Hola a todos, hello everyone
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the urban garden in Sofia. My hosts were Natasha Marinova and Katya Nikolova, also members of the Green School Village association, who took me to the place and told me about the history of the project, how did they start, their activities and also about the plants that are there. Below you find the whole conversation:
It all started in 2018 when a group of people gathered together and start an urban garden, after searching for an emplacement for their project, they found a spot in the middle of a parking lot. They needed to prepare the terrain and get the space ready to plant. They had the support of sponsors to build the infrastructure as the fence and the storage place because there is needed some initial capital. Since the prepartion took more than expected, they thought that it was going to be difficult to get more people interested in joining the project and that nothing would grow, but luckily it did not happen, they found the people and plants started growing. The space consists of 20 parcels of 8 m2 each and a common area for tools and activities.
Everyone in this new small community was very enthusiastic and willing to make it stonger and to collaborate with others that even the neighbors started to show some interest in the project. Since the beggining they had a good relationship with a man next to them who had a green house and he allowed them to collect rain water in some containers to irrigate the garden. However, now the green house has been removed, so they will need to think about another strategy for next season.
They organize themselves in monthly meetings during the year where they decide about the challenges and they informe the others if they are going to continue next year and, even if many people is leaving for other projects, they always have found new people who want to become part of this journey. New people not always have plenty of knowledge about agriculture or gardening, but Natasha and Katya are available to provide some guidance and advices. People end up by having many different styles for gardening and it is surprisingly nice to see how newcomers come up with creativity and start doing some research and their plot becomes sometimes richer and greener and they become tutors for new people in the garden.
“There is nothing dissapointing in the garden” – Katya
This garden is an oasis in the city, a green sprinkle of life and biodiversity that invites people to get closer to nature and to explore their gardening skills and to share time with people with the same interests. They agreed to grow everything in an organic way with no chemical pesticides or fertilizers, so all parcels are in harmony one with another. When the weather is nice, they organize some BBQ to celebrate their achievements and to spend some time together. Nowadays more neighbors are part of the Urban Garden, what makes them stay longer in the project since they can visit it many times a week and take care of their vegetables and plants. That is why it would be great for every neighborhood to have an urban garden where people can gather, build a stronger community and, of course, enjoy and harvest their own food.
Every time Natasha walks around in the city and sees an empty space, she dreams about how could it be converted into a garden and all the possibilities of that place. Sadly, this is still not considered as a public initiative and it is complicated to work together with the municipality since it is not allowed to start gardens in public places. They keep working on this initiative and there is another project in mind that they will share with us when it all comes to reality.
When I asked about what challenges have they faced, they told me that they have not found big problems and even people approach them to ask about the initiative and ask them about some tips for growing better and longlasting tomatoes. Even if 8 m2 can seem small, it allows to develop other skills and to keep it realizable, without getting overwhelmed by many things to do. Small becomes big and it is an invitation to everyone to start gardening and do not be afraid of failure, there is always something to learn.
“There is always option for learning, for growing in scale and in skills” – Katya.
Here, in their Facebook page, you can find out more about their project and see the colors of the garden in the season https://www.facebook.com/GradinaEdnoSofia, so if you are in Sofia, do not hesitate to contact them !
That is all for now, thanks for reading !
Hasta pronto,
Juliana
