If you’re like me, you have big plans for your garden this season. You may be adding a few different varieties of tomato plants or maybe you’re trying succession planting for the first time. Whatever you have in mind, you may find that your cup runneth over with vegetables or fruit. And if it doesn’t, would you consider encouraging it to do so?

Let me throw a statistic out there:

“33 million people including 13 million children live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents 1 in 10 households in the United States.”*  And this was in 2007.

As you plant your vegetable garden this spring, it would help so many other people if you could grow just a few extra plants. We’re all in different financial situations. But if you’re one of the lucky ones who’ll be able to plant a garden, there are many families that could use the fresh produce that overwhelms your garden this year.

The Garden Writer’s Association Foundation has a campaign called “Plant a Row For the Hungry” which is such a terrific project that I’m hoping you’ll wander on over there and take a peek. I think you’ll be as impressed as I am with the program. It’s such an easy thing to do – really no extra work to speak of other than getting your fresh vegetables or fruit to the local food bank as it ripens.

When you participate in Plant a Row for the Hungry, it encourages neighbors and friends to join in as well, which really makes a difference for people living in your community. Get your kids involved with Plant a Row this season and make sharing your good fortune a life-long practice.

For more information go to Plant a Row for the Hungry.

*Household Food Security in the United States, 2007 (USDA)

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