Region of South Aegean

The Aegean Gardener project aims at introducing young pupils early to the Aegean Diet and its benefits through the production of traditional vegetable products by using local seeds. In this way, children learn about the cultivation cycle of fruit and vegetables, thus having the possibility to become farmers in the future and support local production, by cultivating local products of high nutritional value.

Primary Education Students

The project started on 24 May 2017 and thanks to its great success, its implementation continues during the school year 2017-2018 and it will culminate in 2019.

The students create their own small vegetable garden in the courtyard of their school while being informed, at the same time, about the traditional ways of cultivation. After planting the vegetables in their garden, the students water them and committ to taking care of them until they are fruitful. Τhis way τhey learn about the cultivation cycle of these products with the ultimate aim not only of supporting local production, which offers them high nutritional products, but also of planting and preserving them later in their fields and gardens, starting from school.

The "Aegean Gardener" project is implemented by the South Aegean Region in cooperation with the South Aegean Regional Plant Nursery.

The Director of the Regional Plant Nursery, Mr. Nikos Rensesis, explains to the students how they should cultivate the plants in the flower boxes and how they have to look after them to grow.

Islands ok Kos and Rhodes. The project will also be implemented in other islands of the Dodecanese and the Cyclades.

About 700 students have been involved in the project so far from the 7th Elementary School of Kos, the 2nd and the 15th Elementary Schools of Rhodes and the elementary schools of the villages of Fanes and Embonas in Rhodes. Through the project, the students will love the products they themselves produce in their schools, they will learn to feed on them and eventually adopt them as a dietary habit. They may also want to go into the primary sector as a profession.

The South Aegean Region, through the "Aegean Gardener" project, raises the new generation with the healthy Aegean diet and familiarizes young students with the traditional varieties and ways of cultivation, thus investing in future informed and healthy citizens of the region with the possibility of engaging with the earth.