Residents build community garden in Futian

Participants of Sunday's building workshop pose for a photo.

An idle street corner in Lianhuabei Community, Futian District, was being renovated into a multifunctional community garden by residents from the neighborhoods and horticulture enthusiasts over the weekend.

It is the first community garden designed, built, and maintained by residents in Futian District this year.

The garden, located at the intersection of the side road of Beihuan Boulevard and Yutian Road, was formerly an unattended lot glutted with weeds, stones and nondegradable garbage. Now, it is designed as a pocket garden that features interactions between visitors and plants and humanistic care.

“The garden has a key-hole-shaped flower bed where visitors can stand in the middle of it and get in close to touch the plants. We also chose plants with recognizable scents and textures for the flower boxes along the street to help blind passers-by picture an overview of the garden,” said Zhang Yang, one of the designers of the garden.

Despite the flowery landscapes, the garden will also have vegetable patches, fruit trees and wooden benches for citizens to rest on.

Most of the building materials of the garden, including the bricks used for the borders of flower beds and timber used to build the benches, are recycled from nearby waste transfer stations and construction sites.

Three workshops were organized to involve citizens in the renovation work of the community garden over the weekend, during which they built flower beds, scarified the soil and planted plants at designated areas under the instruction of volunteers and landscape designers.

The area residents worked on at Sunday’s workshop will be renovated into a folding fan-shaped landscape made up of arc-shaped flower beds and paths, which will resemble the Wi-Fi symbol. Perennial and herbal plants, including Miscanthus sinensis (Chinese silver grass), ornamental corn, Pachystachys lutea (golden shrimp flowers), hibiscus and verbena, were planted in the flower beds in transitional order based on their heights, colors, shapes and functions.

A female participant surnamed Zhao living in Lianhuabei Community brought her son and niece to Sunday’s workshop. Both kids showed great enthusiasm for gardening and the renovation work.

“The event is a great getaway for the children during their long summer vacation. I’m happy to see them participating actively in the workshop and gaining a sense of achievement from building flower beds and planting plants. The garden is so conveniently located for my family that we can drop by to see how it is flourishing frequently and if possible do our bit for its maintenance,” said Zhao.

“A volunteer team will be set up for the follow-up maintenance and management of the garden. All residents are welcomed to join in,” said Tan Ruozhi with Friends of Parks, a local nongovernmental organization and one of the organizers of the renovation campaign.

The first community garden of such kind in Shenzhen was built in Yuanling Community, Futian District, last August.

Shenzhen is forging ahead in the landscape renovation of unattended corners, green spaces and roof tops toward the goal of 120 gardens built and governed by community members this year. The gardens will be located in neighborhoods, housing estates, schools, office buildings and parks, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau.