The garden beds being constructed. Courtesy of Donna Kane

Redbank Community Garden in South Portland is looking for more participants. The garden was put together from a Community Development Block Grant. Construction started last year with seven garden beds built, a shed, a fence, water, and a plan in place by a landscape designer. There are also fruit trees on the property planted last year.

“It’s spectacular,” said Donna Kane, a gardener working on the project. “We’ve laid out a small portion of it. And now we need people to grow into it.”

The garden has open plots for individuals, families, or organizations to grow their own food or plants. The land is adjacent to the community center on land owned by the city, who are working with the organizers on the project.

“We need to make sure we have gardeners,” Kane said. “We are only willing to go so far with the theory of ‘if we build it, they will come.’ We weren’t going to build 40 beds and hope they come, but we did build seven. And people are now showing up and are interested in it.”

In particular, the garden is looking for more experienced gardeners to volunteer for leadership, mentorship, and maintenance roles in the garden.

“Our help is that over time (garden users) will become self-sufficient in terms of management of the garden and taking care of things and maintenance, but for right now to get it started they need a little help,” Kane said. “Nobody is born knowing how to garden, how to grow a garden, but you learn it over time.

“So there’s an opportunity there for garden mentors. You know, we would love to see more people in the community get involved in the garden and the maintenance and management of it, and to provide some leadership to it, until the garden grows to a point where it becomes self-sufficient and self-governing. But that takes a while. I believe 100 percent that they will get there, but it’s going to take a few years.”

For more information, email redbankgarden@gmail.com.

“What I want to really drive home here is it’s an opportunity,” Kane said. “If anyone wants to get involved in the garden, we would love to see more people.”

The first garden beds being built. Courtesy of Donna Kane