Victory Garden Initiative (VGI), a nonprofit dedicated to helping communities grow their own food and creating community-based, socially just, sustainable and nutritious food systems, will hold the ninth annual Great Milwaukee Victory Garden BLITZ, the nation’s largest garden-building effort, from May 13 to 27. VGI will deliver 500 gardens to backyards, front yards, schools, churches, community spaces and anywhere else people want to grow good food.

The four-by-eight-foot raised garden beds are filled with healthy, organic compost-based soil and cost between $175 and $200, depending on the delivery area. The cost of up to half of the gardens will be subsidized for low-income families. Volunteers will make deliveries across Milwaukee County and beyond from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day during the blitz. Volunteer shifts are 8 a.m. to noon, noon to 4:30 p.m., and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; they will meet at the Milwaukee headquarters of Habitat for Humanity and go on their delivery routes from there. Homeowners receiving gardens do not need to be home to have their garden installed.

Habitat location: 3726 N. Booth St., Milwaukee, in the Riverwest Neighborhood. To purchase a garden or to register as a BLITZ volunteer, call 414-727-2292, email [email protected] or visit VictoryGardenInitiative.org.