CRYSTAL FALLS — The Crystal Falls Community Garden again will offer 25 raised beds for cultivation through the 2021 growing season.

The 4-by-8-feet plots can be rented for $10 each. In 2019, all but two sites ended up reserved, organizers said. The garden was closed last year due to COVID-19 concerns.

Because it wasn’t available in 2020, demand is expected to be high this spring, said Chandra Ziegler, who helps operate the garden. “More people want things to do outside,” she said.

All money raised from renting out the spaces goes back into maintaining the garden, Ziegler added.

Rent includes access to tools, watering tanks and other supplies stored in a shed on site.

Anything can be grown in the beds, but no pesticides can be used on the plants.

The garden was established about five years ago as “just a plowed space” across from the CoVantage Credit Union in Crystal Falls, Ziegler said. Volunteers have worked each year to improve the site, including installing the raised beds about three years ago.

A second-grade teacher at Forest Park Elementary, Ziegler takes her students to the garden for outdoor learning, she said.

“It’s pretty cool to see how it’s unfolding and unfolding,” Ziegler said.

The farmers market again plans to set up at the community garden this summer, Ziegler said. More details on their plans will be released at a later date.

The public can sign up for sites in the garden by emailing Ziegler at chandraziegler@gmail.com or calling 906-284-0633. Or send a message through the Green Thumb Community Garden page on Facebook, which connects with both Ziegler and garden team partner Lisa Curnow.

The garden team also could use more volunteers to help with projects such as spreading gravel between the beds, adding topsoil and fertilizer, and grooming the grounds to make the garden more handicapped-accessible.