We might as well think springtime. Applications now are available for community members who would like to participate in the second year of the community garden initiative or the first year of the backyard gardens project, both organized by Grow Food, Grow Hope.

Grow Food, Grow Hope is led by locally based Volunteers In Service to America (VISTA) young adults.

“Drawing on the success of our community gardens in 2009, in 2010 we are taking small-plot gardening into the backyards of families around our community, with hopes of increasing access to fresh and nutritious food— one seed at a time,” VISTA John Cropper said concerning the new gardening venture.

The backyard gardens will utilize the square-foot gardening method. Small-plot gardening, Cropper said, is “a manageable and productive way to augment a family’s food supply and introduce the concepts of growing food from seed.”

The goal this year is for a dozen new backyard gardens around Wilmington and Clinton County, with a longer-term goal of 35 small-plot backyard gardens countywide in three years, according to Cropper.

All resources needed to build, plant and maintain the small-plot gardens will be provided by Grow Food, Grow Hope. Volunteers and Grow Food, Grow Hope staff members will make weekly site visits to the homes of garden families to help weed and harvest, to answer questions the families might have and to monitor the overall progress of the garden bed, Cropper said.

For more information about the 2010 backyard gardens project, contact AmeriCorps VISTA member Eric Guindon, community outreach coordinator for the Wilmington College-sponsored AmeriCorps VISTA organization. He can be reached by phone at 382-6661 ext. 488 or via e-mail at eric_guindon@wilmington.edu.

Applications are available on the organization’s Web site at www.growfoodgrowhope.com.

Meanwhile, the Grow Food, Grow Hope community vegetable-and-herb garden will expand this year from 20 to 40 plots located on the Wilmington College campus. The plots are provided free of cost to the families and gardeners, and the necessary resources, tools and educational materials are covered, too.

New or novice gardeners are paired with more experienced gardeners who help in planting, weeding and harvesting in the plots. Education is an important element to the community garden, as Grow Food, Grow Hope aims to make the new gardeners self-sustainable in the future.

If interested in maintaining a plot in the community garden, download and print a copy of the 2010 community garden application on the organization’s Web site with the address provided above, or contact VISTA volunteer Jennifer Kerschner for more information.

Kerschner is the community garden and edible landscape coordinator for Grow Food, Grow Hope. Contact her by phone at 382-6661 ext. 488 or by e-mail at jennifer_kerschner@wilmington.edu.

Applications also are available at local agencies.

The application deadline is March 31 but interested families are encouraged to apply now.