Council nursery set to grow 600,000 plants a year to decorate Marbella

The new municipal plant nursery in the Las Chapas area of Marbella is now operational and is expected to produce 600,000 plants a year for the town's streets, parks and gardens

The facilities are on a 10,000-square-metre plot of land, of which 5,000 square metres have been used initially, with the aim of further expansion. Around 40 per cent of the growing area is for shrub and aromatic species and the rest for seasonal flowers.

Mayor of Marbella Ángeles Muñoz visited the new greenhouses last Saturday. She highlighted the centre's "commitment to innovation, sustainability and saving costs".

Muñoz pointed out that, despite an initial projection that it was capable of growing 400,000 plants a year - twice the 200,000 the council usually used, in the end 600,000 will be grown.

The mayor also explained that this public facility will be open to schoolchildren so that they can get to know how it works and the system used "for the automated regulation of water and temperature with different sensors and with the opening and closing of the different spaces, using the most modern and sustainable techniques".

The nursery will be able to grow up to eight cycles of flowers each year, with between 70,000 and 80,000 in each period. Muñoz explained that "all is done from scratch using seed, which costs nothing compared to the average cost of more than a euro for a plant in a private nursery".

There is also an area for growing large trees.