Trade fair promotes urban gardening in nordic cities
Urban gardening is becoming a hot topic in Sweden as more people in cities want to try growing.
Over the weekend Stockholm hosted the Nordic Garden Trade Fair where one theme was gardening in cities.
The biggest gardening trade fair in the north is a place for farms and manufacturers to show their gardening goods. Stalls featured seeds, plants, sausages, grills, and – for more luxurious gardens – riding mowers and hot tubs. But one showroom features a garden in a shopping cart and a hydroponic bathtub. At the “Rum Utan Ramar” stand, or the Room without frames, Ulrika Flodin Furås met visitors interested in urban gardening.
“It’s about sustainability in the cities,” she said. “How we can maintain a good environment mentally within ourselves and also in nature.”
City gardens
Flodin Furås was set to speak about her own verdant creation in central Stockholm in a seminar about city gardens. She said that she had trouble getting her apartment garden approved by her co-op board, but the naysayers were swayed by homegrown potatoes.
“We started anyway. We did a bit of guerilla gardening,” she said.
The Rum Utan Ramar was shared by Stina Balkfors who works for Tillitsverket, a group that maintains a community garden on Ingarö in the Stockholm archipelago. Balkfors said they had recreated their garden at the trade fair and people were using it to escape from the bustle.
“It’s very nice to see that people actually take their time to sit down,” she said.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Addressing northern food insecurity, Blog by Heather Exner-Pirot
Finland: Russian food import ban halts Finnish lorries at the border, Yle News
Greenland: Researchers must be honest with Arctic peoples about food contaminants: doctor, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Nordic diet a heart-smart alternative, Radio Sweden
Russia: Russian sanctions put tons of Swedish cheese in peril, Radio Sweden
Sweden: Demand ups Sweden’s reindeer meat prices, Radio Sweden
United States: Farm flourishes on Alaska tundra, Alaska Dispatch
