Slides from a talk on urban gardening given as part of the Limerick Lifelong Learning festival on March 23, 2013. We showcased our UL Community Rooftop Garden before and after the talk.

1. Urban Gardening
Where, why, who

2. Outline
 Why gardening in a city?
 The UL Community Roof Garden
 Other community gardens in Limerick
 Related projects
 What’s happening elsewhere
 Urban gardening media resources

3. 5 reasons for urban gardening
 Fresh food,
produced locally
 Recycling organic
waste
 Working outdoors
 Using existing
resources
 Community
interaction

5. Who we are and how it works
 The idea for the UL Community Roof Garden
was initiated by the Environmental
Committee and was designed and
constructed by Buildings & Estates during
the remediation work on the space which
had began to leak into the lecture theatre
below.
 A group of enthusiastic volunteers from
across the campus community came
together during the Autumn 2012 semester
to discuss how best to utilise the space.

6. Principles and aspirations
 The roof garden is for everyone and will be open to
all.
 It will be a space where people can come to learn
and teach about gardening as well as a place for
relaxation.
 You can participate in all or only a selection of
activities.
 There will be a variety of plants including
vegetables, flowers, fruits and herbs.
 It will have colour and foliage throughout the
seasons.

7. Principles and aspirations(2)
 It will be a model for urban farming and develop
outreach activities.
 It will operate under the guidance of an expert
gardener who will set the work schedule each
week.
 Other leadership roles will be identified as the need
emerges.
 All tasks and organised sessions will be posted on
the blog.
 It is experimental, we are learning as we go.
 If you want to get involved, just show up for the next
gardening session.

9. King’s Island Community Garden
 The initiative
came from the
community
 The Civic Trust
put the idea into
practice, with
the support of
Limerick
Regeneration
and FAS

10. Southill Area Centre
Community Garden

11. Moyross Community Garden

12. More urban gardens:
 Ballinacurra Weston Residents Alliance:
established a community garden in memory of
a resident that had passed away.
 St. Saviours Community Group Ltd.:
Proposals have been drawn up to commence a
community garden including a veg patch,
honeymaking, preserve making and a city
egg farm.
(Source: Limerick.ie)

13. Limerick’s First City Orchard
Limerick Learning Hub – at the initiative of
DiarmuidNeilan (Ekotree) planted 180 trees
in 2012

14. Orchards for everyone
http://limerickriverbanks.org Irish Times, 2 Mar 2013

15. Urban Tree Project
 Castletroy View
 Initiated by Deirdre
Power and
JackiHehir
 Urban Forrest-
Baggot Estate
 70 trees
https://www.facebook.com/UrbanTreeProject?

16. Wildroutes No. 1 Perry Sq
http://wildroutes.weebly.com/ http://www.valskitchen.com/

17. Nearby

18. Cloughjordan
http://www.thevillage.ie/

19. The Irish Seed Savers Association
http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/

20. Hack the City - Guerilla Gardening
http://sciencegallery.com/events/2012/07/mobile-garden-janice-steadman

21. Dublin Urban Farm
http://www.urbanfarm.ie

22. Elsewhere…

23. Guerilla Grafters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0osO1_FR_24

24. Gotham Greens, NY
http://inhabitat.com/nyc/top-5-urban-farms-in-new-york-city/

25. Hongkong rooftop gardens
http://www.hkfarm.org/home.html

26. Media resources

27. Detroit – Urban Roots, the movie
http://www.urbanrootsamerica.com/urbanrootsamerica.com/Home.html

28. Edible City – Oakland, CA
http://ediblecitythemovie.com/

29. TED: Ron Finley - A guerilla
gardener in South Central LA
http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south
_central_la.html

30. https://www.facebook.com/GrowFoodNotLawns?

31.  Free resource
 Written for
British
Columbia
http://www.refbc.com/urban-farming-guidebook

32. Thank you!
Gabriela.avram@ul.ie
@gabig58