Members of Wards 3 and 4 are digging in the dirt for one another.

In the next weeks, Wards 3 and 4 will have free fresh vegetables produced from their community gardens.

“This is a growing trend to grow your own foods,” said Angela Benjamin, Ward 4 City Council representative.

She has helped orchestrate the community garden in her ward, making sure that the garden has enough volunteers to spread the word of the free foods.

Rachel Foreman lives next to the garden in Ward 4 and oversees the cultivation of the crops.

“There are so many empty lots in this town, and this was an empty lot,” Foreman said. “We cleaned it up and we really had to work it this year and put lots of nutrients in it.”

The gardens grow items such as onions, cabbage, collards, eggplant, watermelon, corn, yellow squash, okra, green peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and turnips.

Although the gardens are in these wards, the food produced is for all members of the community.

“You can just come and pick, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be just people from Ward 4,” Foreman said.

The garden is in Ward 4 is for anyone, but the garden in Ward 3 is first for volunteers who have worked in the garden.

“After everybody’s had plenty, we send a call out to the rest of the neighborhood,” said Dr. Monica Newton, Ward 3 City Council representative.

The food is then given out to neighborhood members. Remaining foods from Ward 3 are then donated to the Selma Food Bank. All the food from Ward 4 is passed out to members of the community.

Foreman has also offered to show interested person how to do canning.

“It’s just a great way for neighbors to get to know one another,” Newton said.