Seongdong-gu in Seoul will begin accepting applications Monday for its village gardener training program, aimed at spreading a resident-led garden culture in which community members tend green spaces themselves. District Mayor Yoo Bo-hwa leads the initiative.
The second-half 2026 program comprises the 13th, 14th and 15th cohorts, with 20 participants per cohort for a total of 60 spots. Classes run every Thursday or Friday from Aug. 20 through Nov. 6, with each of the 10 sessions lasting three hours.
Theory sessions will be held at the Seongdong Gardening Center (23 Wangsimni-ro 11-gil), while hands-on practice will take place at the rooftop garden of the Seoul Forest Complex Culture and Sports Center and other green spaces across the district. A field visit to the Seoul Forest area is also included.
The curriculum covers understanding the creation and upkeep of different garden types, hands-on garden design and maintenance practice, learning about and caring for a variety of plants, and a visit to the 2026 Seoul International Garden Expo. The course fee is 30,000 won ($20).
Any Seongdong-gu resident with an interest in gardening may apply. Registration opens at 9 a.m. Monday on the Seongdong-gu Office website on a first-come, first-served basis. Full details are available in the recruitment notice on the same site.
Participants who meet the completion requirement — an attendance rate of 80 percent or higher — will be appointed as official Seongdong-gu village gardeners. Once appointed, they will volunteer to help create and maintain gardens in their neighborhoods and take part in various garden development projects and resident-led garden culture events, contributing to the expansion of the city's green spaces.
Seongdong-gu launched the village gardener training program in 2024 and has since produced 227 certified village gardeners. They volunteer once a week or once every two weeks to tend everyday gardens across the district's four zones, carrying out specialized maintenance tasks including watering, weeding, removing spent flower stalks and dead plants, and thinning.
The district also links monthly maintenance training with field activities after the initial program to continuously build participants' skills. It plans to expand the dedicated gardener system for each everyday garden as part of its broader goal of creating a "five-minute everyday garden city" — a city where every resident can enjoy a garden close to their daily life.
"Village gardeners tend gardens with care in the everyday spaces closest to residents, bringing the warmth of nature and the changing of seasons to the city," district Mayor Yoo said. "I hope even more residents will join the garden culture movement and help fill Seongdong's everyday life with beautiful gardens."
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