Ground garden Action area of the Ilse Demme Gardening School

The Berlin Senate's Department for Preventive Soil Protection has set itself the goal of bringing children and young people closer to the special significance of soil as an environmental medium. To this end, "soil gardens" are to be set up in Berlin's gardening schools as proven facilities for learning about nature, which are to be available as workshops for experimental learning.

As a first model project, the idea of an "excavation landscape" was developed with the close involvement of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf gardening school, in which the topics and learning content can be taught in a playful way. At each of the different stations in the soil garden, an important aspect of soil science can be experienced: for example, the children learn about soils as the basis for growing food, renewable building materials and raw materials. They learn how different substrates affect plant growth and species composition. A small "cave" enables a journey underground. There, the children gain an insight into the diverse soil life. In the "soil archive", the children learn about soils as valuable archives of natural and cultural history. The "Soil Gallery" and a walk-in soil pit show the layers of soil and its history. Finally, in the "soil laboratory", the children can explore the different properties and compositions of soil.