Short talk with: Pedro Medeiros | "Horta à Porta"

Horta da Oliveira

The project Horta à Porta - Hortas Biológicas (EN Garden at the door - Biologic gardens) of the Porto Region, in which Horta da Oliveira is inserted, led Porto Gardens to discover more about this initiative with the help of the superior technician of the municipal administration of the environment, Pedro Medeiros.

This project arises from the need to have more green spaces and a closer contact of the population with Nature. Thus, the Porto Chamber in partnership with Lipor - inter-municipal service of waste management of the great port, have united in the production of organic farming helping to create a balanced ecosystem.

The "Horta à Porta" has about sixty vegetable gardens distributed by the municipalities of the metropolitan area of ​​Porto. By subscribing to the online form available on the official website of the Câmara do Porto, a waiting number for the list is assigned to acquire the plot. It is compulsory to attend a training given by Lipor, besides living near this garden. After these completed steps, it is official the delivery of the growing space to the household, as well as the agricultural practice. At a later stage, a monthly monitoring is carried out by Lipor, in order to ensure biological cultivation.

Pedro Medeiros says that the gardens have several objectives: "One is the family economy, since it is for their own consumption. Social inclusion is also another goal, as there are people from various social classes. Besides being a civic space, where people live together and learn a lot with each other. "

These spaces are constituted by the plots, as well as by shelters that are composed by the organization of materials referring to each number of the field. "One of the things we want to ensure is the organic valorization, that is, the individual composer of each field. On average, each composer makes 300 kg per year, which is also one of Lipor's monthly evaluation criteria. " In case of abandonment of the field, the person in charge is contacted for cleaning and cultivation.

The city of Porto was pioneer in making these kind of gardens, beginning in the year 2003, at the time with the programs called "Local Action 21". The outlying areas of the city had abandoned and sometimes very dirty lands, so the Municipal Directorate for Civil Protection, Environment and Urban Services decided to intervene in these areas. In this sense the first municipal garden to be formed was the Horta de Aldoar (EN Aldoar’s Garden), composed of 14 plots. In 2004 the Horta da Condomínia (Condomínia’s Garden) started with 26 plots, followed by the six municipal gardens.

Horta da Oliveira (Oliveira’s Garden), located in Campanhã, started in September 2017. It has an area of ​​4,200 square meters, with 80 plots for cultivation, presenting itself as one of the largest municipal gardens in the city of Porto. In addition to the plots of citizens, is inserted in this garden the largest plot of the garden that is the basic school Falcão and also a group of scouts.

A curiosity of Horta da Oliveira is the fact that there are areas adapted to people with reduced mobility, which are destined to the IPSS - Private Institution of Social Solidarity of the zone of Campanhã. These are high plots called "high capping tables", that is, they have an efficient water saving system, where the bottom of the growing table is composed of bricks. This system allows watering every three weeks, reducing the growth of weeds. "Not yet activated, but in this section is used vermicomposting, which unlike normal composting that lasts about 300 days, composting of earthworms takes only 60 days, and the fertilizer is produced by earthworms."

"The company's water is a bad irrigation device because it is full of chlorine, so reuse of water with the saving systems that we have irrigation is ensured with many nutrients. In the future our goal is to implement these kinds of efficient water saving systems. "

The species for cultivation are the choice of each responsible for the field, however in the formation that each person stopped, received information on this matter.

"The ideal is on the edges of each field, placing aromatic herbs to bring insects closer, alienating others, and reuse as much space as possible to grow various species." It is visualized several species such as cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, peas, onions, peppers, celery, among others.

The birds are the most assiduous in the attack on the gardens and, therefore, those responsible for their fields have the need to guard against this aspect. They proceed to various traditional methods, such as the introduction of scarecrows, nets and windmills. Ashes and egg shells are an effective method of organic farming to keep insects away from vegetable gardens.

The plots are purchased indefinitely for each lucky, provoking a healthy competition among people who want to keep the spaces taken advantage of in the best way. It is recurrent also to have competitions of the most beautiful vegetable garden, this being a positive aspect in this competition.

Organic farming is a way to improve the local ecosystem and increase biodiversity. The production of food and textile fibers, without the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers or modified organisms, aims to promote healthy practices for the agricultural ecosystem. Thus, the practice of these biological behaviors promotes and develops biological cycles, as well as the correct use of water and soil.

Finally, on behalf of the Porto Gardens team, we are grateful for the help made available by Mr. Pedro Medeiros, as well as all the farmers in Oliveira's garden, who have been able to capture the image with the greatest enthusiasm.

Written by: Marta Santos

Photos and video by: Júlia Aguiar

Translated by: Francisca Rehbein