AUBURN - The first thought of many when thinking about a garden is a fairly large sized space in a yard, but for the Food Bank of Central New York, all the essentials of a garden fit into a space no bigger than a bucket.

The Food Bank of Central New York provides food to 288 emergency agencies in 11 counties in central New York, including Cayuga County and food banks at the St. Alphonsus Church Pantry and First Love Ministries Food Pantry.

On Wednesday morning, Robin Neal, a dietitian with the food pantry, visited both Auburn food pantries to distribute gardens in buckets.

Neal said that this was the fifth year for the program and it's been well received, with more than 800 buckets to be distributed this year in each of the 11 counties served and more than 1,000 previously distributed.

The idea began as an extension of the basic tenants of the food bank's mission.

"The idea is to serve the hungry," Neal said. "We are here and the idea of this is to help people meet those needs."

Recipients were given a bucket which contained soil and a patio tomato plant already planted.

All the clients need to do is take the buckets home, find a warm, sunny place to put it and water.

Neal said the reasoning behind choosing tomatoes was twofold.

"They are a hardy plant," Neal said. "They are easy to grow and they produce a lot of fruit. And here locally, tomatoes are expensive to buy fresh, so this way people can have their own."

Neal pointed out that foods such as tomatoes are also nutritious and that seedlings can be purchased with food stamps, making gardening a more viable option for lower income families.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Citizen.