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Urban Gardening - Initiatives

17.11.2015

What kind of Urban Gardening initiatives are there and what are their goals?
In Germany there are – even though they are nowhere statistically recorded – almost 300 projects, that belong to the category of “community-gardens”. Even though this is an estimated number, one thing is for sure: the number is increasing. The name and the orientation as well as the design although are sometimes variable and often the differentiation between the garden types is not clear:

URBAN-GARDENING-Initiativen

Intercultural gardens, meanwhile multiple times distinguished, exist already since almost 20 years. The first garden of this kind was developed out of a migration center in Göttingen. Women of different nationalities build this garden back then and later transferred it to the registered association “International Gardens Göttingen”. The characteristic of this and other later founded intercultural projects: any nationality is welcome, where everyone works on different sized personally used area. In addition there are community areas, where for example kinds can play. The main language spoken in the gardens, by the way, is German, which also contributes to the integration of the foreign hobby gardeners.

Neighborhood gardens are gardens, that get used and farmed collectively by a group of people from the same neighborhood. Mostly – but not always – these are smaller projects in direct nearness to the apartments. Known are for example the neighborhood gardens of Leipzig, whose carrier is a same named non-profit organization. Since 2004 sometimes over 80 adults (along with their children) are gardening on over 6000qm. There are private as well as community areas, on which fruits, vegetables and other plants are cultivated. In addition there are a wood and a bicycle workshop, the first house made of straw-bales in Leipzig and a kitchen. Also animals like pigs, chicken and bunnies are breaded. Also important are the workshops for the youth, and the gatherings in these kinds of gardens where they sing, have a barbecue, harvest and celebrate. Also the “Kiez-gardens” in Berlin belong to this category. Since 2003 the “Kiezgarten Schliemannstraße“, for example, offers about 300qm exchanged topsoil for cultivation and harvesting. There are fruit trees, berry bushes, shrubs, herbs and of course vegetables. Single slots are not available though, only common areas. Everything belongs practically to everybody – also the crop.

Roof gardens like the “Kistengarten” (box-garden) in St. Pauli are placed on flat roofs, like in this case on the roof of an underground parking lot of the Großen Freiheit. On wooden pallets there are standing several colored carrier boxes, in which vegetables and herbs are cultivated. Even swarms of bees have found their home there and produce honey.

dachgarten

The goal of permaculture gardens (e.g. the „O´pflanzt is“ in Munic) is to form a sustainable lifestyle in keeping with nature. They try to let the gardens develop themselves without a lot of external influences. The waste of resources is frown upon and there are materials used, that usually would end up on the garbage dump. The constructional arrangements have a respectively variegated and experimental look. The main focus is on the community therefore they do almost everything together: putter around, plant, harvest, cook and eat.

All listed types of gardens are known as community gardens, as the generic term. In particular, all gardens that cannot be related to the other categories belong to this one. For example ‘women-gardens’ and ‘urban district-gardens‘ can be mentioned here. Nationwide, and beyond, known is the ‘Princessgarden’ in Berlin, which exists since 2009. Since then the former fallow land is rented per year by the city. A longer right to use is unfortunately not available. For that reason the garden is build mobile, so that it can move anytime. The cultivation is organic, meaning in organic quality and is planted in recycled boxes of bakeries, rice sacks or the like, which makes the transportation easy.

In comparison to other garden types no one has an own bed but everybody can help. The main idea: to keep the variety of plants. The harvested food can be purchased and also gets used in the garden-cafe and garden-kitchen. The specialty here are the many regional and even national events like for example exhibitions, guided tours, lectures, seminars, or training courses. The ‘Princessgarden’ is run as a charitable corporation.

School gardens are nowadays “in” again. They are – like the name says – located in schools. Kids can learn many elementary things here that used to go without saying back in the days: what is nature? How do I treat nature and how can I produce my own healthy food? Of course also the maintenance, harvest and a lot of times also the joint meal preparation and eating in the school kitchen, are parts of these projects. Also on the psyche of the kids the joint gardening has positive effects. Next to the Waldorf-schools, where these kinds of gardens were an obligatory element, also other schools, especially in the GDR made use of then. In the last decade of the 20th century a lot of them were disestablished, mostly for financial reasons. This development changed back to the opposite in the past few years, which is referable to the raising number of all-day schools. In Berlin for example already over 250 schools have a garden. In other German states it is similar.

The Guerilla Gardening has its focus on the revegetation of the city and not the cultivation of fruits. Started in the USA, this trend is by now established worldwide. It became a media topic and is, even though this kind of plantation is illegal (at least in Germany), a pretty popular kind of gardening. Guerilla gardening is very easy. You just search for an empty fallow land, a traffic refuge, or a shoulder strip in the city, spread flower soil and sow seeds and plant bulbs. Also complete ‘seedbombs’ are available – mostly online. These are little pellets made of compost, clay and the according seeds, which only have to be thrown on the open space. To be considered when practicing guerilla gardening is, that not every sowing is ecologically worthwhile. Therefore you should inform yourself previously (e.g. on the internet, with books or at environmental and conservation organizations).

Self-harvesting gardens (garden sharing) are a relatively new version that finds more and more supporters. The fundament of this kind of gardening is a big field of a farmer that is divided into small parcels of land in different sizes. It is possible to rent these for a year or longer. Of the plowing, planting and sometimes even the watering is taken care of by the farmer, while the maintenance and harvest is the duty of the tenants. Especially for beginners, who have only little knowledge of plant cultivation, these kinds of gardens are a worthwhile alternative.

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