Organizers with the Altona Community Garden are expanding the number of plots available to local gardeners this year.

All 57 plots in the garden were rented out in 2018 and by the end of last month, all 57 plots had been snapped up for this year.

That prompted the Altona Community Action Network (ACAN) to increase the number of plots for the 2019 gardening year.

"So we added two more rows on the south side creating 22 more plots, which brought our total number of plots to 79," said ACAN spokesman Jake Hoeppner. "We also have 6 to 8 common plots that we use for garden experiments and as demonstration plots that we don't normally rent out ... so, if we rent out the full 79 plots, we can always rent out a couple of those plots as well."

In 2018, the first year in which ACAN took over the operation of the community garden, about half of the gardeners were new immigrant families.

"It was very international, interethnic community and it was interesting to watch people sharing vegetables or asking each other questions about gardening. There was a real community spirit that developed there," said Hoeppner.

Hoeppner is confident they'll be able to fill the extra plots fairly easily since they have tried to make the job of gardening as easy as possible.

"Especially because we have a shed filled with gardening tools and equipment, access to water and compost. All people have to do is pay their rental fee and show up."

ACAN plans to bring in a lot more compost this year for gardeners to use, which is why they have bumped up the price for renting a plot in 2019 to $18.00 dollars from $16.00 last year.

Anyone interested in developing a green thumb can register for a plot by phoning 204-304-0656 or email Jake Hoeppner at altonagardening@gmail.com.