I’ve gleaned quite a few treasures from our neighborhood garden dump over the summer. I am amazed at the still-good things people dump there. My edible finds this summer have included two perfectly good and still-growing basil plants

from which I’ve made a couple of batches of pesto

and, most recently, two beautiful ripening tomatoes from a discarded tomato plant.

Non-edible finds include numerous petunias of various colors and sizes, and some other potted flowers as well. These are very popular in hanging baskets in this neighborhood. When you buy them they are a profusion of colorful blossoms, but they don’t stay that way if you don’t tend to them properly. So into the dump they go. And from there, to my back deck!

Recently someone has dumped a couple of shrubs that look like they came straight from the nursery. They still have the burlap around the roots. Huh? Why didn’t that person, and the tomato and basil discarders, too, think to offer their excess to someone else? To the food shelf, to neighbors, to someone. When you have too much, is it too much to think of others who don’t?