SPRINGVALE — The York County Chapter of the University of Maine Extension Service Master Gardener Volunteers, and the Maine Master Gardener Development Fund has announced the awarding of a $500 grant to the Sanford Community Gardens.

The Maine Master Gardener Development Fund supports the establishment or expansion of horticulture-based educational projects in communities across Maine.

Located at the Pence Community Ecology Center in the McKeon Environmental Reserve on Blanchard Road in Springvale, Sanford Community Gardens has begun its first year of providing raised bed plots where folks who lack access to suitable land can grow their own organic vegetables, flowers, and herbs.

More information can be found here: https://mousamwaylandtrust.org/2019/03/07/sanford-community-garden/.

Local Master Gardener Project Coordinators and Mousam Way Land Trust Directors form the Community Garden Advisory Committee which oversees the project. Master Gardener volunteers assist the raised bed gardeners with all aspects of gardening: initial soil testing interpretations, compact and season-extending gardening methods, organic weed, pest, and disease controls, to safe harvesting techniques and winter bed preparations.

For more information about the Master Gardener Program, email: extension@maine.edu