What is an urban garden

You have probably heard about the urban garden more than once, but you may have doubts about the definition of that term. Doubts that of course I will solve for you because it is very interesting to grow our own food.

So if you want to know what is an urban garden, when it originated and much more, this article is for you.

Table of Contents

  • 1 What is it?
  • 2 Where are you from?
  • 3 What types are there?

What is it?

Vegetable garden in garden

An urban garden is a space for the cultivation of aromatic, medicinal and horticultural plants for home consumption; In other words, a rather small number of specimens of different species are cultivated, since the objective is for a family to have a supply of food – in this case, plant food – for at least a few months.

Often there is not much space to care for these plants, as more and more people live in flats or small houses. But that does not matter: there are many that can be grown in pots, such as peppers, tomatoes, lettuces, aromatic, and even if you have a large pot – at least 40 cm in diameter – you can plant watermelons, melons. , and … anything.

Where are you from?

The domestication of horticultural plants started during the Neolithic Revolution, more than 9000 years ago. At that time, hominids became sedentary nomads, since especially women began sowing seeds of edible plants near the caves. Many of them could be saved for times of scarcity, so that this allowed them to develop a more secure mode of economy.

Much later, during World War II in the United States and Europe vegetables began to be grown in cities. In the Old Continent, this system was renamed “victory gardens” or “war gardens”, since many countries, not being able to depend on imports, had to cultivate their plants to avoid starvation.

From the 60s on, urban gardens took on a lot of strength thanks to the environmental movements of the time, not so much for the need to feed oneself (which also), but as a way to go against the use of pesticides and other chemical (and toxic) products that harm the environment.

What types are there?

There are several types of urban gardens:

  • One of them is the one located in the city but usually on the outskirts. What some city councils do with these lands is to give them to those interested citizens in exchange for a small rent. In Andalusia (Spain) for example I know that this is done a lot.
  • Others of the types are those that are in gardens and patios.
  • And finally, there are those that are made on balconies and terraces.
Tomato garden

As you can see, the domestication of plants is a fascinating subject.

What is an urban garden

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