It's possible to grow in the heart of Paris

Parisians can make a big deal of it

Techniques adapted to the urban environment focus on respect for the environment. If you look hard enough, without scratching too deeply, you'll find examples of companies reinventing the city.

(c) facebook / californian brewery

Tour de champ

The brasserie californienne Frame at 28 Rue Jean Rey in the 15th arrond issement has a vegetable garden right next to the Eiffel Tower, which it uses to prepare its meals. 600m2 of carrots, salads and herbs in the heart of Paris, surrounded by buildings, land on the customer's plate. The customer benefits from the freshness of the produce, thanks to ultra-short transport routes. Pure locavore and organic in the heart of Paris.

(c) facebook / Peas&Love

Salad on a hot roof

Peas&Love, a young company founded in 2015 by Jean-Patrick Scheepers, is developing urban gardening for private individuals. It elevates production on the rooftops of Paris, keeping the same spirit of natural, pesticide-free production, on 2000m2 spread between Brussels and Ile de France. A "community farmer" accompanies the city-dweller-owner-renter of a plot, in his new hobbie. The 3m2 plots set up in the heart of towns and cities can be used to maintain an organic vegetable garden for less than €9 a week in horizontal or... vertical plantings. Organic fruit and vegetables are nourished by fertigation, a technique for supplying fertilizing elements dissolved in the irrigation system. Paris 15th, Issy-les-Moulineaux and Brussels are the first sites to participate in the "cultivation" of the city and the creation of a beneficial ecosystem. They enable city dwellers to take ownership of their food, with some fifty varieties of fruit and vegetables that are their own.

(c) facebook / La Caverne

Mushrooms on the street

Less than a year ago, La Caverne, a young start-up, chose the Parisian underground to grow mushrooms in former parking lots. Benefiting from a constant temperature, protected from pollution, products that don't need sunlight find new soil. Oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, endives and micro-sprouts are just some of the plants in the making that could see the light of day in one of the immense underground spaces that Paris hides... Here, "cave gardening", as they define it, enables different varieties to feed off each other. For example, the CO2 generated by the mushrooms is used for plant growth, while the organic matter fertilizes the crops.

Permaculture is a recurring theme in the speeches of communicators, and projects are developing that could lead to a greener city in the future.