Workplace vegetable gardens is increasing in popularity and builds upon an increasing trend of vertical and rooftop gardens, at-home growing and community gardening
There are many appealing factors of having a communal sustainable veggie patch in a workspace.
The benefits of growing and harvesting your own food does not have to only happen at home or at your community garden.
Have you thought about growing food at work?
Benefits of growing edibles in the office:
- Plants help purify the air by absorbing pollutants. They can also reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. High levels of CO2 can cause headaches, drowsiness and difficulty concentrating.
- Optimise unused spaces: balconies or otherwise unutilised indoor and outdoor spaces.
- Provides an incentive to staff to get up from their desks, to observe, care and interact with the plants.
- Spending time with nature is scientifically linked to enhanced well-being. Exposure to nature can lower cortisol levels (stress hormones), improve mood, and increase feelings of happiness and relaxation. Even short durations of exposure, like a few minutes, can be beneficial.
- Encourages staff to begin growing food at home as well as eating fresh seasonal produce.
- Fosters staff community connectedness and positive relationships.
Individual Employee Gardens: Encouraging personal connection with nature by allocating individual garden spaces for each employee, promoting responsibility and care for their personalized green areas within the office environment.
- Consciousness. It feels so good to be able to create meals with what we’ve grown ourselves.
- Products for ones own salad.
What conditions are needed:
- An indoor or outdoor area that receives at least 5-6 hours of natural sunlight per day.
- Ideally north-facing, floor to ceiling windows (or windowsills for smaller plant
- Raised garden beds or pots.
- A coordinator or designated team to ensure ongoing maintenance of the garden.
What to grow:
- Salad leaves and greens (lettuce, spinach, silverbeet, herbs) = ideal for beginners, suitable for indoor or outdoor with low light.
- Roots (carrot, parsnip, beetroot) = suitable for indoor or outdoor.
- Fruit trees = can be potted, ideal for balconies or deck areas.
https://foodfromhome.org/2021/04/16/gardening-and-greenery-in-the-workplace-a-workers-retreat/
https://sustainableurbandelta.com/12-restaurants-growing-their-own-food/
When the basis of life, food, comes from our own garden, this not only gives an enormous appreciation and a direct reference to what lands on the plate, but also an unbelievable satisfaction.
https://kraut-kopf.de/self-sufficiency-vegetable-garden/?lang=en
