Annual Garden Competitions
Lemon Tree Trust runs annual home garden competitions in refugee and IDP camps across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to increase awareness about the benefits of gardening and to encourage sustainable food growing.
Garden of the
Month award
This monthly award showcases the innovation and creativity of war gardeners throughout the year. We look for creative flair, a passion for gardening, innovative planting ideas and a commitment to filling the available space with plants.
Annual Cooking Competitions
Lemon Tree Trust’s cooking competitions celebrate creativity and culture through dishes made with homegrown and community-grown ingredients, bringing people together around food and shared traditions.
Aveen Ibrahem is Operations Manager at Lemon Tree Trust, overseeing our community gardening and cooking programmes across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Her work supports activities in Azadî Community Garden in Domiz 1 camp, as well as outreach and coordination across the nine camps where Lemon Tree Trust currently operates. Having lived in Domiz 1 … Continued
Inside the polytunnels at the Hêvî Community Garden in Gawilan refugee camp, Garden Manager Othman Qewas carefully selects fruit trees and flowering plants grown from seed. Joined by Hamid Abdullah, Lemon Tree Trust’s Horticulture and Landscape Consultant, the plants are loaded into the car before setting off to visit families across the camp. As part of our ongoing children’s outreach programme in Gawilan camp, … Continued
Bringing together residents to celebrate the home gardens they have grown, tended and transformed over the past year, Lemon Tree Trust’s 2026 Annual Garden Competitions have taken place across nine refugee and IDP (internally displaced people) camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This year’s competitions introduced a greater emphasis on welcoming new participants alongside … Continued