EAST TAMPA - Seminole Heights and Palmetto Beach are among city neighborhoods with community gardens.

Add East Tampa as the next target site for a garden. Landowner Brian Becker is offering to donate a vacant lot at 1012 28th Ave.

Seminole Heights' gardeners will offer guidance and advice on organizing and planting.

"We're just trying to see if people want this," said Seminole Heights' garden organizer Robin Milcowitz.

The lot would be leased for free for two years. There is no on-site water source, but that was no obstacle for the Seminole Heights' garden on Violet Street.

"We'll set up a rain barrel system," said Seminole Heights gardener Tammy Harman-Seibel. A set of sails, hoses and barrels catches rain water at the Seminole Heights garden.

Harman-Seibel was manning a display at Lowry Park on Earth Day when Becker stopped by for a chat and heard of the Seminole Heights garden.

"It just seemed like a really great idea to have urban farming," said Becker. "I think it's kind of cool."

Becker doesn't plan to garden, but he said he has no immediate plans for the lot, which he bought as an investment. Another Seminole Heights gardener, Natasha Moesharei, will help coordinate work at the East Tampa site.

There are possibilities for vegetables and edibles, but it might also be suited for a butterfly garden, Motesharei said. "It's still very preliminary," she said.

Several neighborhoods have expressed interest in community gardens since city Councilwoman Mary Mulhern organized a public workshop last year.

The gardens generally bring people together to grow flowers, vegetables and plants on shared land.

A second workshop is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm, 6942 W. Commanche Ave. Tours of the farm will be available at 9:30 a.m. and a pot luck lunch is planned following the workshop.

For information on East Tampa's garden, call Harman-Seibel at (813) 956-2231 or e-mail tambonia 1972@yahoo.com; or contact Motesharei at (813) 679-5419 or azizadanielle @yahoo.com. For information on the workshop or the garden, contact Mulhern's aide, Christina Voehl, at (813) 274-7071 or e-mail Christina.Voehl @tampagov.net.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.