Garden of the XXI Century in Til-Til, Chile

The garden located in Huertos Familiares, Tiltil, Chile, investigates how soil modification through changes in land-management practices can establish a ecological and social capacity in the community, and create opportunities for the emergence of a new type of public garden in the com¬munity of Tiltil. Tiltil, which already has a dry climate, faces many new challenges in the next century, due to prolonged drought. The project attempts to redefine the relationships with the changing landscape of Tiltil, working with the rich, already existing resources, particu-larly organic material and a passionate and active local community. Organic matter, which in Tiltil is found as “waste” material produced by pruning trees, bushes, and herbs, is the gold of the Garden of the XXI Century. The hypothesis is that through the addition of this organic matter to the soil, the process will increase organic matter, the activity and diversity of bacteria and fungi, and the cation exchange capacity and water retention potential of the existing soils at the site. By enriching the existing soil with organic matter and transforming the biological state of the land, the project creates new potentials in addition to those that already exist on site.