Summer rain revives Greensboro community garden, boosts food pantry crops
Rain eased a dry stretch at Greensboro’s East Side community garden, reviving squash, zucchini and peppers while the pantry keeps feeding families in a food desert.
Produce picked on Wednesday had already doubled or tripled in size by Friday morning after recent rain at Positive Directions for Youth and Families Community Garden on Huffine Mill Road. The change helped salvage crops that had been under pressure through a long dry stretch and eased water demand at the 10-acre site for now.
James Gardner, the garden’s director, said shifting weather patterns made growing produce harder this year, with extreme winters, extreme summers and less predictable rainfall affecting the operation. Water conservation remains an ongoing conversation for farmers across the Triad. The latest rain helped squash, zucchini, string beans and peppers grow quickly.
PDY&F classifies the area as a food desert, where grocery stores that sell fresh produce are nearly non-existent. The organization created the garden to feed Greensboro, educate the community and launch a new generation of Black and brown farmers, while also addressing the root causes of hunger and homelessness in the city.
Drought.gov counted 488,406 people in Guilford County affected in June 2026, and January through May was the second-driest year-to-date period on record for Guilford County. On June 12, portions of Guilford and Alamance counties had reached exceptional drought, the most severe category on the U.S. Drought Monitor. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Institute for Community and Economic Engagement counts 17 food deserts in Greensboro and 24 in Guilford County.
The garden has supplied fresh food since Gardner started it in 2020 on land off Huffine Mill Road. In 2021, the garden fed 100,000 families after beginning with six small beds that initially struggled because of bad dirt. In 2023, Gardner said the project grew out of a need for healthier food options on Greensboro’s East side.
The garden’s free pop-up food pantry runs Thursdays from 11 a.m. to noon at the Power Play Center, 2207 East Cone Boulevard. Community members can also buy produce Saturday, June 27, from 9 to 11 a.m. at 1500 Huffine Mill Road.
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