THE FIRST “BIGPICNIC” EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP AT UBG BALCHIK

On April 23, 2025, in front of the Expositional Greenhouse at the University Botanical Garden – Balchik, the first in a series of educational workshops was held with primary school students from “Hristo Botev” Secondary School, Balchik. During the event, the students actively participated in hands-on activities related to the cultivation of edible plant species, including transplanting seedlings and sowing seeds of various vegetable and aromatic crops with nutritional and culinary value.
The workshops are designed to draw participants’ attention to the international initiative BigPicnic, which brings together 19 partner organizations and is coordinated by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), based in London. The initiative promotes collaboration and dialogue around public understanding of issues related to food security and food quality. It highlights the concept of food security — ensuring that all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
For this first session, the students worked with root, leafy, and fruiting vegetable species, as well as bulbous crops, representing well-known genera: bulb plants (Allium L.); cultivated and wild strawberry forms (Fragaria L.); carrots (Daucus L.); various radish cultivars (Raphanus L.); mint (Mentha L.); spinach (Spinacia L.); and others.
Future workshops will continue to engage students in topics related to biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and the conservation of plant resources for future generations.