Gardens in Retiro – Madrid

Retiro is a district belonging to the city of Madrid and organized into the neighborhoods of Pacífico, Adelfas, Estrella, Ibiza, Jerónimos and Niño Jesús. The district is delimited by the Paseo del Prado that establishes the limit with the Centro district; the district of Arganzuela, the districts of Puente de Vallecas and Moratalaz and the district of Salamanca, whose orchards we already know about.

The name surely sounds familiar to you, since the district is known for the famous Retiro Park, popularly known as El Retiro, a 125-hectare park and one of the most significant places in the Spanish capital. It is not only one of the lungs of Madrid, but also offers culture, leisure and sports to locals and visitors. Among its most important architectural and historical elements are: the Estanque Grande where you can practice rowing, the Palacio de Velázquez and the Palacio de Cristal, both currently used as exhibition halls. Right inside this fabulous park is the first of today’s orchards,so let’s not wait any longer and let’s see it!

URBAN ORCHARDS IN RETIRO

The Retreat Garden

It is an Information and Environmental Education Center of the Madrid City Council, located in the Jardines del Buen Retiro, next to the Viveros de Estufas. In this space, an environmental education program is developed focused on ecological agriculture and gardening, on knowledge of the natural, social and cultural values ​​of the Buen Retiro Gardens and on promoting more environmentally responsible behavior among the population. ambient.

The Huerto del Retiro is made up of several plots:

– Citizen garden, in which 50 people work, learn and share experiences in the garden for a full year. The educational team of the orchard advises the participants on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings.

– Family garden, in which every Sunday of the year the families enjoy the crops.

– School garden, which receives all the schools that visit us and works in a special way with the centers of the Network of school organic gardens.

– Garden of the Institute of Addictions, which is used as a therapeutic tool.

– Garden -laboratory, where participants in the training courses on organic farming can experience everything they have learned.

– Garden of “We are nature-making a garden”, an educational project by La Casa Encendida for the transformation of an urban space.

Our colleague from Agrohuerto, Dani Horcajo, was visiting it last summer, so if you want to know more about this garden, read the article « The urban garden of El Retiro »

Oleander community garden

After the Los Pinos Retiro Sur Neighborhood Association prepared several video forums and meetings to contact neighbors interested in developing a project and presenting it to the District Municipal Board, the orchard was inaugurated in May 2010.

The orchard was installed in an abandoned and degraded area that has been recovered for use. Since its inauguration, the orchard has been operating continuously thanks to a group of 50 people, of which 15 are responsible for making it more dynamic.

In addition to the maintenance and care of the garden, several «open garden» days have been organized in which many people gather to do the heaviest work and eat together in the garden and various environmental education activities in collaboration with the School Public Calvo Sotelo. In addition, a group of seniors from the Luis Peidró Senior Center and their monitors are in charge of watering many mornings.

SCHOOL ORCHARDS IN RETIRO

As we have seen in other articles, every day more schools in Madrid incorporate the garden as an educational tool in their projects. In Retiro we find two school gardens:

CEIP City of Rome

The school garden has been in operation since the 2009/10 academic year. It is located in the schoolyard inside the metal structure of a greenhouse located between the gym and the primary classrooms.

The great reception of this new resource by the educational community has led to an increase in the range of activities related to the vegetable garden. Workshops are held for adults in the afternoon and at noon and for children only in the afternoon.

In addition to the «open doors» days of the garden in December, where a hot chocolate is made, and in May, during the Spring Festival, all the primary classes visit the garden during school hours with their teachers.

AMPA offers various workshops during the school year as extracurricular activities in the garden through Germinando.

The Garden without a Door of Montserrat School

La Huerta sin Puerta is a project of Colegio Fuhem Montserrat open to the participation of the entire educational community through its working group.The Association of Families of Students through its Ecosocial Area, actively collaborates in the working group.

The objective is to achieve, together, that the Montserrat orchard space is a sustainable environment of contact with nature and active learning for all the students of the school.
They are coordinated through regular technical and planning meetings. On Wednesdays from 3 to 5 p.m., any family member of students can come to the garden to find out what is being done there, and propose ideas or collaborate on tasks.Families can send their ideas about the garden through the email of the eco-social area of ​​the AFA, everyone is invited to participate.

That is all for today. You already know the Retiro orchards, so if one of them catches you nearby, don’t hesitate to visit them, it’s sure to be worth it. Until next time!