PHS Community Gardens growing food for those in need

ByWendy Daughenbaugh WPVI logo
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
PHS Community Gardens growing food for those in need
COVID-19 has created a surge in people growing their own food. PHS has created a system to help fill the need.

Spring planting season is here and the interest this year is greater than ever.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there's a surge in people looking to grow their own food.

The PHS Community Gardening program supports hundreds of neighborhood gardens that grow items for local food pantries.

Through a partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Prisons and Temple University, the seedlings are started at the Philadelphia Prisons Department by inmates training in careers in horticulture upon release. The seedlings then go to the greenhouses at Awbury Arboretum and Bartram's Garden for distribution to the community.

Normally, garden volunteers pick up their seedlings. But this year, PHS set up a contact-less drop-off system. PHS is suggesting that private gardeners who have the space and means consider growing a little extra this year, to help their neighbors in need.

PHS | Community Gardens