Food gardens
Water wise drip irrigation
Flourishing edible plants
Photographs of the UN Food Gardens show an abundance of
crops, with a range of vegetables and herbs. The team encourages
mason bees to the garden, and uses practises such as composting
to discourage waste and recycling. Butterflies also look happy
floating about the wild garlic in the garden. South African
favourite’s agapanthus are to be seen too, making the garden
feel familiar to us too even though it is so far away. With New
York in spring at the time of writing, seasonal planting and sowing
of heirloom seeds was in full swing in the UN Food Gardens.
Notably, given the huge scale of the UN Complex, every year
hundreds of tons of wasted food from here are hauled to the
landfill each year. The UN Food Gardens hopes to create greater
awareness of food wastage and hopes to encourage enhanced
environmental stewardship through practises such as composting
and recycling of organic waste. The waste from the canteens will
eventually be composted and used in the garden beds.
The UN Food Gardens also create greater awareness of the
growth of food, via activities such as the distribution of seeds to
staff and visitors. Heirloom and organic seeds are distributed.
Khan reflects: “We feel passionate about connecting policy
makers and international representatives through the simple act
of growing food. For 10 000 years, people grew most of their
own food. In the last 50 or so years we have lost that connection
to the very thing that supports us. The UN is a unique place and
we hope that the gardens serve to connect a variety of people
through the most basic of