Hugelkultur Pot Garden at the Good Samaritans Survived the winter and is still producing.  This week we will bring a tomato plant and some summer spinach to freshen it up.  Last fall members of Loving Garland Green made some hugelkultur pots and planted kale and pansies (for a winter flower).  Hugelkultur pots are modeled after the larger garden plots:  rotten wood and organic matter are placed in the bottom of the pot.  Then garden soil is placed on top of that and the plants are installed.  This arrangement means that you don't have to water very often, if at all. The rotten wood holds the moisture from the rain and also slowly releases nutrients as the wood continues to rot.

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This morning I went down to the garden and picked six pounds of blackberries along with about 15 one-gallon bags of greens.  The total poundage was nine pounds. (Greens don't weigh much.)

When Charlie and I delivered them to the Good Samaritans, the response from the staff and Director Pam Swendig was as gracious as if we had delivered a truckload full of produce. Often, as I've said before, people withhold gifts from embarrassment that the gift might be too small or not good enough.  We shouldn't do this.  Yet I know that I do from time to time.  Even today I found myself thinking:  "Eight 8-ounce bags of blackberries and one two-pound bag for the volunteers to munch on, that's not much. Maybe I shouldn't bring them."  But then I started thinking in terms of the individual and came to a better conclusion. Thanks to our donation, eight people will each get a half pound of fresh blackberries.  Twelve people will get a bag of fresh kale and numerous others will have mint and lemon balm for making tea.  No, we are not feeding multitudes, but we are feeding some.  I'm thinking that if everyone shared just a little of what they have, no one would go hungry in their community.

While we were there I looked at the hugelkultur pots we made and donated last fall.  I'm happy to report the kale is still alive, although one pot has gone to seed which is to be expected as Kale tends to bolt in hot weather.  I told Pam that we would bring her a tomato plant later this week for their hugelkultur pot garden.  The pansies we brought last fall, also in hugelkultur pots, are like  most pansies all over the DFW area--still alive and well.  Some folks are getting downright impatient with their longevity this year.  Normally, by this time the pansies are dead and gone and have long been replaced my more heat tolerant annuals such as zinnias.