Volunteers broke ground on four Ottawa lawns Tuesday, tearing up the sod in preparation for planting. (CBC)A non-profit company in Ottawa that turns people's lawns into small urban farms that supply organic vegetables to local residents is in its second year and growing quickly.

On Tuesday, Vegetable Patch broke ground on four of an estimated 10 to 15 urban lots where its volunteers will plant and tend to squash, tomatoes and other veggies.

In 2009, its first year of operation, it planted on just five properties.

The yards are lent out by homeowners like Carryl Potter.

His Pleasant Park property is 63 metres deep — about as long as a football field is wide.

"Who needs that much land in the city? I mean, really," Potter said with a laugh.

This is the second year he has let Vegetable Patch farm his yard. He said he likes the free vegetables and the feeling that he is giving back to the community.

Carryl Potter said he likes the free vegetables and the feeling that he is giving back to the community. (CBC)Volunteers plant, tend and harvest the vegetables all summer. Homeowners get a weekly basket of fresh veggies all summer in return for their land, which they must commit for at least two years.

The rest of the harvest is sold for profit to people who sign up for season memberships. They pay $550 to receive weekly baskets intended to supply a family of three to four people, or $275 to get a basket every two weeks. Deliveries are made from mid-June to October.

Jesse Payne, founder of Vegetable Patch, said the group has already sold the 50 memberships it needs to take the business through the summer.

Payne said at the moment, a lot of the city's green space isn't being put to productive use. His group aims to change that.

Vegetable Patch volunteer Genevieve LeGal-LeBlanc said the group is also really promoting local food.

"And kind of shifting it from a 100-mile diet to a 100-metre diet," she said.

Homeowners are very receptive to the Vegetable Patch concept once they know that a neighbour is already participating, Payne said.

Rowena Gerspacher, one of the newest property owners recruited to the program, was having the sod torn out of her yard Tuesday by Vegetable Patch volunteers in preparation for planting.

She's the fourth person to sign up along a single stretch of Alta Vista Drive in the city's east end.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," she said. "It's a win-win situation."