Bostanie Social Garden — the first urban garden in Skopje, North Macedonia

The first citizens' community garden in North Macedonia, in the Novo Lisiče park in Skopje. The civic association The Green Ark prepared it over two years from late 2019, opened it in August 2021, and opened it to the general public on 2 May 2022. The name "Bostanie" fuses "bostan" (a Turkish-derived word for cucurbits) with "vostanie" (uprising).

Members each hold their own raised bed and grow vegetables there. Training and workshops cover the basics of gardening, composting, plant care and seasonal cultivation. The garden deliberately mixes ages and cultures, and outdoor film screenings have been planned. Its founders call it a "social garden" rather than an "urban garden", to signal that knowledge and experience are exchanged horizontally between peers.

Built inside the municipally owned park in Novo Lisiče under a City of Skopje project, "Development of the First Urban Garden in the City of Skopje", with two million denars of support from the city budget. The Municipality of Aerodrom, the public enterprise "Parks and Greenery", the Faculty of Forestry, the Construction Institute and several companies took part. Beyond money, the city supplies hands-on training in sustainable gardening from qualified specialists.

In a country with no established municipal framework for urban gardens, this is the first citizens' garden created through a city grant. Around fifty people garden here regularly, and training in composting and plant care is spreading horticultural knowledge locally. Its organisers hope the practice will spread to other cities in North Macedonia.

Web articles and features that cover this case.

• ArticleBostanie Cooperative Garden in capital of North Macedonia teaches young people gardening (Meta.mk) ↗meta.mk

This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.

• OfficialОпштествената градина „Бостание“ — Град Скопје (環境保護) ↗zivotnasredina.skopje.gov.mk