Harvest Community Garden (HCG) is a nonprofit organization that enables people from the community to come together to grow produce organically and donate half of it to a local food pantry. The garden is a member of Community Gardens of Carrollton (501c3) and is a partner of the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB).

HCG is located on the south side of Redeemer Covenant Church’s property at 1518 E Frankford Rd, Carrollton, TX.

There are 24 raised beds (20’ x 4’), and members of the community can adopt a whole or a half plot for a year.  The garden also has an asparagus bed, blackberries, a pollinator garden, and a xeriscape garden which volunteers can help care for.

The Board: Stan Basnett (Chair); Cindy Baxley (Community Gardens of Carrollton); 3 community members – Linda Lee, Kim Lester, & Steven Pliler; and 2 Redeemer members – Sean Flynn & Dennis Carlson.
We had 16 gardeners with 22.5 plots adopted this year. (Plots that were not adopted were planted and tended by some of our gardeners.)  Sadly, one gardener moved mid-year and another very unexpected died in September. We had 3 new gardeners join us mid-year and had a happy addition with the birth of Sarah’s baby.

In 2022 we donated 2,001 pounds to Metrocrest Services’ food pantry, including tomatoes, peppers, peas, leafy greens, herbs, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, carrots, potatoes, beans, melons, radishes, celery, and many other things.

2023 activities & accomplishments:

  • HCG continued as a partner garden with the North Texas Food Bank. We met with Emily from Jan’s Garden, visited some of the other partner gardens, and received gardening supplies like compost, irrigation, seedlings, and hand tools from them.
  • A very hot drought during the summer caused damage to the rabbit fence and gate and broke the irrigation line to the garden. Redeemer’s landscaper, Hugo, fixed the irrigation and the UTD students fixed the fence.
  • UTD student volunteers came out 4 times in the spring and 4 times in the fall. They spread mulch, repaired fences, trimmed berries, cleaned up and planted beds, cleaned the shed, and installed PVC frames on all the beds.
  • In June Linda obtained a $500 grant for us.* We also had a $40 donation and a $1500 donation in December.
  • Stan & Kim represented HCG at the Annual Citizens Evening Event.
  • We provided seeds and seedlings in the spring and the fall for gardeners. We also provided a load of compost twice.
  • We provided coffee or treats several mornings throughout the year so gardeners could relax, get to know each other, and share gardening tips.
  • Even though our owl houses have not yet attracted an owl, we didn’t have much of a rat problem this year, thanks to traps from Have Pesticides Will Travel.
  • UTD students installed the posts that will be used to install the mosaic sign that Karen is working on.

*Special thanks: to Kim Lester for coordinating all the volunteers, to Steven Pliler for organizing the harvest roster all year, and to Linda Lee for procuring the grant from Slow Food, DFW!

www.facebook.com/harvestcommunitygarden

Email Stan at slbasnett@verizon.net