The Canberra Organic Growers Society is on the lookout for more land to satisfy demand for community organic gardens.

The society runs 12 community gardens dotted across Canberra where about 300 plot-holders grow organic vegetables, fruit and flowers.

But many gardens, especially in northern suburbs, are full and waiting lists can be one to three years long.

Society president Keith Colls said the non-profit group was always on the hunt for more plots of land and hoped to start a community garden in Dickson. A new community garden opened last month at Kaleen High School to soak up demand in north Canberra.

But most of the plots were snapped up before the garden's official opening and there are now only one or two left.

''Our plan to relieve the waiting lists on the other gardens didn't quite work,'' Mr Colls said.

''Particularly the northern half of Canberra that's where the big demand is.''

Many of the gardens operate on unused territory land with the support of the ACT Government while others are on private land such as church property.

Mr Colls said the gardens helped create a feeling of neighbourhood as residents gathered to dig, water and harvest their own fruit and veg.

''We try to foster this idea that they are a community of gardeners, so they in a sense own the garden.''

Mr Margetts is convener of the Cook community garden, which has more than 35 plot-holders and has a waiting list of 10.

New members pay $25 a year to join the society and a $2maintenance levy and must abide by organic principles.

''People are always keen to get in. We've had people ring up lately who want a plot who don't even live in Cook,'' he said.

Gardeners pitched in to maintain the communal areas of their garden and held a barbecue every month to swap tips and share stories.

''The appeal is obviously to garden and meet other people while you're doing it. There are people who don't have space to garden in and for them the actual appeal is having ... an actual plot to garden,'' he said.

''It makes for very entertaining barbecues because there's different types of people there and different storytelling.''

Mr Colls said more people wanted to grow their own food without chemicals or pesticides.

''There's a lot more awareness nowadays, especially with cooking programs, about the seasonality of food, quality of food, what goes into actually producing your own food.''

For more information visit www.cogs.asn.au