In 1978 contemporary New Zealand artist Barry Thomas undertook a public art project in the inner city of Wellington. Utilizing a vacant lot on the corner of Willis and Manners Streets, the artist and his friends one day cut through a wire perimeter fence, delivered a truckload of top soil to the site and planted 180 cabbages.
The project Vacant lot of cabbages (also known as ‘The cabbage patch’) immediately caught the public attention and received extensive media coverage. Barry was interviewed in local newspaper The Evening Post where he challenged Wellingtonians to occupy the vacant lot and claim the site as their own. The lot was quickly filled with all sorts of objects—which the city council promptly cleared away—except for the cabbages. For several months the vacant-lot-turned-urban-garden became the site of informal gatherings and events.