Urban agriculture takes root at a community garden in the German capital

For sixty years, an empty space gathered garbage in a section of Berlin's Kreuzberg district. In 2009, over a hundred volunteers cleaned the area of two tons of trash to make way for a community garden. Today, Prinzessinnengärten (Princess Gardens) is a thriving urban agricultural project, providing fresh, organic produce for Berlin residents and a space to come together to learn more about organic food production, biodiversity and climate protection.

The Prinzessinnengarten initiative is the brainchild of Nomadisch Grun (Nomadic Green), a local nonprofit that transforms unused spaces such as buildingsites, car parks and roofs into productive, mobile gardens. That means that everything about the garden is movable. The plants are planted in old milk packs, rice bags and plastic containers from bakeries.

In addition to the massive garden, the 22,000 square-foot space contains a library filled with gardening books and a temporary building made of recycled materials.

Cheers to Nomadic Green for this successful reclamation of wasted space. Keep on growing!

Photos: Prinzessinnengarten/Flickr