Kick off the season of gardening — and giving

TheresaMcManus tmcmanus@newwestrecord ca

There will be gardening giveaways galore at the launch of this year’s Plant a Row-Grow a Row program.

Each summer, the Plant a Row-Grow a Row program collects fresh produce and donations for two local charities. In celebration of this year’s program, it’s giving away all kinds of goodies at a drive-thru event on Sunday, April 30 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the St.Thomas More Collegiate parking lot at 7450 12th Ave., just across the border in Burnaby.

Attendees will simply drive into the school parking lot, keep to the right and then pull up to the curbside next to the gym, where volunteers will be giving out vegetable transplants, seeds to grow in the garden and much more.

Claude LeDoux, who founded the local program, said there will be some “amazing” giveaways at this year’s launch event

Seeds and seedlings, garden décor, planter boxes, containers, potting soil and other great gardening items have been donated by Brian Minter, the Compost Council of Canada, GardenWorks, Premium Society, LeDoux, volunteers and local horticultural suppliers Items will be distributed on a first-come first- served basis.

“Bring the children.There are always special presents for the children coming through the drive-thru event,” he said. “We want to make sure that we are building our future gardeners and nature lovers.We are trying to get them to come and join the parents in the event.”

LeDoux said there’s been an increased interest in growing vegetables since the beginning of the pandemic Rising grocery prices have also contributed to the increased interest in gardening

“It’s become popular,” he said “People are learning that it is not difficult, and ‘I can do this ’”

Gardening information, such as what to plant and how to maintain it, is available from seed suppliers and local garden centres, as well as onYouTube, LeDoux noted

Helping Hands

At the drive-thru event, Plant A Row-Grow a Row volunteers will be collecting donations of non-perishable food items for Ryan’s Rainbow Emergency Food Outreach in Burnaby and the Union Gospel Mission in NewWest Cash donations are also accepted

Starting June 11, volunteers will be collecting fresh and nonperishable food donations every Sunday morning from 8:30 to 9:15 a m at the front entrance to

STM Collegiate.

“We had 2,500 pounds of homegrown produce last year,” LeDoux said. “That’s just people coming on Sunday.They come and drop off.”

Some folks bring a little handful of veggies, while others bring more.The donations are split between the two organizations, who are grateful for the support.

“They are thrilled,” LeDoux said. “UGM is using it for cooking, and also to teach in Dan’s Legacy they use it for their (cooking) students to learn.That is working beautifully. Ryan’s Rainbow, they put it in the boxes that are given to families.”

Some folks also bring non-perishable food items and cash donations to the Sunday morning collection events. Others have brought items like socks that get donated to the local nonprofits.

“We thank them so much for their support.We really appreciate this,” LeDoux said. “The people in the community are always thanking us – it’s really about who supported us that really needs to be thanked.”

LeDoux is thrilled to see that a new Plant a Row For Us program is being launched this spring in Chilliwack, in support of the Salvation Army’s food bank program in that community. He’ll be one of the speakers at that program’s kickoff event.

GARDENER

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