The Steps Community Garden

Bulgaria · Raya Tsvetkova · The Steps, Sofia

The Steps Community Garden grew out of a simple gap: LGBTQ+ people in Bulgaria rarely have access to green, safe outdoor space, and The Steps — an LGBTQ+ community venue on Bratya Miladinovi street in Sofia — wanted to add that to what it already offers. Raya Tsvetkova's canvas work named the target group directly as The Steps' own community and its young people, framed the need as a place to rest, beautify the surroundings, and hold on to tradition, and landed on a clear answer: a rooftop community garden built around recurring events, not just plants for their own sake.

The result is a 16 m² rooftop garden spread across two walls and a repurposed bathtub, with a trellis of donated, rainbow-coloured scarves strung overhead — installed without drilling into the building. A sunny corner grows marigold, coreopsis, lavender, rosemary and thyme; the bathtub itself has become a “tea bath” planted with mint, nasturtium and marigold under the scarf canopy; and a shaded wall zone holds geranium, oleander, bay and jasmine. Two 500-litre rainwater tanks supply the watering, coffee grounds from the venue's own bar are reused as fertiliser, and a seed library — starting in the garden's second year — is being built in partnership with a local composting NGO.

The plan leans on the garden as a recurring reason to gather, not a one-off build: a tea afternoon around the bathtub planting, a natural-dyeing workshop using the marigold and coreopsis grown on-site, regular community planting and care days, and a seed exchange from year two onward. First-season targets are 15-plus plant species, 10 or more volunteers at the build itself, two public events, and 500 litres of rainwater collected and put to use. Two team members hold clear day-to-day responsibility for upkeep, most of what's planted is perennial so it doesn't need replanting each year, and the team was upfront in their own SWOT analysis about the real risks — a small, wind-exposed, sun-heavy rooftop that needs regular attention to avoid pest damage or the compost rotting over summer, addressed in the design with shade from the thrifted scarves and a few small potted trees.