The success of vegetable growing at community gardens in Woodlands has benefitted needy residents, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

In a blog post on Saturday, Mr Khaw said that every four to six weeks, such gardens have had so much harvest that residents were able to share them with needy families.

And on Sunday, garden volunteers will be selling, for charity, about 250kg of vegetables from community gardens in Sembawang GRC. This will done at a Community Farmers Market in Republic Polytechnic from 9am. The proceeds will go to Man Fut Tong Nursing Home. The home cares for sick and needy senior citizens.

Noting that there are hundreds of community gardens now, which tend to be sited in residential estates, Mr Khaw said they help volunteers bond and take part in a meaningful hobby. He added that pre-school kids have joined in to tend to the gardens at Woodlands, which grow vegetables such as kang kong and bayam.

He said that the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore had lent its expertise to volunteers who wanted to increase the yield of harvests from the gardens. For Woodlands, the community gardens were upgraded into "model vegetable gardens", said Mr Khaw.

"Much to the delight of the volunteers, these vegetable gardens have been showing astonishing results," he added.