​The Garden 
Powered by the Highland Lakes Master Gardeners at Trinity Episcopal Church,
909 Avenue D, Marble Falls, Texas

The Highland Lakes Master Gardener Association started The Helping Center community garden in 2011 to grow vegetables for the food pantry’s clients, as well as to highlight gardening techniques and provide instruction.  After eight years next to The Helping Center in Marble Falls, The Garden, as it is now known, relocated to Trinity Episcopal Church at 909 Avenue D, Marble Falls. This move was due to the Helping Center food pantry moving from its previous location to become part of the new community resource center in the 1100 block of Broadway. 
 
The Garden’s mission remains the same: provide fresh, organic produce to The Helping Center food pantry and to offer educational outreach to the greater community.
 
The Garden’s location is up the hill from Trinity’s south parking lot.  It is a ten thousand square foot area that contains:
  • twenty-four raised beds
  • two keyhole gardens
  • a 60-foot-by-30 foot in-ground plot
  • seven fruit trees
  • a pavilion for instruction and other activities
  • a tool shed
  • a fourteen-thousand-gallon tank for rainwater capture
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It is bordered on its west side by a pollinator garden that we hope to have designated as a Monarch way station in the near future.
 
Our first spring growing season was 2020 and like everyone else, The Garden had to contend with Covid. We were helped by the fact that this is an outdoor activity that is in a large space so that social distancing was achievable. With the assistance of multiple hardworking volunteers, The Garden produced almost 5000 pounds of organically grown produce in 2020 that was donated to the Helping Center food pantry.  2021 started with a pretty rough spring, but again with the assistance of volunteers we are on our way to surpass our 2020 production numbers.
 
The Highland Lakes Master Gardeners continue their outreach with classes and programs at The Garden.  The Garden has received generous support from the greater Highland Lakes community in the form of both funds and volunteers, but more is needed.  Please see the website section for The Garden Fund-raising for more information on how to donate either dollars or volunteer hours.