Behind Osama bin Zaid Mosque in Darayya (a suburb southwest of Damascus, in Rural Damascus governorate), a small home garden stands out as an exception in a landscape dominated by concrete.
Among olive trees and seasonal plants, Mahmoud Maatouq, known as “Abu Ammar,” 58-year-old, spends hours each day tending a green space he created beside his home after returning to the city in 2020.
When “Abu Ammar” came back from Daraa (southern Syria), where he had been displaced after the siege of Darayya, the garden did not exist. It was just an empty plot, so he began planting it gradually, drawing on long- held experience and a passion for farming.
He planted 32 olive trees, now about six years old, which began producing around three years ago. The harvest meets his household’s needs, and he shares what remains with relatives and neighbors, he told Enab Baladi.
Alongside the olives, he grows seasonal vegetables such as parsley, coriander, lettuce, and fava beans, providing fresh produce for his family.
“Abu Ammar” said these crops require daily care, including pruning, pest control, and regular watering. He relies on a nearby water well for irrigation.
Maatouq previously worked in emergency operations at the Fijeh water system in Damascus. He is the father of four children, one of whom he lost during the years of war in Darayya. After retiring, he divides his time between sitting in his sons’ shops to help them at times, and returning to his garden, which has become a fixed part of his daily routine.
His experience is striking in a city whose environmental face has changed dramatically. For decades, Darayya was known for its orchards and farms. It was one of the key agricultural areas surrounding Damascus and a major source of vegetables and fruit, forming a green belt that helped soften the effects of urban sprawl.
But both planned and unplanned urban expansion over the past four decades, along with population growth, gradually reduced these spaces. The city’s green cover shrank to narrow limits.
Then the war years wiped out much of what remained of Darayya’s agricultural land. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed, and green areas were bulldozed. With residents returning in recent years, the city has appeared almost devoid of vegetation, amid a lack of public parks or green spaces within residential neighborhoods.
In this harsh environmental reality, Mahmoud Maatouq’s garden is not just a private space, but a modest attempt to reclaim what the city has lost. Darayya today, marked by dense concrete and an almost complete absence of greenery, makes every planted tree inside a residential area an environmental element with a tangible impact.
Many environmental studies indicate that home gardens help improve air quality in cities by expanding areas that absorb dust and pollutants. They also help lower local temperatures, something Darayya’s crowded concrete neighborhoods lack.
The benefits of home gardens are not limited to the environment. They also affect families’ mental and social well- being by offering a quiet space at home and easing the strain of living in neighborhoods without public parks.
In addition, initiatives like “Abu Ammar’s” garden reinforce the idea of partial self reliance in meeting some food needs. They also help instill environmental awareness among family members, especially children, through participating in plant care and following their growth.
In a city that was once orchards and farmland, then lost most of its green, the story returns in the end to Mahmoud Maatouq, a retired man spending his time among trees he planted with his own hands, in a small space behind his home. A garden that does not restore Darayya to what it was, but reminds of what was lost, and what could be regained, even on a limited scale.
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