As part of your garden this year, plant and grow an extra row of veggies and donate the harvest to your local food bank.
Work is well underway at George Pegg Botanic Garden preparing for the summer season, including work in our own vegetable garden. The Garden maintains the original homestead of the Pegg family as a reminder of how life was in the early twentieth century. The vegetable garden serves to educate visitors about its importance to homesteaders’ lives. It also produces delicious vegetables, a portion of which are donated to local food banks, in participation with the “Plant-A-Row, Share-A-Row” program.
The “Plant-A-Row, Share-A-Row” program began in 1986 in Winnipeg when Ron and Eunice O’Donovan decided to donate their excess potatoes to their local food bank. The program has spread across Canada, and while named differently and directed under various organizations, the goal remains the same across all of the country: help all those in need.
After a long winter and seemingly even longer time in isolation, what better way to spend time outside with your family than working together in your own vegetable garden? The “Plant-A-Row, Share-A-Row” website has a number of excellent resources to help you in planting a successful garden. Please visit https://www.growarow.org/ for useful information. Food banks recommend growing vegetables that last well without having to be refrigerated, such as potatoes and carrots. Many individuals in our community have lost jobs and are struggling to put food on the table for themselves and their families. By donating the extra vegetables you grow in your garden this year, you also help many individuals in need.
Watch out for updates on our vegetable garden and other happenings on George Pegg Botanic Garden’s website, Facebook, and Instagram! We look forward to the fall when we donate the produce from our vegetable garden to local food banks in Lac Ste. Anne County. We hope to see you there with your extra vegetables. Wishing you a bountiful garden!
Emily Fyfe
Garden Supervisor