West Valley Food Garden

WSU Extension > Yakima County > Master Gardener Home > Educational outreach > Our Gardens > West Valley Food Garden
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Empowering residents through food independence

A Master Gardener shows off the day's harvest in a cardboard box held up for the camera. In the box, there are green beans and multiple varieties of peppers. The volunteer has long light hair, a blue vest, mirror sunglasses, and a cowboy style flat-brimmed hat. They are standing in the garden.

The development of this 5,000 sq ft garden began in spring 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown. Yakima Master Gardeners knew that as people were losing their jobs more people would become dependent on Food Banks, and they also knew they could contribute free produce to help the community.   

After a Master Gardener donated use of the land, a team of Master Gardener volunteers began extensive soil development and conditioning to prepare the soil for successful garden crops. The ground was tilled, manure was hauled and tilled into the ground and several different cover crops were grown, to prepare the soil for healthy crop production. Finally, the 2022 soil testing determined that the site was ready.   

During the 2 years of preparation the team of Master Gardeners met with the Highland Food Bank management to determine which vegetables were needed and wanted by their clients.  Yakima Master Gardeners also applied for and received a $3000 grant from the Farm Credit Services to defray some of the costs. Master Gardener volunteers developed and installed a drip irrigation system, and crop trellises. A local tree service donated mulch.

Many of the WVFG vegetables are started in the Master Gardener greenhouse. Other vegetables are directly planted into the garden after the soil warms up.  Additionally, some flowers are grown to increase available food for pollinators needed for crop production.  

Our local impact

Since 2022, each year the Yakima Master Gardeners have delivered between 2-3000 pounds of delicious fresh produce to the Highland Food Bank, which serves up to 150 families. As gardeners know, the bounty of the harvest is very dependent on the local weather conditions.

Yakima Master Gardeners continue to voluntarily maintain and improve the soil, plant, and sometimes re-plant, harvest and deliver the fresh produce to the Food Bank. Developing, planning, planting and harvesting has been a labor of love of the Master Gardeners to the community and will continue to be so. 

West Valley Food Garden

602 S. 123rd Avenue
Yakima, WA 98908

Garden Events

Summer Classes in the Garden (at our foundation website)

Highlights from the West Valley Food Garden

West Valley Food Garden volunteers gathered around the open hatchback of a vehicle with stacked crates of produce loaded into it. One gardener sits in a wheelbarrow, one leans on the car, another sits on the back bumper, and three stand to the right, one leaning on her shovel handle.
Volunteers taking a break after loading up the harvest to be taken to the Highland Food Bank in Tieton, WA.
Close up of tan winter squash growing in the garden.
Beautiful acorn squash grown each year for the Food Bank.
Four garden volunteers around a trench dug in the dirt. There are white PVC piples laid out on the dirt beside the trench. One of the volunteers is preparing the pipes while three others assist.
Master Gardeners installing the drip irrigation system in 2021.
Close up of tomatoes growing on the vine in the garden.
Roma tomatoes almost ready to pick.
Tomato plants and flowering marigolds companion planted along a fence type trellis.
Perennial flowers grown in the garden to attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
A top-down view of a wheelbarrow over half-full of large, freshly picked cucumbers.
A bountiful harvest of slicing cucumbers to take to the Food Bank in Tieton.
Master Gardeners stand taking pictures of dozens of fruiting tomato plants supported by cage trellises.
Master Gardener and Food Garden Co-Leader Camille Smith watches as Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney checks out the Roma tomatoes.

Frequently asked questions:

A: Please visit the Highland Food Bank to take advantage of this produce. The garden is open to the public only for our Classes in the Garden, on the third Saturdays of May, June, July, and September. See the event calendar for details.

A: Each week the harvest is weighed and recorded before being donated. We average close to 3,000 pounds each season.

A: 100% of the food harvested each week is taken to the Food Bank. The fresh veggies are so appreciated. About 120 households snatch up nearly all of it each week!