KANSAS CITY (AP) – A community garden run by the Kansas City Municipal Court has become so popular that it has doubled in size.

The garden is used by participants in the city’s drug, mental health and veterans’ treatment courts. It started last year and was expanded this year to a 40-by-50-foot plot.

Judge Joseph Locascio, presiding judge of the municipal court, works along with the participants in the garden. He says it offers participants a therapeutic, healthy activity.

Sometimes, working in the garden is a light sanction for people who miss curfew or a meeting. But most of the gardeners ask to be there while going through their court programs.

The Kansas City Star reports similar community gardens have taken root across the state in juvenile courts and domestic violence shelters.