Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard | Chair of Being Alive

Garden of the XXI Century in Til-Til, Chile

The Garden located in Huertos Familiares, Tiltil, Chile, investigates how soil modification through changes in land management practices can build capacity ecological and social in the community, and create possibilities for the emergence of a new type of public garden in the community of Tiltil. Tiltil, which already has a dry climate, faces many new challenges in the next century, due to prolonged drought. The project attempts to redefine the relationships with the changing landscape of Tiltil, working with the richness of resources you already have, particularly organic material and a local community passionate and active. Organic matter, which in Tiltil is found as «waste» material produced by pruning trees, bushes, and herbs, is the gold of the Garden of the XXI century. Through the addition of this organic matter to the soil, the hypothesis is that the process will increase soil organic matter, activity and diversity of bacteria and fungi, and the cation exchange capacity and the water retention potential of the existing soils at the site. By enriching the existing soil with organic matter and transform the biological state of the land, the project creates new potentials in addition to those that already exist in the place.