Allotment Garden in Kupittaa
The Kupittaa allotment garden is the oldest in Turku - founded in 1934. It is a green oasis and a socially vibrant and active part of the city of Turku. Visitors are welcome to explore and enjoy the area through out the year.
The allotment garden has retained its character over 85 years and is a very significant urban environment as a whole, enriching biodiversity in the Kupittaa area. The area includes 57 plots with very small cottages. Three of the cottages are in their original appearance, as the others show a spectrum of variations that has developed over the decades, with minor changes. Originally the allotment garden was established to ensure the food supply of the families as well as to offer recreation and promote the well-being of the city's working population. Although the primary function of the plots is no longer to feed the gardeners, there are still about 300 apple trees in the area, some of them decades old. In addition to them, the plots grow a large number of old ornamental and useful plants.
In Kupittaa, all cultivation is carried out without pesticides and the Kupittaa allotment garden, with its vegetation and other organisms, is a “hotspot” of the city’s biodiversity. The University of Turku and the Natural Resources Institute Finland have documented the valuable vegetation of the garden and some of them have been deposited in the Natural Resources Institute's crop genetic resources collections. The Federation of Finnish Allotment Gardens has listed Kupittaa as one of five allotment gardens worth a visit in Finland.
The Kupittaa allotment garden is maintain and developed by society called Kupittaa ryhmäpuutarhayhdistys. If you want to support the work of this society or you are interested in buying a cottage in the allotment garden, please contact kupittaansiirtolapuutarha@gmail.com.
As part of urban planning, the city of Turku is considering to transform the Kupittaa allotment garden to housing area. Realising these plans would mean the end of the Kupittaa allotment garden and loss of its biodiversity. If you wish to help to preserve this unique pearl in the heart of Turku you can sign a petition for it.
