Kinder gestalten ihren Naschgarten (Children make their own garden)

The “garden” is an 8,000 square metre plot located in the centre of Holzminden in the living environment of the target population. The residential area consists mostly of small apartments without gardens. In this project, the children are actively involved in planning and designing their living environment, thereby learning and acquiring new skills. Not only are the ideas and the planning of the “garden” up to the children, but also its maintenance; they were responsible for tasks like cultivation and harvesting of fruit and vegetables. The implementation began in 2008 with a children’s party, which also consisted of action planning with joint brainstorming among the children supported by the city council of Holzminden. Each participating institution was given their own garden plot in April/May 2008. The design and planting of plots began following the principle that “Ideas are generated while doing,” leading to a constantly evolving and changing plan for the garden as it was being constructed. Among other plants, berry bushes, fruit trees, herbs and pumpkins were planted in the garden.

Since then, different crops (pumpkin, potatoes etc.) have been planted in the garden. For funding, the project was sponsored between 2007 and 2009 by the University of Fulda. There is also a decision-making committee that meets twice a year that plans and examines all of the activities regarding the garden.