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The university students, through a program called Alternative Spring Break, worked at the location 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily during spring break to learn about area issues and food issues while building the garden, said Kristen Spoales, a University of Maryland graduate student and a gardening educator for the project.

Located at the Center for Educational Partnership — the land at the corner of Sheridan and 62nd is owned by the university — the garden is a hybrid of education, recreation and action.

One side of the garden is for community plots that locals can use free.

‘‘[We’re] hoping to do more [outreach to] community members, particularly those who live in apartments or who don’t have any space to do gardens, so that they can come out [and] have a plot,” Spoales said.

The center will provide seeds, mulch, compost and gardening advice, she said.

Plots vary in size, but the average is 36 square feet. About 35 plots will be available to residents.

The second side of the space is a youth garden that has been planned and built by William Wirt students.

The Engaged University, a group based at the university to bridge the campus and the community, is working with the students to plant mostly vegetables, she said. Spoales and co-worker Vinnie Bevevino also provide youth gardening and nutrition education at some Prince George’s County schools.

When time comes to pick the produce, the students will take it to sell at the Riverdale Farmers Market.

‘‘They will be able to sell ... alongside local farmers and get to know local farmers and people who do this in life and learn some business skills and other real-world skills,” Spoales said.

Jaquan Jackson, a student at William Wirt, has found some new skills while working at the community garden.

‘‘It’s the first time I’ve really done it,” he said of the dirty work. ‘‘Since I’ve seen it, now I like it.”

And although he is supposed to be planting vegetables, Jackson would really like to grow some white roses.

‘‘It seems romantic,” he said.

But the initial reason for the garden was a lot more practical, said Margaret Morgan-Hubbard, director of the Engaged University, adding the idea blossomed out of a think tank at the university.

‘‘One of the biggest needs [discovered] was to get the communities and families more engaged in the education efforts in this county,” she said. ‘‘We really wanted to transform the schools ... where the resources for what families need are nearby.”

Some funding for the effort came from the Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties’ Bi-County Task Force and some from the Food Stamp Nutrition Program of the USDA and the Maryland Cooperative Extension.

‘‘Food stamps ... gives out additional money to try to teach people to eat healthily and try to prevent youth obesity which is a big epidemic, and to get people ... eating more fruits and vegetables,” Morgan-Hubbard said. ‘‘So we felt the ways of doing it was by growing it and teaching them every aspect of food production.”

The garden is good ground for planting various veggies, Spoales said. The sunny areas are ideal for growing peppers and tomatoes and the shady areas will work for greens like cabbages.

It is also a great place to find youngsters, said Dominique Footes, a University of Maryland student and local Alternative Spring Break co-leader, who chose not to sunbathe in Cancun over academic recess.

‘‘I’m not a garden person ... I don’t do dirt, that’s not my thing,” she said. ‘‘But it was a chance to work with kids and that’s not something you can turn away from.”

The garden will be open to the community on Earth Day, April 21 and plants will be on sale.

For more information, call 301-779-2851.

E-mail Sarah Nemeth at snemeth@gazette.net.