48 Practical: Gardening

www.connexionfrance.com

The Connexion

May 2014

The site has changed immensely since it was just some scrubby grass beside the HLMs ... and then the residents took it over for a garden

by KEN SEATON A LITTLE over three years ago a plot of land in one of the poorer arrondissements of Paris was lying neglected and used only by prosti­ tutes and drug dealers – now it has been turned into a thriving com­ munity garden that is bringing people from the very mixed local community together. The Clos Garcia garden sits beside a school, some HLM social housing and the eastern Péri­ pherique in an area of the 20th arrondissement that has been bedevilled with social problems. In 2010 the local mairie, the RIVP social housing group and the Ville de Paris opted to try some­ thing new: to offer the chance to set up a jardin partagé, community garden. Mark Yates, a 70-year-old British resident, attended the first meeting and he and local council­ lor Colette Stephan started putting the project together. Now, their garden off Rue Christino Garcia is a local feature much cherished by many of the residents who use the small raised beds to grow strawberries, toma­ toes, apples, pears and kiwi fruit – anything that can be made to fit in a box 2m x 1m. It is also a useful quiet and wel­ coming spot for residents to meet and chat or to soak up the sun – and has monthly activities for peo­ ple to meet and share a drink.

People took pride in what they were growing...

Photos: Colette Stephan and Mark Yates

Paris community garden plan is a blooming success

Then the first fruit and veg were planted...

Garden visitor Elaine Carrick and dog Georgie enjoy the peace and the colours of Clos Garcia Mr Yates said: “The mairie, the RIVP and the Ville de Paris were really generous and what surprised me was that they were willing to put such a large budget of e45,000 into such a small operation. It was really effective and impressed me. “The effect is two-fold: you are offering little bits of garden – tiny, ridiculously small really – but

imagine the effect on people living in a HLM with no balcony or any­ thing. They come down, plant a few seeds and see something grow. It really impresses them. “Parents bring children and they come in and dig – and are all sur­ prised when they find a worm because they didn’t know worms lived down there.

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Children come and dig and they are all surprised when they find a worm because they didn’t know worms lived down there

Colette Stephan and Mark Yates are the leading lights of the Clos Garcia garden

Mark Yates at Clos Garcia

“They have seen nothing but concrete all their lives.” He added: “We’ve got an extremely mixed ethnic back­ ground here and a mix of ages and the garden does give an area where they can come together and meet each other. “I’m surprised that there’s no vandalism but we’ve only had a couple of problems and it’s a pleas­ ant surprise.” The garden measures about 500m2 and will soon double in size as the RIVP has offered more space just beside it. “That will allow us to get more towards Colette’s dream of a shared garden where people can work together. “The raised beds are looked after individually by people who pay the e20 annual fee and the new space will have strips of garden that will be cared for by groups of people.” However, for one of the garden’s driving forces Mr Yates has reso­ lutely refused to get his hands dirty in doing any gardening. “It was my only condition when they asked me to be president...” Get more information on the Clos Garcia and perhaps some ideas for your own community garden at http://closgarcia.free.fr/

... and the garden took on some colour

This is the next phase of the Clos Garcia plan