The Dinner Garden

Results: Over 14,000 packets of seeds given out to individuals, families, and communities in 42 states.

Geographic areas served: USA

Programs:

That's right! For $5, The Dinner Garden can send enough seeds to afamily to provide produce for seven people for a year! When we lookedat family size for this project, we wanted to make sure we accountedfor the small families and the big families. If grandparents, uncles,and aunts shared the dinner table, we wanted produce growing in thegarden for them. We also had to make sure these families could grow ALOT of food. If they end up with too much, our motto is, preserve whatyou can't eat now but want to eat in the future. Donate anything leftafter that to the local food bank!

We're sure you'd like to know what composes our Five Dollars Feeds aFamily Seed Pack, so here you go! We customize the seeds to the area ofthe recipient, so they will be sure to have success, so some of theindividual items will vary. For example, okra doesn't grow well innorthern climates, so we won't send it to someone in North Dakota. Wehave included the average equivalent amount of fruit and vegetablesproduced by these seeds because, even though we deal with it everyday,it still amazes us!

• 7 tomato seeds = 280 pounds of tomatoes
• 7 squash seeds = 140 pounds of squash
• 28 corn seeds = 56 ears of corn
• 28 celery seeds = 28 celery bunches
• 7 pumpkin seeds = at least 21 pumpkins
• 7 cantaloupe seeds = at least 28 cantaloupes
• 70 beet seeds = 70 beets and a 70 bunches of beet greens!
• 70 carrot seeds = 70 carrots
• 70 turnips seeds = 70 turnips and a 70 bunches of turnip greens
• 7 yellow bell pepper seeds = at least 70 yellow bell peppers
• 7 red bell pepper seeds = at least 70 red bell peppers
• 7 orange bell pepper seeds = at least 70 orange bell peppers
• 28 romaine lettuce seeds = 28 heads of romaine lettuce
• 7 green bean seeds = enough to eat, can, freeze, and give away
• 28 broccoli seeds = 28 heads of broccoli
• 7 zucchini seeds = 140 pounds of zucchini, time to make zucchini bread
• 7 cucumber seeds = 140 pounds of cucumbers
• 7 pea seeds = better can them while you're doing the green beans
• 140 radish seeds = 140 radishes
• 28 cabbage seeds = 28 heads of cabbage
• 14 greens seeds = greens every night for the season!
• 7 cowpeas (black eyed peas) = 70 pounds of cowpeas

Some of the seeds we send are planted in the Spring, while others areplanted in the Fall. So for most of the year, our families can havefresh produce from the garden. Since they can get so much food fromthese plants, they will have enough to preserve, so they havevegetables during the winter season.

This home garden will drastically cut our families food expenditures.It will also vastly improve their diets, since they will have access tosuch a varied and delicious assortment of fruits and vegetables.

We want families gardening. We provide the seeds to get those gardensgrowing. Our website gives our seed recipients information on gardeninginexpensively, food preservation, and links to other gardeningresources. Our master gardener is available for questions from our newgardeners. One of our partners, World Food Garden, offers our families additional gardening information like when toplant their seeds in their area. They even offer gardening mentors!

With seeds in hand and armed with valuable gardening information, ourfamilies are then in charge of taking care of their gard