Tegueste has introduced a novel way of encouraging organic gardening.

The local council has set up a site on Facebook which will enable some 300 residents to keep in touch and even to share compost. It is hoped the scheme will also promote self-sufficiency and boost the consumption of fresh produce grown locally.

The Facebook site goes under the name of Red Compostaje de Tegueste and links together a series of urban gardens. The owners have already taken part in Tenerife Cabildo’s home composting scheme which showed householders how to make their own compost from garden and domestic waste.

This new Facebook network takes things one step further, allowing members to barter for products and seeds, organise awareness activities, exchange experience, arrange training workshops etc.

Tegueste council points out that about a third of the waste generated by one household consists of organic matter ie food scraps, garden pruning and so on. Organic farming has become hugely popular and is very beneficial to health as well as to the environment.