July was a month of substantial growth, but we had great sadness at our Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative pantry garden.

The zucchini and pepper plants worked overtime to provide us with a bounty. More than 60 pounds of peppers and zucchini from our garden were shared during our July distributions.

Sadly, the groundhogs ate all our eggplants, many of which were ready to be picked.

We have begun a groundhog trapping program, but despite our best efforts, our culprits have eluded us. If anyone has other ideas on how we can capture these critters, or if you are willing to help us, give me a call at 610-379-6823. We’ve lost one important crop so far; we don’t want to lose more.

We have several other crops that are growing well but are not yet ready to be harvested. We have many green tomatoes on our vines, but no color has changed yet. We have at least six watermelons growing in two beds and have placed cradles underneath each to keep them off the ground. Tom’s corn plants have tasseled, and most are showing silk. Our winter squash plants are growing nicely, but no sign of fruit so far.

Hannah, from The Seed Farm, planted additional basil and parsley plants, which are still small. We were able to harvest some of our existing herbs for the pantry distribution July 11. We have a small number of chives and oregano that may be ready for August. Mint remains plentiful.

We used the resources of The Seed Farm to help us to diagnose what was eating the leaves of our pepper plants and sunflowers. The damage was consistent with finches, so we placed nylon mesh over our pepper plants to keep them out.

Our garden volunteers began to notice some of our small zucchini were turning yellow before they reached full maturity. The Seed Farm diagnosed this issue as a calcium deficiency in our soil and possibly not watering deeply enough. They recommended removing the affected zucchini, applying natural fertilizer, deep watering at the roots and mulching.

I mixed liquid fish fertilizer with water and applied it around each plant before watering heavily. Because we were also seeing some cucumber beetles, a small amount of vegetable dust was sprinkled on the soil. Each plant was mulched. This was completed July 16, and it seems to be working.

At our two July pantry distributions, we were fortunate to have Doria join us. She is a summer student intern at Second Harvest Food Bank. Doria offered our pantry guests basil plants to take home to grow on a windowsill or in their garden. She also shared samples of a tasty bruschetta salad, with the recipe to take home.

Consider purchasing your plants from The Seed Farm at the fall plant sale, scheduled for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 17 and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 18 at 5854 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus. Call 484-866-6076 for more information.

I don’t specifically know which plant varieties will be available for purchase, but the focus is on cold and frost-tolerant vegetables and herbs.

Did you know WCHI is a Lehigh Valley Plant-A-Row drop-off location? Any extra fruits and vegetables you grow may be left in the foyer at Shari Noctor’s Re/Max Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall. The office is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays.

All produce will be distributed, and nothing will go to waste.

Enjoy your summer!

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