The Morris County Master Gardeners partnered with a local food pantry to help clients grow their own fresh produce using self-watering containers. They constructed 32 five-gallon bucket systems and distributed them along with plants and instructions to 24 pantry clients. Eight additional containers were set up at the pantry as demonstrations. Of the 8 clients who completed a post-project survey, 100% said they would participate again and reported harvesting vegetables. The project aimed to make gardening easier for those with limited time, space or resources.

1. Helping Needy Families Grow Their Own Food
Using Self Watering Containers
Peter Nitzsche, Agricultural and Resource Management Agent
Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Morris County, Morristown, NJ, 07963
nitzsche@njaes.rutgers.edu
Abstract Materials & Methods
With difficult economic times, food banks and pantries have seen The Morris County Master Gardeners partnered with the Morris
increased need in local communities and would like to provide more County Interfaith Food Pantry to secure donations from local
fresh produce to clients. Teaching food pantry clients gardening hardware stores, farms, and garden centers for the project. The
may be a way to help supply them with fresh produce but the time Master Gardeners constructed 32 self-watering container systems
and space needed for a garden and the potential of lead in urban out of five gallon buckets (Figure 1.). The Master Gardeners also
soils may be issues. The Morris County Master Gardeners assisted in writing instructions on the assembly, care and
partnered with the Morris County Interfaith Food Pantry on a project maintenance of the system. A food pantry employee translated the
to provide their clients with an easier means to grow their own fresh instructions into Spanish for their Hispanic clients. The containers
produce. The partnership secured donations from local farms and along with potting mix, vegetable plants, and instructions were
garden centers to create self-watering container systems to grow distributed to 24 Food Pantry clients (Figure 2.). Eight containers
vegetables. The Master Gardeners constructed 32 containers and were setup at the pantry as a demonstration to all clients (Figures 3.
assisted in writing instructions on their care and maintenance. These & 4.). A survey was developed in both English and Spanish and
containers along with potting mix, vegetable plants, and instructions distributed to the food pantry clients at the end of the growing
were distributed to 24 Pantry clients. Eight containers were setup at season to help determine how successful they were in growing their
the Pantry as a demonstration to all clients. Of the 8 clients who own produce.
completed a survey at the end of the growing season 100% said Figure 4. Self-watering container demonstration at Food Pantry
they would do it again and wrote comments like "very fun" and "My
family and I liked it very much. Everybody worked together planting
and harvesting". While the majority of the respondents indicated it Results & Discussion
was their first gardening experience, most of them reported success
and having harvested and eaten at least some fresh vegetables. On the distribution day most of the clients were very receptive to
While more difficult to measure, the positive self esteem and hope obtaining the self-watering system and vegetable plant and the idea
expressed by clients while growing their plants and harvesting of growing their own food. The few clients who do not want to
vegetables made this project a success. participate mentioned that they would not be allowed to have the
system in the place where they lived. Eight of the 24 clients
Introduction completed the post project evaluation survey (Table 1.). All of the
respondents found the instructions clear and setup demonstrations
Gardening is one way food insecure people can help supplement helpful. Clear instructions were important because six of the
their diet with nutritious produce. Unfortunately, many poor people respondents had no prior gardening experience. Apparently
live in urban environments and may not have the space, time, watering through the PVC pipe was more difficult than expected so
energy or knowledge needed to grow a large garden. There can in the future providing clients with a funnel for the system might be
also be issues with lead and other contaminants in urban soils. Self- helpful. Clients were also asked “On average, how many vegetables
watering container systems may provide an easy means for food did your plant produce per week?” The responses ranged from 2 to
insecure people to grow vegetables and herbs. more than 15 per week which seems very high. This result may
mean clients were responding with a season long total and/or is
complicated by the fact that the clients took home several different
Objective
types of vegetables.
To evaluate the use of self-watering container systems as a means Table 1. Results from survey of food pantry clients
to assist food insecure families grow their own fresh produce.
Survey questions Yes No
Do you have any prior experience with gardening? 2 6
Did you find the written instruction on setting up the self- 8 0
watering container clear?
Figure 2. Master Gardener explains system to food pantry client
Was the demonstration of how to set up the self- 6 0
watering vegetable container helpful?
Did you have any trouble watering through the white 8 0
tube?
Did you enjoy the experience of planting, growing and 8 0
taking care of your plant as a family?
Comments
“This is a great bonus to the (Interfaith Food Pantry) program. The
girls and I are taking care of the plant together. When you are on a
limited income and dealing with hardship it can be depressing, but
there is something inspiring about watching a plant grow from seed to
fruit. It’s very hopeful”.
Conclusion
Distributing self watering container systems for growing vegetables
seems to food pantry clients appears to be a successful way to
introduce them to gardening, and provides them a means to grow
their own food. Research is now being conducted to determine
Figure 1. Master Gardener constructing self-water containers Figure 3. Checking water level in reservoir in completed container which tomato varieties perform the best in the self watering container
system.