It’s easy to see why community gardens have become such a hit all across the country in recent years. The obvious benefit is that growing fruits and vegetables allows for people to eat better and to live longer.

Making produce easier for people to get to ensures a better quality of life and long-term benefits.

But there’s more than just that. Community gardens allow neighbors to get to know one another, it increases people out and about (which deters crime) and often can bring together people of many different backgrounds.

For the last eight years, Selma City Councilwoman Angela Benjamin and other council members have worked on a project to develop community gardens in Selma. There are at least eight community gardens in five different wards in Selma now and the Black Belt Benefit Group also has its Grow Selma Garden project. The importance of each shouldn’t be understated.

Dallas County is one of the unhealthiest counties in the state, so any push to help people turn their life around is a positive one.

We hope to see the number of these gardens continue to grow in Selma in the coming years. They not only bring people together, but they’re helping us all get a little healthier.

That can only be a positive thing.