Plant a Row a perfect place for extra produce

A farm girl at heart, Karen Belt loathes seeing vegetables rotting on the vine.

Food is too important to waste.

"That''s the way you survived on a farm was to plant these things," the South Elgin gardener said.

Because she grew up on a farm, Belt is on a mission to make converts out of gardeners who simply don''t have the time to maintain their plots at the village''s community garden on a regular basis.

"I''m always out there faithfully picking vegetables, and I noticed there were people out there who were not picking," the retiree said.

When she sees other people working with their plants, she gives them a heads-up about Plant a Row for the Hungry, the program that encourages gardeners to plant a little extra and donate the surplus to area food pantries.

Belt even volunteers to take on the delivery task for them, explaining that "if they''ve got any extra produce, let me know, I''ll pick it and I''ll take it to the pantry," she said.

Her intended destination is Northern Illinois Food Bank in St. Charles, which co-sponsors the local Plant a Row program that is promoted nationally by the Garden Writers Association.

In addition to her mission of redeeming underappreciated produce, Belt asked for and was granted an extra garden plot to dedicate solely to Plant a Row.

"My first priority was to plant potatoes because they''re a staple. And a row of onions," she said. To that mix she added red, yellow and green peppers, sweet potatoes and cabbages.

"It''s all crammed into this little spot," she said.

That produce goes directly to Plant A Row. Belt just figured that as long as she''s enjoying the summer''s harvest, it wasn''t that much work to help ensure that other people could enjoy it, too.

"Even if I can overall deliver a couple of bushels (to the food pantry), it''s a couple more that they didn''t have," she said, "and it''s a couple more families that will be fed."