Ningbo's community gardens draw young crowds

A mother and her daughter tend vegetables at a Ningbo community garden. [Photo/Yongpai app]

Community gardening is gaining popularity among young residents in Ningbo, who are transforming unused urban spaces into places to grow vegetables, spend time outdoors, and socialize with neighbors.

Yungu Community in Jiangbei district offers residents 56 garden plots each year — and they're claimed almost instantly. Notably, over 60 percent of the participants are under 40.

Chen Xue, a young office worker, has been gardening in the community for several years. After spending her weekdays at a desk, she enjoys a hands-on weekend routine. Planting and tending vegetables gives her a break from work and a chance to spend time outdoors.

Similar initiatives are emerging throughout Ningbo. In Yinzhou district, Kaixin Farm launched a 0.53-hectare community garden in March, primarily drawing people in their 30s and 40s. Additionally, several neighborhoods have repurposed vacant plots into small gardens, allowing residents to cultivate their own vegetables.

The appeal goes beyond just harvesting vegetables. For many young participants, gardening is a gratifying hobby with clear outcomes: they plant, tend, and eventually bring home their grown produce. Families also use the gardens informally to teach children about where food comes from. 

The gardens are also bringing neighbors together. Residents exchange seedlings and growing tips, share their harvests, and take part in community activities such as outdoor movie nights and local markets.

Some projects have added a social-service element. At Dingshan Urban Farm in Beilun district, residents can exchange donated books for freshly harvested vegetables. Additionally, other community gardens donate a portion of their harvest to nursing homes and those in need.

What started as small-scale urban gardening is becoming a new way for Ningbo residents to make use of unused land, connect with their communities, and add a little more greenery into everyday city life.