• Kristina and her daughter tending to the raised garden beds in a German playground
By
Kristina Ulm
While Sydney is going from spring to summer, we just finished our growing season for this year in Germany.
We, that is, I and some neighbours have been gardening in raised beds next to a playground.
How did we do it?
AND WHY COULD PUBLIC GARDENING BE A GREAT OPTION FOR YOU, TOO?
Living for years in Sydney and gardening alongside Michael I was inspired by the Chippendale street verge gardens. Anyone can enjoy the beauty of flowering nasturtiums, pick a few fresh herbs and chat to neighbours about the newest plants growing. And if you like to garden along, too, you get some exercise out in fresh air, connecting to nature. So why couldn’t we do this in Germany?
Well, in Sydney, and in Australia in general, street gardens are more common and, thus, many councils have a form of nature strip gardening or footpath gardening policy.
The shady lanes website gives an Australia wide overview.
In Germany, I currently live in a small town in the black forest, Villingen-Schwenningen. There are fenced off allotment gardens, but I have never seen footpath gardening like in Chippendale.
• Raised garden bed with strawberries in a public space
In summer 2022, I walked past a raised garden bed on a public square, full of strawberries! The sign said “Gardening Together” and explained how some local neighbours are taking care of this space.
Online, I found that the council’s Green Open Space Department is responsible for this project and gave them a call. I was surprised to find out, that they not only approve of this public gardening but even provide the raised garden beds filled with soil for free!
We agreed for them to bring us some raised garden beds next to our local playground for the beginning of the next gardening season, in April 2023. I put flyers around the neighbourhood asking who would be interested to join. A few people contacted me and together we arranged with council for the best location on the playground. Two of the gardening families live in apartments and really appreciated that they got a space to garden next to them.
• Garden beds filled with soil were delivered for free by council
We could plant what each of us liked. Everyone decided to plant mostly edible plants. We had sage, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, beetroot, strawberries, pumpkin and nasturtium.
Having a garden on a playground is a great opportunity to teach kids about how food grows! They could watch the tomatoes ripen and the pumpkin climb along the fence. Some kids had never seen nasturtium before, and they were telling each other that you can eat the leaves and even the flowers.
• Veggies and flowering nasturtium on our playground
We met new people while gardening together on the playground, learned some gardening tips from each other and taught local kids about food growing.
Today’s children are the future adults shaping our world. Therefore, learning early about the value of nature and real food is important for that future.
Learning early on about the value of nature and real food is important for achieving a sustainable future.
Everyone of us can play a part and start gardening with our local community.
Why not next to a playground?
Kristina Ulm
Kristina Ulm advocates for healthy cities for people and planet. She is an urban planner pursuing a PhD on public gardening at UNSW. In her free time, she enjoys gardening or cycling in nature and being creative. Get in touch on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinaulm/) or k.ulm@unsw.edu.au.
All images are the author’s.