Enlarge By Kathleen Gray, USA TODAY David Smith, left, his mother, Earlean White, center, and her daughter Katherine White pull weeds on a berm that will surround an urban garden near White's home in Detroit. DETROIT  Every little bit helps for Earlean White's family. GREEN SPACES: Cities cleaning, 'greening' urban alleys The neighborhood garden a block from her home was the source of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers for her family last summer. So on a recent sunny Saturday, White, 48, enlisted two of her kids — Katherine White, 9, and David Smith, 13 — and her grandson Robert Puritan, 8, to start planting for this year's growing season. White says the garden helps ease her grocery bill and "helps the community and makes it look better." With the help of Urban Farming, a Detroit-based non-profit group, this 20-foot-by-20-foot lot and more than 600 others like it across the USA are being turned into gardens filled with fresh vegetables for hungry families. Taja Sevelle, an R&B recording artist from Detroit , started the agency in 2005 with three gardens in the city. That's grown to gardens in seven other states as well as Jamaica , she says. The group also operates gardens in New York , New Jersey , California , Minnesota , Missouri , North Carolina and Hawaii. In each location, Urban Farming sponsors provide seeds and other needed materials, she says. "The whole focus is getting rid of hunger," Sevelle says. "But it also beautifies the area and brings people together." In Los Angeles , Joyce Lapinsky-Lewis, program development consultant for Urban Farming's West Coast operation, says one of the aims is to pass on the skills needed to farm independently. "Everyone can learn enough to sustain their own program," she says. In New Jersey, James Kelly, who helped plant Newark 's first Urban Farming garden three years ago, is the director of the city's program, which has eight gardens on two lots. Last month, Kelly says, about 25 middle school kids came out to plant collard greens, squash, onions, tomatoes, watermelon and lettuce. "We had one guy who came up and said, 'I ate off this garden last year,' and he helped us all day," Kelly says. Sevelle says she has been helped by Wayne County and the city of Detroit, which have turned over tax foreclosed lots to the group to transform into gardens. The land stays in the name of the city or the county, so if a developer comes along it can be returned, says Terrence Keith, Wayne County deputy treasurer. In the past, the program was able to turn over about 50% of the produce grown to food banks throughout the city, Sevelle says. As the recession hit, that dropped to 5% last year. "That's how badly people needed food," Sevelle said. "People were picking the gardens clean." Gray reports for the Detroit Free Press.Contributing: Tina Irgang, USA TODAY Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more