Palma de Mallorca will give out garden plots through a raffle

The urban green plots are destined for senior residents or people with disabilities

Last Friday, 24 July, the Councillor for Infrastructure and Accesibility of Palma de Mallorca, Angelica Pastor, announced that today (28 July) and on Friday (31 July) there will be two public raffles which will distribute 126 urban gardens. The drawing today is aimed at individual candidates and the one on Friday at non-profit organizations.

Urban gardening has picked up in popularity, especially during the COVID quarantine

The municipal project, providing urban gardens where residents can grow fruits and vegetables, dates back to 2010. This is part of a policy that seeks to help more vulnerable groups and provide with some means of self-sufficiency.

There are 5 larger gardens, one in each of the city districts. Four of these gardens are subdivided into 126 smaller parcels of 20 square metres. The fifth garden is comprised of 3 larger blocks and 12 plant nursery tables.

Candidates who wish to work one of the garden patches, had to sign up for the municipal raffle. Furthermore, there were certain conditions for them in order to qualify. They should be over the age of 65, they cannot own any other agricultural land in the municipality, and they cannot live with another beneficiary of the program.

Those people who will be fortunate to be assigned a garden patch are supposed to work on it personally, although they are allowed to have one helper.

Likewise, there are certain conditions for the organizations that wish to participate in the Friday raffle. These must be non-profits working with vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities or people undergoing social reintegration.

"Urban gardens have a markedly social character and as such they generate a lot of demand, especially at the current moment, in the sense of self-sufficiency with healthy produce," informed Councillor Pastor.