Miraflores is an urban garden, located right in the middle of a residential area. The garden is dedicated to the cultivation of fruits and vegetables but is also a training place that welcomes schools, universities, or professionals to train them in organic farming and good practices in the garden.
Urban garden
Miraflores Garden
Associacion de Hortelanos « Las moreras »
In the 1980s
Avenue las Asociaciones de Vecinos, 21, Norte, 41008 Seville
The Miraflores garden was born from a citizen mobilization and the “pro tree” committee that acted in the 1980s to plant trees in this abandoned site. The place was neglected and was becoming a dump, which is why the residents decided to turn it into a park. The “pro trees” committee also wanted to fight against the local government, which wanted to build in this space, the garden being located in a residential area. Thanks to their mobilization, the government abandoned plans to urbanize this area and turned it into one of the largest metropolitan parks in Seville.
When the park was created by the government, there was no longer any reason for this collective to exist, so it transformed into the gardening association “Las Moreras.”. Today, this shared garden is among the oldest in Seville. It is located in a residential area, along the Guadalquivir, which allows it to easily water the garden
One of the main objectives of the Miraflores garden is the sharing of knowledge and the exchange of best practices: the Miraflores garden is an educational garden and this desire to learn and to pass on knowledge ensures the longevity of the garden.
Several activities are being implemented for this :
The volunteers thus welcome students in the garden and also visit shared gardens in other countries to draw inspiration from their practices.
The garden also receives gardeners and schools to show how it is organized, particularly regarding water consumption for watering. Seville is very regularly affected by drought episodes, especially in the summer, so the Miraflores garden has developed a more rational watering system. Thus, the garden is watered only 2.5 days a week, that is, every other day and alternately: half of the garden is watered on the first day and the other half on the other day.
The water is taken from the Guadalquivir, which is why there is a desire not to consume too much water. Not only is this practice ecological, but it is also economical since the garden only pays 30 euros per year for its water consumption.
Also, the garden offers families the opportunity to rent a room in their garden and stay there for a week. By staying on the garden site all week, families can see how the gardeners and volunteers take care of the garden, how they organize themselves to maintain the plots, etc.
Finally, to ensure the garden’s longevity, the garden values the experience, and this is evident in the distribution of the plots. Indeed, each plot has an area of 8m X 10m and corresponds to one gardener. But experienced gardeners who have been cultivating for several years can have 2 plots. This practice is clever because it values motivated and diligent gardeners and ensures the proper maintenance of the garden.
This desire to be a place of learning was present from the very beginning of the garden. However, what is truly interesting about this garden is its constant evolution, linked to the encounters made by the gardeners and volunteers, particularly during their trips abroad. For example, the garden that practices organic farming is now trying to develop permaculture, and for this, the volunteers are gathering information and visiting gardens that already use it.
This educational dimension of the garden offers numerous advantages:
first of all, thanks to continuous training and the learning of good practices, the garden is sustainable. There is no abandonment of the site nor decline, despite constraints such as drought, for example.
Moreover, by valuing the experience of gardeners who have been around for a long time, it helps to retain them and keep them motivated. By granting them a second plot, the garden shows that the volunteers trust them to ensure proper maintenance. Moreover, by promoting the transmission of knowledge and training, it is easier for the garden and the association to welcome new gardeners. To date, the garden has 280 plots.
The objective of the Gardeniser Academy project is to support the development of community gardens in Europe by offering online training contents tailored to the needs and expectations of gardeners all over Europe.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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