Helping Our Community with Plant A Row
2026 Schedule
Get involved in your community by participating in Plant A Row with PCL! Whether you have a green thumb or are new to gardening, Plant A Row is an excellent opportunity to make a positive impact. Donating just one row of your garden or some produce can help provide nutritious food to those in need. It’s a simple way to give back, make a difference, and ensure everyone can access fresh, healthy food.
How to Help
Thank you for a fantastic season!
2026 Donation Schedule:
Wednesday, June 10 through Thursday, October 8
Parkland Community Library: 4422 Walbert Avenue, Allentown, Pennsylvania 18104.
Donations should be placed in the cooler in the library’s foyer on Wednesdays and on Thursdays, 9AM-7PM.
Benefits: Everlasting Life Ministries, Allentown.
- We accept all types of fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs. If you would not serve it, please do not donate it.
- Do not tie plastic bags shut. Trapped heat will spoil donations.
Tomato Instructions:
- Please keep tomatoes separate from other produce donations. Tomatoes produce a chemical that causes other fruit to ripen more quickly.
- Pick tomatoes before they are ripe.
- Store them in cardboard boxes or recycled containers to prevent bruising. Recycled boxes from online ordering work great!
This program encourages local backyard gardeners to donate one row in their existing gardens, along with the produce from that row, to local food pantries and free meal centers. There’s no fee or requirements; it’s just local gardeners growing and sharing to benefit our neighbors in the Lehigh Valley who may be in need.
No garden? We gladly accept produce purchased from farmers’ markets and grocery stores.
Participating is easy!
2. Dedicate one row of your garden to donate to the hungry.
3. At harvest time, drop your produce off at PCL.
About Plant A Row
Year End Review
The library performed well this season, collecting 394.09 pounds for Plant-A-Row, up from 334.46 pounds last year. To date, the program collected 17,203.73 pounds, compared with last year’s season total of 16,559.29. We still expect additional donations.
The raised beds were less successful due to problems with voles and squash beetles. We have collected 341.6 pounds so far, and still have peppers, green beans, eggplant, squash, and tomatoes to harvest. We estimate that we may collect an additional 30 pounds. Last year, we collected 706.41 pounds.
Project leader Gail is overhauling the planters this year. Beds will be emptied, fitted with vole-preventative mesh, and refilled.
2025
334.46 pounds were collected from PCL! The total from six area libraries is 2,172.85 pounds!
2024
223.88 lbs.
We want to acknowledge Karen F. of the Parkland Garden Club’s dedication to overseeing the project, helping our community, and bringing the weekly collections to Everlasting Life Ministries Food Pantry in Allentown.
2023 Total:
119.7 lbs.
History
Plant a Row Lehigh Valley is the chapter of the national Plant a Row for the Hungry, operated by GardenComm, and serves Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Since 1995, American gardeners have donated more than 20 million pounds of produce, providing over 80 million meals without government subsidies or bureaucratic obstacles—demonstrating the impact of people helping people.
Contact us with any questions!
PCL
Adult Services
610-398-1361 ext. 117
adults@parklandlibrary.org
Plant A Row
Lehigh Valley Chapter
610-530-7728
info@plantarowlv.org
Those looking for activities at PCL
Check out our programs for patrons of all ages!