hong kong’s guerilla gardeners

“Twenty minutes later, we arrive at So Boring, an informal pay-what-you-can coffee shop with folding tables set up on the sidewalk of Ferry Street. All the food here is locally grown and organic, and the caf� donates some of its waste�like pineapple heads�to the Mango King. We join a half-dozen staff and regulars sitting outside. Leung introduces me to Fredma, a 72-year-old woman with a commanding in presence. After I decline a dish of locally grown pumpkin curry�I�ve already eaten, I tell her�she insists. �Ho mei,� she says. �It�s delicious.� I relent, and she is right�sweet, earthy, and a bit spicy.”

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“[Leung] has since embarked on a series of projects that combine art, design, community work, and urban agriculture. One of his most popular initiatives, HK Honey, connects local beekeepers with apartment dwellers who are eager to install beehives on their rooftops and balconies as an eco-friendly gesture (and to reap the benefits of delicious honey, no doubt). He�s currently focused on HK Farm, a network of rooftop gardens around Yau Ma Tei, one of Hong Kong�s oldest neighborhoods and one that hasn�t seen much agricultural activity for the better part of a century.”

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As we sit on the roof, another Yau Ma Tei gardener named Step Au joins us. She and Sum take me on a tour of the rooftop, where ginger, lemongrass, pineapples, and potatoes are growing in a variety of recycled plastic buckets, old wooden drawers, and small containers donated by a Chinese medicine shop. I ask the pair why they dedicate their time to rooftop vegetable gardening and illicit seed bombing. �It�s about the right to public space,� Au says. �And I like that we�re not just planting for viewing�we�re planting to change what we eat. It�s a little contribution every day.�

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Hong Kong�s government is no friend of guerilla gardening, running television ads against illegal planting and tearing up informal vegetable and herb patches that elderly people grow on vacant pieces of land, with the pretext that illegal gardening could attract mosquitoes and cause landslides in hilly areas. There aren�t many alternatives, either�there are just 22 government-run community gardens in Hong Kong�s public parks, and demand is so high that plots are rented out for only four months at a time.