EDIBLE ESTATES regional prototype garden

The Edible Estate was established on a highly visible triangular lawn in front of the Brookwood Estate. This rare green space is fenced off and was previously unused.

Twenty-four units at Brookwood and another sixteen in Lancaster House (another council estate) all face the triangle. Placing the garden here meant that everyone would be watching: the local gardeners would perform for their neighbors. In the centre of the dense city, the production of food would become a public spectacle.

Initially many residents were sceptical about the prospects of such a garden in this location, and they feared it would be vandalized. But there is a school across the street, which insures a steady flow of children past the garden. It was the children of the council estates who were the most excited about the garden and eager to get their hands in the dirt over the course of the three days of planting.

This garden is intended as a new model for urban agriculture. It is not a true community garden (or “allotment,” as the popular practice is referred to in Britain) with separate private plots for each gardener. It is one holistic design that also integrates spaces where people may gather; a pleasure garden made up entirely of edibles. Those who tend it will eat from it.