St. Matthew’s Giving Garden

by Scott Eckert

The Master Gardener’s Garden at St. Matthew’s was started with the help of a United Thank Offering grant about 15 years ago. Harvey County Master Gardeners is a volunteer organization sponsored by the county Extension Office and Kansas State University. It was envisioned as a community garden with gardeners “renting” an allotment and coordinating with each other for upkeep and overall maintenance. 

The garden has a demonstration plot to test new varieties for Kansas gardens. There are test varieties of tomatoes for K-state planted each year and taste tested at the county fair. The garden also showcases experimental flower varieties and assesses their growth habits. Area residents enjoy viewing the flowers from Old Highway 81 just northwest of Main St.

Approximately 4 years ago, the Harvey County Master Gardener organization asked to move their “Giving Garden” to St. Matthew’s garden as it came with free water from an excellent well. For many years the Giving Garden has donated fresh produce to The Salvation Army. Each year approximately 5-6 thousand pounds of produceare contributed to help those in need of food.

Scott Eckert is the Care of Creation Liaison for St. Matthew’s Giving Garden and supervises its operation and maintenance.