The Mission Branch of the San Francisco Public Library on Friday will open the library's first "teaching garden" on sustainable urban food growing.

The project was developed in response to Mayor Gavin Newsom's initiatives on healthy food awareness and his promoting the possibility of growing food on unused city land, according to the library.

The garden at the Mission library at 300 Bartlett St. was designed and built by Janet Moyer Landscaping, and includes planting beds, a "smart" drip irrigation system and flowering vines to attract pollinating insects.

In addition to teaching about sustainable urban gardening, the library hopes to use the garden for science lessons for local schoolchildren, workshops, and cooking and nutrition classes.