Matthew Day (front) and Brad Hammond, two of 80 volunteers helping to create community garden plots on Portland’s Eastern Prom, put down newspapers as one of the ‘no-dig’ layers that help to cover the grass and turn it to compost. Photos by Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer

Ben Johnson shovels stone dust to be used as a layer in the sheet mulching approach, also called lasagna gardening.

Rachael Sclafani surveys progress on the gardens.

Rachael Sclafani, left, and Erin Smith work next to the tennis courts on the Eastern Prom, where 60 new community garden spaces are being created.

Laura Mailander with Cultivating Community hoses down newspapers to be used in the effort to create 60 new community garden spaces along the Eastern Prom.

Erin Smith helps to create one of the 60 new community garden plots on the Eastern Prom Saturday as part of the “permablitz” event to gather garden volunteers.