Spain: The world's largest urban vegetable garden is in Madrid

The idea of ​​using the terrace as vegetable garden was proposed by the hotel president, Manuel Moratiel, who after travelling to different cities realised the relevance that urban gardens are gaining in cities. In this case, we cannot say, "said and done", because although the garden was set up in nine days, it took a lot of will and not a little imagination to bring soil and planters up to the terrace of a building whose interior looks like a maze of corridors. 

Floren Domezain, director of the restaurant Raíces, in Zaragoza, knows a lot about the construction and maintenance of this garden. He is the one devoted to taking care of these plants and to ensure that they do not lack anything; not surprisingly, considering that the chef is known for the high quality of his vegetables.

"It has a drip irrigation system; with 20 litres of water we irrigate the whole garden," says Floren while he shows us the various plots. "We had to bring 1,800 bags of soil, 80 litres each, up here; it was an odyssey." The soil comes from Tudela, because Madrid has the same weather conditions. 

With the same soil, the result is also the same: delicious vegetables that diners can enjoy in the restaurant located a few floors below. "We have not calculated how much is saved by growing vegetables instead of buying them, but it could be done. We have already had several harvests: the lettuce plot has been harvested three times; only in the first one we obtained 700 units. We have also harvested 55 kilos of chard and over 900 units of chive, and all organic."