The successful A Lot To Grow garden across from Mountainside Hospital has donated hundreds of pounds of organic vegetables and herbs to local soup kitchens and food pantries in its first year, according to Patrice Kelly, who runs the program. But now it is looking for more space.

Montclair State University has expressed interest in having a garden to be maintained by students and Kelly hopes there are other businesses in the area that have empty space they'd like to donate to the project as well.

"If we can get people in different parts of the community (involved), and bring vegetables to the food pantries, it would be great," Kelly said on a sunny day in the garden. She had just overseen a group of student volunteers who cleaned beds, harvested eggplants, and built a scarecrow.

The 16 beds in the garden are still producing edible flowers, herbs, and vegetables and being readied for cold frames as cooler weather approaches. None of this existed a year ago. Kelly, a native of the Detroit area, became interested in community gardens on empty plots of land after visiting her aging parents last winter.

When she got back to New Jersey, she noticed how, even in January, the empty lot across from Mountainside Hospital was soaked in full sun. At an event for Pantry Partners, Kelly approached Mountainside Health Foundation's Pam Scott about using the land for a community garden, and she agreed to help. The land is owned by the hospital, which agreed to let A Lot to Grow plant beds there until it needs the land for its own use, according to sources.

Pantry Partners is a program of the United Way of North Essex that is funded by the Mountainside Health Foundation. It works to bring social services information and nutrition information to underserved communities through soup kitchens and food pantries, according to Eileen Sweeny, resource coordinator for  Pantry Partners, United Way of North Essex.

"Pantry Partners is a facilitator to help Patrice and her volunteers get the vegetables to the food pantries and soup kitchens," Sweeny said. This year donations went to Toni's Kitchen, The Soup Kitchen at the First Seventh-day Adventist Church of Montclair, Salvation Army Soup Kitchen, and the Human Needs Food Pantry in Montclair.

Kelly planted A Lot to Grow with a wish list of needs from the pantries and soup kitchens. This year the garden grew tomatoes, peppers, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers, potatoes, radishes, onions, eggplants, and herbs—all organically.

Kelly sees the garden as a chance to get different generations together, friends who might meet for coffee could instead get in a good chat while helping out at the garden. She even saw a giant doe near the garden at 5:30 a.m. one summer morning. Because of the heat this summer, much of the work on the garden and in the garden was done very early.

She asked for help with the project wherever she could find it, including the plumber working on her house. She needed a watering system for the beds and Heyrich Plumbing and Heating in Montclair donated the time and services to put one in. That is just one of a score of local businesses and donations that have jumped in to help A Lot to Grow.