In an effort to increase access to healthy and affordable food the state is offering to lease vacant land to gardeners for $50 per year.

The new program was announced in the written version of Governor Jennifer Granholm’s State of the State message.

In his Sunday column in the Traverse City Record Eagle George Weeks compares Granholm’s moves to promote gardening with those of former Detroit mayor and Governor Hazen Pingree (a Republican) who became nationally known for “Pinigree’s Potato Patches, ” a program that lent out Detroit’s vacant lots for farming during the lean years of the 1890’s.

Weeks writes:

So far, Granholm’s program is a low-key undertaking. But steam might build with the urban garden idea that is gaining some traction in Detroit, where vacant lots are estimated to account for about 40 square miles.

Furthermore, first lady Michelle Obama is setting an example by putting a 1,100-square-foot plot with 52 varieties of fruits and vegetables on the south lawn of the White House.

Details of the “Garden for Growth” program are available from the state Department of Energy Labor & Economic Growth.