Ilbenstadt Monastery: district garden on historic grounds

For a long time, the extensive area around the old pigsty was more like an adventure playground.

Thistle, oats, yarrow and wild carrots grew waist-deep here.

For more than 30 years, the land on the historic site of the Ilbenstadt monastery was almost left to its own devices.

Now a place of the future is to be created there, as Joerg Weber calls it.

A group of committed people wants to create a solidary district garden at this point, which ties in with the tradition of the monastery gardens.

The garden is to be made usable in a contemporary form based on historical models and thus be revived.

"Through ecological management as a solidarity district garden with fruit, vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants," as the association's website says.

At the moment, a few drawings should suffice to imagine what is to be created where an old wooden bench was placed in the wilderness in the spring.

Not only garden, but also stage

Together with the Florsheim landscape gardener Matthias Dorsch, Weber is one of the driving forces in the project, which was initiated in 2018.

According to plans by Dorsch, who is a member of the board of the KIKI association (culture in the Ilbenstadt monastery garden), the 5,900-square-meter site should not only have a herb and medicinal garden, but also a culture stage under nut trees, a walkway and a large area for growing vegetables.

The latter are to be cultivated as part of solidarity agriculture.

That means anyone who wants to get involved in the project can get involved and reap the rewards that will one day grow.

"We want to do justice to the historical model of a monastery garden," says Dorsch.

The vegetables growing there can cover the needs of around 160 people.

"Everyone who wants to should at some point have the opportunity to order a seasonal fruit and vegetable box for a monthly fee," says Weber.

Site find by chance

They discovered the site more by accident, following a tip from a friend.

A stately complex located opposite the Ilbenstadt Basilica.

The housing project is one thing.

For this purpose, 34 interested people have come together who one day want to live together across generations - including a district meeting place and a small shop.

Anything that can eventually be sold in your own shop should first be grown yourself.

In said garden.

But it will be some time before that happens, say those responsible.

"We can't really start the work until spring at the earliest," says Weber.

So far, five so-called Benje hedges have been completed.

To do this, dead wood, branches and twigs are loosely stacked on top of each other.

The hedges provide shelter and food for birds and other animals.

At one point on the extensive site, an area of ​​around three to five meters was laid out and covered with black foil.

A truffle meadow is to be created here, where the coveted mushrooms can be harvested.

The members of KIKI still have to clarify the necessary water supply.

The plan is to provide the vegetables with moisture using drip irrigation.

In doing so, they hope to save at best 50 percent water.

In addition, it is checked whether it is worth drilling a well.

A pond will also be built later to collect rainwater.

"We hope that we can get around the year like this," says Weber.

Hoping for the State Horticultural Show 2027

The club leased the site from the city.

But both the drip irrigation and the planting campaign have to be financed, especially since a gardener, who is currently helping out on a voluntary basis, is to be employed on a permanent basis.

So they applied for a number of funding programs, including the so-called Leader program and the so-called postcode lottery.

Leader is a European Union program designed to help promote rural areas.

If everything goes well, the association hopes that the garden can become part of the State Garden Show, which will take place in the Upper Hesse region in 2027.

"We are right next to a well-developed bike path," says Weber.

In this respect, the project would be well suited to be explored during a visit, especially since the association consciously wants to open up to the outside world.

In this sense, the makers are also looking for contact with local clubs with whom they want to work.

They invite you to the day of the open monument on Sunday, September 11th from 1 to 5 p.m. on the grounds of the Ilbenstadt monastery.

In addition to a lecture by the Niddatal History Association, there will be a guided tour through the basilica of the Ilbenstadt monastery.

Interested parties can find further information at

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