I am writing this article after another busy work night at Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative’s pantry garden.

Tonight, we picked a bucket of string beans and several tomatoes. We then planted about 100 onion plants and approximately 30 parsley plants. I picked up the onion plants this morning from The Seed Farm in Vera Cruz.

Sam, from The Seed Farm, told me that if we planted them today, we should be picking scallions for our guests in six weeks. The parsley also came from The Seed Farm last week. In addition to the parsley, we planted several varieties of cold tolerant greens, cabbage and broccoli.

We should be able pick and pack greens for our food distributions in October. The cabbage and broccoli will take a little longer.

Last week, we planted a variety of herb plants also obtained from The Seed Farm. We cut, packed and distributed dill to pantry guests.

During the last two weeks, we repotted some basil plants from The Seed Farm and made them available to our guests at the pantry to grow on their windowsills. The take-home plants were so popular we ran out quickly. Our basil plant giveaway has gotten the attention of The Seed Farm and Second Harvest Food Bank. Next year will reveal how they will grow our success.

I want to thank all our community gardeners who have shared their bounty with us. Thanks to all of you, 344.59 pounds of produce to date have been collected and shared with our WCHI guests and with other, local food pantries through Plant-A-Row.

Remember, if you have extra garden produce or herbs you can share, drop them off at RE/MAX Unlimited Real Estate, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Place items on the table on the right side of the vestibule. You may also call or text 610-379-6823 to make other arrangements for drop off or pick up. No amount is too large or too small.

Here is our year-to-date garden bounty: 373 zucchini, 225 yellow squash, 24 bags of radishes, 221 tomatoes, 179 peppers, 16 bags of red beets, 75 eggplants, two tote bags of parsley, 36 ears of corn, 11 bags of dill and nine bags of string beans.

In my very first pantry garden article, I wrote the worst day for me, as a gardener, is putting the garden to bed just before the first frost. As the amount of daylight hours get shorter, I am reminded the time for frost is near.

It seems like just last month I couldn’t wait for that first tomato to ripen, but now, at times, I am overwhelmed with tomatoes that are cracked or have been nibbled by a critter or slug and must be tended to.

By now, you have frozen tomato sauce; stuffed peppers and string beans and shared your bounty with family, friends and neighbors. Perhaps you have tried a new recipe, canned red beets or made hot sauce with your garden’s bounty. These are the memories that will hopefully sustain you through the coming winter.

Enjoy the final weeks of your summer garden. If you are extending your garden with cool weather vegetables, I wish you a bounteous fall!

Editor’s note: This piece was written by Gwen Herzog, Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative vegetable garden chair.