Garden club producing for Plant a Row

Peppers, yellow squash, green beans and zucchini are veggies with a purpose.

It's not enough that the rows of vegetables thrive under the care of the Hoffman Estates Garden Club. The plants need to produce results: Food pantry clients are depending on them.

Garden club members are caring for a plot at Sunderlage Farm. And they're giving everything they grow to Plant a Row for the Hungry.

Therefore, no veggie slackers allowed.

"I think it's a wonderful idea - to be able to (plant a garden) and think that you're helping people," said Mary Garvey, a club member who's working in the garden this summer.

Garden club members decided this spring that they wanted to do something that made a difference in the lives of others. Plant a Row fit the bill.

The campaign, which is co-sponsored locally by the Daily Herald and Northern Illinois Food Bank, urges gardeners to plant a little extra in their gardens and donate any surplus to area food pantries and soup kitchens. It's part of a nationwide program promoted by the Garden Writers Association.

"We just thought it was time to reach out to the community," explained Oli Shelkey, the club's president.

They started out by designating four teams, with each responsible for the 14-square-foot garden one week a month. No one person gets overburdened that way, and more people can get involved.

Garvey, for example, no longer maintains a vegetable garden at home, so this is a way for her to dip back into that facet of her hobby.

Early in the project, club member Joe Celoskey researched what sorts of vegetables are most wanted by the pantries because of their longer shelf life, and the result is a lineup of green peppers, eggplant, cabbage, yellow squash, zucchini, radishes and green beans.

To make sure each team knows what the group before them faced and conquered, members pass a log book from one leader to the next each week. In the book, they record who visits, what they do, how the garden looks and when vegetables ripen so they have a guide for following seasons.

"This is kind of a trial-and-error year," Shelkey said.

That doesn't mean they're settling for anything less than their best effort. In fact, Celoskey said, they're already eyeing a vacant plot adjacent to theirs and pondering whether squatter's rights would allow them to plant a second crop of beans.