said. But this year they had help from Boy Scouts who helped to plant five beds. The tomatoes were started in the greenhouse while other vegetables were planted directly from seeds. The first planting got so wet the seeds were just mush, said Knight. But the second planting is doing well.
A special section of the garden is set aside for organically grown vegetables and also serves as a demonstration garden.
“This is strictly an organic bed,” Knight said as she pointed at the garden. “We use newspaper and straw as a weed barrier. It shades the soil so we don’t get weeds.”
No chemicals are used for weed control in the organic garden. And no pesticides are used.
After the harvest the plants, newspapers and straw are tilled into the ground as an additive to the soil.
One plot is a companion garden where tomatoes and basil are planted next to each other.
“The basil makes the tomatoes taste better,” Knight said.
Nasturtiums are planted near the squash to ward off bugs. And dill is planted with the cucumbers.
Soon there will be educational signs placed in the garden so visitors can view the garden and learn from it. Not only does the garden provide food for those who can’t afford to buy fresh vegetables but it provides the opportunity for the community to volunteer. And those with home gardens may also donate extras.
“If home gardeners have excess vegetables we can run them to the pantry with our loads,” Knight said.
Randy Clark gathers volunteers from his neighborhood and LDS Ward to work in one of the tomato gardens.
He said they do it “because the last three years it has been a great project. It brings a neighborhood together. Our local ward is adopting this plot of tomatoes. We harvested over 1,000 pounds of tomatoes last year.”
And this year he has already had volunteers in the tomatoes section, making sure there are no weeds taking over.
“People get real excited when they get to come harvest. They socialize and get their hands dirty together for a good cause,” Randy Clark said.
“You become good friends when you work hard with people,” said his wife, April Clark.
People have come to Randy Clark this year to find out when they can start working in the garden. According to Randy Clark, older volunteers remember when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had welfare farms and asked members to volunteer hours working on them. This experience of working at the Food Pantry Garden reminds them of that.
“Youth groups have a ton of fun. They work close and talk and joke,” said April Clark. “After they are here once, they want to come back.”
Weeding isn’t as much fun as harvesting the food when it matures.
“They are thrilled when they weigh them and see how many pounds they picked,” April Clark said.
She said it is nice to work in a garden that is not in your own backyard because there is no fretting over it.
“This is a stress-free garden,” she said. “And it is a real treat to deliver it to the food bank.”
Families, groups, Scouts or individuals are welcome to work in the garden on their own time and own schedule after a short orientation. A staff member will answer any questions.
Anyone who would like to volunteer in the garden may contact Knight at robyn.knight@usu.edu or by calling 801-544-3089.
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