With roots stemming from the Gleaning Program in 1997, our Raised Bed Garden Program was adopted by the Food Bank in 2009 with six partner garden sites. The program has since grown to over 100 gardens hosted at schools, food cupboards and social service agencies. Our partners collectively grow 40,000 pounds of vegetables annually for our network of food cupboards and meal sites. We are grateful for all the volunteers and garden coordinators who tend the gardens from planting to harvest!

Become a Partner Garden

The Raised Bed Garden Program aims to increase availability of fresh produce for food insecure households by

• supporting garden installations at partner organizations
• providing community education on growing your own food
• fostering community around food and gardening

Partners maintain the gardens, utilize produce for onsite programs, and donate excess produce to their local food cupboard. Organizations that directly engage food insecure households are encouraged to apply. See program overview here.

Seed to Supper

The Seed to Supper curriculum, available in English and Spanish (Siembra la Cena), is a 6-week course (2-hours per week) that covers: garden planning, building healthy soil, caring for the garden and harvesting/using your bounty. Classes are led by teams of 2 facilitators and are taught both indoors and outdoors with hands-on activities for 8-15 adult participants. We are seeking passionate volunteers to facilitate Seed to Supper classes in English, as well as individuals who can teach classes in Spanish. View details here.

Grow with Us

Volunteer opportunities in the gardens are available April – October.

We welcome home gardeners to grow and donate produce to your local food cupboard. Please review our best practices for harvesting and donating produce. Please only donate quality produce you would eating yourself. Avoid donating bruised. or overly mature veggies – no giant zucchini please!

Check Out Our Gardening Resources

• Container Gardening (Cultivando en contenedores)
• How to build a 3 x 8 foot raised bed
• Starting a vegetable garden (comenzando un jardín de vegetales)
• Community Garden Start-Up Toolkit
• Tutorial videos for planting and harvesting vegetable crops
• Sample planting plans for three-season gardening: spring, summer, fall
  • Plan 1: Radish & Peas, Lettuce & Pole Beans, Beets
  • Plan 2: Spinach, Squash, Scallions
  • Plan 3: Radish, Eggplant, Beets
  • Plan 4: Broccoli/Cabbage, Bush Beans, Lettuce
  • Plan 5: Beets, Cucumbers & Bush Beans, Radish
  • Plan 6: Potato, Kale/Collards
  • Plan 7: Lettuce, Peppers, Spinach
  • Plan 8: Spinach, Tomato, Salad Turnips

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and tag your garden photos with #GetGrowingChesterCounty