Originally published August 30 2005
Atlanta gardeners grow veggies for charity
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Master gardeners in Atlanta are currently involved in a "Plant a Row for the Hungry" charitable vegetable donation competition, in which the gardeners compete for small cash prizes for the most vegetables donated to charities to help feed the poor.
He and his cohorts are Fayette County Master Gardeners, who five years ago started a garden in the heart of Fayetteville dedicated to Plant a Row for the Hungry.
The Fayette gardeners, who harvest about 2,000 pounds a year, help feed clients served by a metro Atlanta campaign sponsored by the Atlanta Community Food Bank and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This fall, they could be in line for a lot more seed money; the AJC is offering two cash prizes as incentives for participating: $250 to an individual or household and $250 to an organization that donates the most vegetables --- in weight --- throughout the campaign.
Like other gardeners, the group is feeling the fallout of so much rain, such as tomato wilt and fewer squash, Braender says.
So to compensate, the Master Gardeners have been planting second crops of many vegetables with a fall harvest in mind.
"We also keep the garden going pretty much year- round, with cool-weather crops like turnips, mustards, collard greens," he says.
And being Master Gardeners, the volunteers know how critical good soil is to vegetable production.
Their 200-foot-by-100-foot garden is on a sandy site owned by Fayette County, which once planned a parking lot there.
So the 15 to 20 volunteers, who show up two days a week to garden, are constantly amending the soil with torn bags of compost donated by Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart.
Because the garden is located near the town square just behind the historic Hollingsworth House, it has high visibility.
It's the feedback they get from donating nutritional food to a battered women's shelter, a senior citizens group and a youth protection home that keeps them picking and weeding.
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