City dwellers' vegetable gardens are putting up a fight

Dormant and often waterlogged during the winter, the Op der Ginz garden city was just coming back to life when Journal discovered it at the end of April under brilliant sun. A strip of greenery beside the Centre de logopédie, on the slopes overlooking Rollingergrund, opposite the Centre hospitalier de Luxembourg. Activity is buzzing across the plots. While some have only just been turned over, others are already seeing their earliest crops emerge from the soil.

Agostinho's plot is one of the most carefully tended and luxuriant. The green onion stalks are coming up, the strawberry plants are multiplying, and the green cabbages are unfurling their broad leaves. "It's for caldo verde" (Portuguese cabbage soup), explains the experienced gardener. On his plot, "it grows by itself", he assures us modestly – even though his tomatoes grow valiantly without any shelter to protect them from the rain.

A few plots further on, another Portuguese man, José, has also optimised every square centimetre of his plot. The rows of onions follow the slope to maximise the effects of the watering. Plastic bottles topped with metal rods twirl and resonate in the wind, scaring away any birds that might be tempted to peck at the seeds on the ground.