It is the time of year when we dig our fingers into the soil, plant seeds, and hope that they will flourish. We look forward to the bounty our gardens will provide. While not the agricultural community that it once was, Newtown is still a place where backyard gardens proliferate.

The simple joy of biting into a sun-ripened tomato or snacking on the sweetness of just-picked berries is a joy, even for those who can afford the best of produce in the off-season. For those who are on a fixed or suddenly reduced budget, the flavor of fresh produce is more than a joy; it is a gift.

In recent years, Newtown gardens have been providing that gift to neighbors, through donations to the local food pantries.

In 2012, when we reported on the gardens at Garner Correctional Institute, the educational/recreational prisoner garden program was in its third year. The output of the not-quite-half-acre garden, tended by select prisoners, has increased each year. Last year, nearly 4,000 pounds of produce came out of the Garner garden, with 3,000 pounds distributed to the food pantry located within Town Hall South in the Social Services Department and FAITH Food Pantry, in the basement of St John’s Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook Center.

The Victory Garden at Fairfield Hills originated in 2011 with the goal of growing vegetables and fruits for the food pantries in town. From its first harvest of nine pounds of lettuce and one pound of arugula in the early summer of that year, and an eventual total that fall of 3,000 pounds of produce for FAITH and the Social Services food pantry, as well as the kitchen at Nunnawauk Meadows, the Victory Garden has continued to contribute every year to the well-being of Newtown families in need.

Not a community garden, but a garden with which many in the community are familiar, is Shortt’s Farm and Garden Center on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook. Growing mainly organic vegetables and fruits, Jim and Sue Shortt have been happy to donate produce on a weekly basis to FAITH during the growing season. Everything from tomatoes to eggplant and corn has found its way to the Sandy Hook food pantry. When a food allowance is limited, these donations to the food pantries may be the only fresh produce that is set on the table during hard times. No doubt, there are other gardeners within our borders readily sharing the bounty of their gardens with those in need.

Peas will pop from the ground, greens will grow, and beanstalks will climb toward the heavens in many Newtown backyard gardens this summer. We are grateful for the generous harvest of community-style gardens that help our less fortunate neighbors enjoy the fruits of the season. With not much more effort, though, home gardeners can also extend the green thumb of generosity.

Why not plant one more tomato plant, one extra row of kale, one additional hill of squash, and dedicate it to our food pantries? Every donation of fresh vegetables and fruit is welcomed. Summer’s harvest could only taste that much sweeter, knowing that somewhere in town, at another table, words of gratitude are being said over produce you took the time to nurture — and donate.