Urban gardens are coming up fast in Madrid

The boom of urban gardens started a few years ago. For some time now, people have been much more concerned about the food we eat – where it comes from, how it has been grown or produced and whether aggressive substances were used.

Think back to the campaign against palm oil: most people didn’t know about it before then, but it managed to create opposition to anything that contained it.

In one way or another, it helped make it more common to find someone reading labels in supermarkets, or deciding to be self-sufficient and grow their own vegetables to have greater control over their food is produced.

In Madrid, there is an large network of urban gardens, in almost all neighbourhoods – from Fuencarral to Vicálvaro, Carabanchel and Moncloa – Aravaca, of varying sizes.

The Madrid City Council has a municipal program managed by the Environment and Mobility department where different activities are carried out and support the many citizen initiatives that have emerged in recent years with the development of urban gardens.

Today, the includes up to 42 orchards and many plots are being remodelled to be able to accomodate more. Although everything is managed by the communities themselves, the City Council provides support through training and advice, delivering seedlings from municipal nurseries and providing plots of land.

This passion for knowing where our food comes from and caring for it day by day is also passed on to children as an educational activity. Madrid City Council has school gardens so that children can learn about the whole process of how a courgette or some lettuce gets to their plate.

Categories: Madrid Ocio