The 5 most colourful urban gardens in Hamburg

The Gartendeck blossomed again, new and fresh, in April 2019 on a green area behind the former Israelite Hospital in Simon-von-Utrecht-Strasse in the middle of St. Pauli. It had previously spent more than seven years on the roof of an underground car park in Grosse Freiheit. The neighbourhood foregathers here to plant, design and network internationally together. The Gartendeck is funded by everyone who gardens there.

A lot of urban gardening projects use and cultivate wastelands. Not so the Keimzelle in the Karolinenviertel. Instead, a collective planted up the public green space in the heart of the busy district, giving an exemplary demonstration of how participation projects can work even in densely populated quarters and can improve them. The garden now melds seamlessly with a small park at the foot of Marktstrasse.

Strawberries, Swiss chard, Welsh onion, lemon balm, beetroot, oakleaf lettuce, peppers, beans, kohlrabi, squash – and many more types of produce are served up to Peter Grauvogel and his friends from Barmbek. The cross-generational FuhlsGarden runs shared cooking evenings and garden parties in company with members and visitors.

The Kultur Energie Bunker Altona Projekt is an association that aims to revitalise another useless bunker in a backyard on Schomburgstrasse. The design includes arts and culture rooms for locals and a modern generator for renewable district heating and electricity. And is there a better way for an initiative’s people to get acquainted than by gardening together at the foot of the bunker? Sharpen garden claws and get going!

‘Grau trifft grün’ makes and sells mobile gardens, for example as raised beds or in other containers. The mobile vegetation can be used temporarily to liven up ugly roofs, backyards or commercial premises in the city. An especially cool feature is that the Stiftung Hamburger Initiative’s greening project offers a chance to take a hand in gardening to people who are partially or wholly unable to work due to mental illness.