<p>Urban gardening is considered an innovative approach to sustainable urban development that can foster social participation, achieve ecological enhancement, and contribute to local food provision through food production. This article presents a&#xa0;municipally funded gardening project in Dortmund that combines collective vegetable cultivation with a&#xa0;labor market policy measure under Section&#xa0;16d of the German Social Code&#xa0;II (SGB&#xa0;II) for employable welfare recipients.</p><p>In addition to practical insights into the implementation of such a project, the focus is on the experiences of the participants in the workfare scheme: how they develop gardening, craft-related, and food-related skills, expand their scope for action, and experience and appropriate the garden as a&#xa0;social and everyday-structuring space. Drawing on qualitative data, it is shown how forms of participation, everyday appropriation, and food practices develop in the day-to-day project context. At the same time, it becomes clear how these practices are enabled by the pedagogical and professional work of the instructors within the labor market policy support logic, while the funding structure also imposes structural constraints.</p><p>The analysis highlights the potential of urban gardening in terms of work opportunities for low-threshold access to healthy food, subjective experiences of recognition, and the testing of sustainable food practices, without claiming to make any statements about long-term transitions into regular employment. The article is aimed at experts and decision-makers in urban geography, urban planning, social work, municipal administration, and food initiatives who are interested in the strategic development of integrative, intersectoral gardening projects.</p>