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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Snyder shares her bounty with homeless

Gale Snyder picks beans and other vegetables from her garden to donate to the food pantry at the Northeast Community Center every week. Special to  (SUSAN MULVIHILL Special to / The Spokesman-Review)
Correspondent

Many of us are familiar with the Plant a Row for the Hungry program, in which gardeners are encouraged to plant an extra row of vegetables to donate to their local food bank.

But what about planting an extra garden for the hungry? That is exactly what Gale Snyder has done this year.

An avid gardener since age 13, Snyder has transformed much of her property in Northeast Spokane into two productive vegetable gardens after learning about the Plant a Row program.

“This blends my passion for gardening and my desire to give back to the community,” she said. “I planted the two gardens for diversity, so the donated food actually comes from both gardens.”

Snyder, who works in Gonzaga University’s teacher certification program, has been donating between 20 and 40 pounds of produce on a weekly basis to the food pantry at the Northeast Community Center. She has primarily donated green beans but will be sharing cucumbers, summer and winter squash, potatoes and tomatoes as those crops are harvested.

She is growing all heirloom varieties this year and started everything from seed. The seeds came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Park Seeds and the Seed Savers Exchange.

“I spent $180 on seeds this year so I’m saving my seeds from now on,” Snyder says.

In addition to the above vegetables, she is also growing shelling beans, beets, cabbage, corn, snow peas, peppers and herbs.

Everything is being grown organically. Snyder uses straw between the plants to conserve water and has shaded the crops that don’t like the summer heat with wood-framed black screens that she found at the Habitat for Humanity store for a dollar apiece.

Her favorite garden books are “Carrots Love Tomatoes” by Louise Riotte (Storey Publishing, 220 pages, $14.95) for tips on companion planting, and Carla Emery’s “Encyclopedia of Country Living” (Sasquatch Books, 928 pages, $29.95).

Snyder also was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” (Harper Collins, 370 pages, $26.95).

“It made me look at where our food is coming from,” she says. “I decided to find everything locally by going to farmers markets and dealing with local producers.”

Snyder has had a few minor problems to contend with this season.

“Watering has been a real challenge – knowing which plants like overhead watering and which ones want drip irrigation,” she says. “Proper spacing has been a challenge as well because I didn’t have enough space for a lot of the vegetables.

“It’s also been challenging to trust the heirloom seeds because some of the plants don’t look normal to me. I decided I should just let them do their thing and see what happens.”

Snyder encourages other gardeners to share their extra produce with area food pantries.

“It doesn’t matter what you plant,” she says. “Anything you can plant that you can share with others will benefit you in return.

“It can be any size garden. Instead of growing an extra row, it can be an extra container. This is a way to support your community and it’s a way to give locally.

“Even though gardening has become a full-time job for me this summer, it’s truly been a labor of love.”

Susan Mulvihill can be reached via e-mail at inthegarden@live.com.