Seoul's Songpa-gu is accelerating its push to train what it calls Korea's largest corps of "community gardeners," aiming to transform every corner of the district into a "garden city" filled with flowers and trees.
The district launched its community gardener training program in 2025 and has since produced about 300 graduates, who have been planting and tending gardens across the neighborhood to lay the groundwork for what officials call "Garden City Songpa." Last year, a garden cultivated by Songpa community gardeners took the grand prize at the Seoul Garden City Awards.
This year, the district is recruiting 150 new community gardeners for its training program. In the second half of the year, it plans to focus on developing field-ready garden specialists through an advanced course.
The district has significantly deepened its curriculum by linking the advanced course to graduates of the general program. The training is built around practical skills — covering planting design, seasonal maintenance and hands-on garden construction — with the goal of producing specialists who can step into the field immediately.
During the first-half training sessions, participants completed hands-on fieldwork that included creating a garden inside Jamsilnaru Station's Saenae Neighborhood Park, a small strip garden beneath street trees along Seongnae Stream, and an herb garden within the World Garden in Pungnap-dong. They also tended public gardens at Seokchon Lake, Sincheon Neighborhood Park and the Jamsil Saenae interchange, helping to spread a culture of healthy gardening throughout the district.
Graduates go on to volunteer their time planting and maintaining gardens and green spaces in small and large underused pockets of land across Songpa-gu.
Jeon Yu-gyeong, who completed the general course and is now taking part in the advanced program, said she was grateful for the chance to contribute directly to the district's gardens. "I will keep tending Songpa-gu's gardens so that more residents can find healing and joy through them," she said.
The district is working toward a goal of creating 101 resident-participatory gardens within residential areas this year and has completed 75 so far. Community gardeners are expected to take a leading role in planting and managing the gardens still to come.
Songpa-gu District Mayor Seo Gang-seok said the district would spare no effort in supporting residents to build real gardening skills through the program. "We will create gardens and green spaces in every corner of Songpa — large and small — so that everyone can enjoy the rest and tranquility of a garden wherever they go, making 'Garden City Songpa' a reality," he said.
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