Growing vegetable plants for a good cause

Pruett hopes new volunteers can take over project that supports food shelf

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

Each spring for the past five years, Clayton County Food Shelf clients have gotten to take home more than just packaged and canned items. Vegetable plants have been available too, allowing clients to grow their own fresh produce throughout the summer.

The initiative was started by McGregor resident Bob Pruett, who picked up the idea from a fellow church member.

“It’s been quite a project,” said Bob’s wife, Bonnie. “He’s done a lot, and it’s just grown over the years.”

As a child, Bob said he wouldn’t have imagined taking on a project like this.

“I hated gardening,” he joked. “My mother made me pull weeds.”

“I didn’t get excited until after we were married,” he added. “Now, every place we’ve lived, we have always had a garden.”

The Pruetts have lived in McGregor for 17 years, and Bob has since enjoyed growing a variety of vegetables, flowers and ornamental grasses—as long as the city’s prolific deer population doesn’t eat the plants first.

“He’ll dig up anything and plant anywhere,” said Bonnie.

At one point, the Pruetts even added a greenhouse to their property.

But when Bob started raising plants to donate to the food shelf, he quickly realized it was more complicated than his personal hobby—both in cost and quantity. So he selected seeds that were not only good quality, but also plentiful and cost effective to purchase.

“I get seven different types of tomato, from big to cherry and everything in between,” he said. “There are peppers: California Wonder bell peppers and jalapeños. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower. By the time they are done and delivered, there are 1,300 plants.”

And that’s not all. Bob also buys other seeds in bulk and packages them for the food shelf, including beans, peas, lettuce, beets, turnips, radishes and carrots. That totals 600 to 700 packets.

Bob orders through HPS Seeds, based in Randolph, Wis., typically in early December. Then he waits for the perfect time to plant.

“Planting time is essential,” he said. “It can get hairy. Sometimes things didn’t grow, or they’d grow too well and get too big. The peppers are the worst.”

But he’s gotten it down to a science.

“The peppers you plant first, on March 27. Then the tomatoes and cold crop on April 7,” Bob quipped. “Then they are the size I want when I deliver in early May.”

“It’s fun doing all the different types of tomatoes,” he shared. “One of my favorites is a Mr. Stripey.”

Bob starts all the seeds in his basement, where they germinate. The veggies are then transplanted. Before they’re moved to the greenhouse, Bonnie said the plants often take up residence in front of the dining room window.

“We fill the dining room with additional tables. That makes it a little hard to eat when company comes,” she said, laughing.

Bob said the pandemic made the process even more difficult this year. Seeds were harder to come by, so his ordered was drastically cut.

“People were staying home and planting more,” he noted. “So I ran around to the stores to figure out some tomatoes I could use. It wasn’t just vegetables, but flowers—everything was short.”

That, paired with the physical demands of growing the plants, has pushed Bob to a tough decision: he’s going to end his participation in the project.

“I like growing, but I’m 77 and need to slow down,” he said.

He and Bonnie would love to see another individual or group take it over.

“It’s a really worthwhile project,” said Bob. “[Food shelf supervisor] Utoni Ruff and the clients really look forward to it. She has around 80 to 85 families and, every year, there is nothing left.”

Bob is willing to advise the new volunteer(s).

“I’d be happy to give them my equipment and the extra flats, and help them get the seed,” he said.

Even as his role with the project diminishes, Bob plans to continue gardening.

“I’ll keep growing things,” he said. “There’s not much better than picking yourself a big tomato.”