Hotel Crowne Plaza grows an urban garden in the center of Porto
The Crowne Plaza hotel has set up an urban vegetable garden on its terrace aiming to offer healthier meals and contribut to a more sustainable city.
The decision to install this vegetable garden was easy for Mário Carvalho, Director of the Food & Beverage Department, "In addition to having a fast and easy access to food that is always fresh and perfectly fitting with our concept of pure Mediterranean cuisine, natural and healthy - this is our contribution to a futuristic city with habits that are increasingly environmentally friendly. "
The garden occupies 300m² of the terrace and was installed by the company Noocity Urban Ecology, a Portuguese start-up based in Porto. This is the largest vegetable garden installed by the company in the country.
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| Noocity Growbeds photo by: Crowne Plaza |
Noocity Growbeds, growing beds chosen for the Crowne Plaza, allow the hotel to overcome some of obstacles to agriculture in the city, such as lack of space and high consumption of resources. The self-irrigation system allows savings of up to 80% water.
Crowne Plaza's garden they planted tomatoes, spicy lettuces, herbs, carrots, onions, radishes, red berries, sweet potatoes and edible flowers, the first harvest is planned for December this year.
The maintenance of the garden is in the hands of Chef Jorge Sousa, who believes that this solution will "make the Hotel self-sufficient in some ingredients, maximize quality control and gain access to products that are no longer easily available in the market."
Besides the staff, guests will also be able to visit this urban garden, but always accompanied by a member of the hotel.
