Urbana Bašta Podgorica — Montenegro's first urban community garden

A volunteer-run community garden in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Its symbiotic plan combines a food forest with market-garden areas, and the official site describes it as the largest ground-level community garden in Europe. Growing follows permaculture methods — regenerative agriculture, no-dig beds and cover cropping.

Rather than renting out plots to members, the garden runs on volunteering: local residents and expatriates work the ground together. The official site publishes running counters for volunteer days, seedlings planted, trees and bushes planted, and crates of food donated.

A joint effort of the City of Podgorica and the NGO Paradigma, run day to day by volunteers. The greenhouse was provided through a US Embassy project; trees, seeds and seedlings, and food for volunteers, come from local individuals and businesses. The harvest goes to the volunteers and, year round, to disadvantaged families through local humanitarian organisations.

In a country with few precedents for urban gardening, a city and an NGO together sustained a large citizens' garden. Because part of the harvest reaches struggling households through humanitarian organisations, it functions as food aid as well as green space, and it is explicitly framed as a place where residents pick up gardening and other skills.

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

• OfficialAbout — Urbana Bašta Podgorica (公式) ↗urbanabasta.me