Villa de Vallecas and its Urban Gardens

The orchards in Villa de Vallecas. After talking about the orchards in the Puente de Vallecas District in Madrid, we could not leave out its neighbor, Villa de Vallecas. This district is administratively organized into two neighbourhoods: Historic Center of Vallecas and Santa Eugenia which, together, have 92,794 inhabitants.

Neighborhoods of the Villa de Vallecas District in Madrid (Source: Wikipedia)

The district borders with: The municipalities of Rivas-Vaciamadrid and Getafe to the south, the district of Vicálvaro to the east, the district of Puente de Vallecas to the north and the district of Villaverde to the west, separated from Villa de Vallecas by the Manzanares River.

This district is in full expansion, since the Ensanche de Vallecas has been built to the south of the old town. This expansion continues to be part of the old town from an administrative point of view, although it can be considered as one more neighborhood of the district. Let’s get to know your orchards!

Community urban garden of AV La Colmena de Santa Eugenia

The La Colmena Neighborhood Association created a community urban garden on a disused plot of approximately 100 m ², located in front of the entrance to the Santa Eugenia soccer field, with the aim of creating a healthy leisure space and involving the neighborhood in environmental activities.

Everyone prepares the land and the cultivation terraces, the irrigation, the plantations, the harvest, etc. An ecological garden, which provides food with all the flavor of the countryside, through agricultural practices that respect the environment, without the use of chemical treatments, with ecological farming techniques, optimizing water and resources.

Location of the AV La Colmena orchard in the Santa Eugenia neighborhood (Source: gardensantaeugenia.blospot.com)

Cultivation terraces in the Santa Eugenia orchard in Villa de Vallecas (Source:burguesasantaeugenia.blogspot.com)

THERAPEUTIC ORCHARDS: Ensanche de Vallecas Residence

The Community of Madrid installed a therapeutic leisure garden in the Ensanche de Vallecas nursing home to create healthy habits and environmental behaviors, through family and attractive activities for the people who live there.

For the development of this project, the Ministry of the Environment and Territory Planning supplies the seedlings and plants necessary for the creation of the orchards.

In addition, the participants are involved in a project called «senior researchers», so in addition to caring for the garden, they fill out forms with data on the phenological observations of the plants, production data and data on the tasting of the vegetables they produce. the orchard.

The residence also participates in a series of tastings and talks in which the virtues of Madrid products such as oil, olives, tomato, melon, cheese and honey are analyzed and explained, as well as topics such as nutrition and new cuisine for elderly, an activity carried out in collaboration with IMIDRA.

It is an activity that keeps our elders active and that allows them to continue learning new work techniques, as well as enjoying first-quality food grown by themselves. It also makes it possible to improve the quality of life of residents, promoting outings to outdoor spaces, and enhancing their personal abilities.

School gardens in Villa de Vallecas

The Garden of the Villa (CEIP JUAN GRIS)

The creation of an ecological urban school garden is proposed by the Juan Gris School of Early Childhood and Primary Education (CEIP), the Juan Gris 2,000 Association of Parents of Students (AMPA) and the PAU Neighborhood Association of the Ensanche de Vallecas.

Preparing the ground in the Villa garden (Source: elhuertodelavilla.wordpress.com) For years, CEIP Juan Gris has been developing a school garden with early childhood education students, contemplated within the center’s educational project. For a few years, he has been participating in the Agenda 21 School project. From the AMPA it is considered that the creation of a garden has a high educational potential, since it could be extended to the participation of families and have repercussions on students of all stages.

On the other hand, the PAU Neighborhood Association of the Ensanche de Vallecas has spent years invigorating and raising awareness among neighbors in defense of the environment and ecological consumption, and sees the garden as a leisure resource open to the participation of the neighborhood that is incorporates the project both individually and, for example, through the elderly centers in the area.

Location of the Huerto de la Villa (Source: ehuertodelavilla.wordpress.com)

The garden is aimed both at the school community (students, teachers and fathers and mothers) of Colegio Juan Gris as well as at all the neighbors who want to be part of it.

The main objectives of the project are:

Contribute to environmental awareness of the school community and neighbors regarding local and global environmental problems
Promote at school the understanding of the concepts of biodiversity, ecosystems, basic ecology, integration with the environment and respect for the environment
Promote the values of teamwork and mutual cooperation
Bringing students closer to rural and agricultural culture
Generate meeting spaces between the school community and neighbors
Promote optimal use of areas of the neighborhood that are little used and potentially degraded.

Orchard Quijotes with hoes

The ecological garden of Colegio El Quijote is a reduced-scale model of organization and relationships between people and nature, conceived as a key piece of the educational process with incredible potential available to the entire community.

This project is aimed at the entire educational community of the school, understanding as such not only the students and teachers, but also the families, neighbors, associations and groups of the District of Villa de Vallecas.