Gardens with a 12,000-person waiting list

I am an electrical engineer by &quot;education&quot; and &quot;profession&quot;. I was never too interested in gardening or plants until my roommate tore up the backyard grass. I spend most of my time (like you) in front of a computer.<p>Now I can spend almost an entire day tying up tomatoes, planting seeds, creating wells in the dirt so water doesn&#x27;t run off, doing anything that will help more vegetables grow. There is something extremely healing that comes with tending to nature. I would bet every human has the innate ability to do it.<p>We are mostly very disconnected from nature. Once you get back to it, you realize how healing it is for your mind and body. Now, I literally NEED these days in the backyard. After one of these days, I am more at peace.<p>I know not everyone has the space. You can also grow a lot of things in containers. People throw away all sorts of pots every year that they get from nurseries. I have picked up hundreds off the side of the road (in the US).<p>Also, as an engineer, you realize that your computer is not very amazing compared to nature. You&#x27;re in awe at the ability of plants to respond to different situations and simply witnessing their growth provides the contrast that you need to put your computer and the technologies around you into perspective.

As somebody who has done his time on a waiting list for an allotment, and has been allotmenteering for the past 7 years now, I find these small German allotments vastly different to our UK ones. I fly reasonably often to Munich and I&#x27;ve often seen them alongside the railway lines... and they are immaculate. But the bit I find odd is that there is an awful lot of grass. We in the UK tend to focus more on food or flower production, yet those German ones seem more geared to relaxation more than anything. Ours are more of a weekend digging variety, theirs seem to be more of an evening BBQing and a beer kind. Maybe its a weather thing. Maybe its just a cultural thing.<p>And maybe we ought to encourage more people to stop playing video games and get out and grow more stuff.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;martin-way-plot30.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;martin-way-plot30.blogspot.com</a>

Coming from a small third world country myself, I didn’t know what the market was until I was 19 and came to the states. Everything we needed to survive we grew it or raised it. It was a way of life, at 5 or 6 years old I was able to watch over our farm animals and knew exactly what was expected of me. Now a 6 years old can’t even put their own shoes on by themselves let alone know how to do anything related to self manage.<p>I don’t blame as much the kids, the way of life in an industrial country is all about wasting time and not helping kids learn and enjoy life. We as parents have failed to transfer our experiences because we are to damn busy trying to keep up with everything it’s going on around us, and in many cases a mobile device is enough to shut a kid up. Yes, we live in a sad world that we don’t know anymore what will happen if one day markets are no longer an option.

I used to think of gardening and allotments as a rather innocuous activity, something rather green that was good for all involved. But in the last year I&#x27;ve come to realize that it isn&#x27;t environmentally sound.<p>(1) Plastics and pesticides. They are over-used by gardeners as opposed to commercial farmers. Even without chemicals, the plastics pots, bags and other devices all end up in landfills. Those innocuous black pots cannot be properly recycled due to their colour and gardeners seem unwilling to shift to more sustainable options, even more sustainable <i>colours</i> of pots that could be more easily recycled.<p>(2) Peat. Until yesterday I was unaware of the carnage being done to peat bogs. The BBC&#x27;s Tonight program just showed me footage of the open-pit peat mines that are literally strip-mining peat bogs to feed Britain&#x27;s gardening hobby. The environmental and climate damage done by destroying peat bogs, giant CO2 sinks, is immense.<p>Footage of an Estonian peat mine: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TXr0z3h1Cig" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TXr0z3h1Cig</a><p>(3) Water. Home gardens and allotments get their water from municipal sources. Municipal water is far more expensive than the water used on farms, and municipal sources lack the capacity to provide the acer-feet necessary to grow substantial amounts of food. That means allotments, urban farming, is an unsustainable food source. The carrot bought at costco was grown using river&#x2F;lake water. The carrot grown behind someone&#x27;s house used municipal water, and probably far more of it. The costco carrot is the more sustainable option.<p>So I&#x27;ve changed my mind about gardening. It is not an environmental net positive. It might be great for the health of the people doing it, but it isn&#x27;t helping the climate. It isn&#x27;t as bad as drag racing but is far worse than hiking. It is an environmentally costly hobby that should be approached with caution.

These used to be the ultimate symbol of “Spießertum”. Funny how things change and trends come and go.

Does anyone know where I can get an English copy of Berlin&#x27;s Bundeskleingartengesetz?<p>I manage a community garden in Montreal and love the idea of BBQ and beers in the evening, but the city, (who owns the land), is not ok with drinking at the garden, (or cooking, in general).

It should be noted that these gardens are comparatively cheap. For many there is no other feasible way to own a few 100m² of green and free sky.

It looks like HN will have to loosen at least one part of its anti-suburban stance: people who live in the suburbs get back and front yards as part of the deal.

People need more space in cities.<p>People are willing to live with far too little space compared to what a person actually needs to live well. I think it is a zoning issue where local governments need to force more working green space and workspace in general.<p>Living in small apartments without space to garden or build or maintain things makes people somewhat miserable consumer drones.

When I moved to Berlin four years ago, I saw these big clusters of tiny lots with small houses surrounded by gardens and wondered what I was looking at. They are often visible from the train (U-Bahn and S-Bahn).<p>I asked some coworkers and got mixed responses. Some said it was a bit like Berlin&#x27;s version of a backyard (because in the city core, most people live in flats with no backyard). Some said it was a place to go for the weekend, something like a lake cabin or cottage in North America.<p>There&#x27;s almost no information about them online, that I could find. If you&#x27;re curious to explore some in Google Maps, here are some quick links:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;qfbQawA27KSox5BZ9" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;qfbQawA27KSox5BZ9</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;r4Mf1w9V6ehpS7D3A" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;r4Mf1w9V6ehpS7D3A</a>

Interest in small, distributed, local food production systems is really trending right now. Topsoil degradation, the future of the climate, and the malnutrition of our food are key factors - it seems like this is an important piece of the puzzle for keeping populations healthy and fed.

There was a 40 year waiting list for allotments in some parts of London 10 years ago[0], and 6 years ago the number of allotments had remained the same but the waiting list more than doubled from 800 to 1,765[1] so it could be longer than 40 years now.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;money&#x2F;2009&#x2F;jun&#x2F;02&#x2F;allotments-shortage-waiting-lists" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;money&#x2F;2009&#x2F;jun&#x2F;02&#x2F;allotments-sho...</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.whatdotheyknow.com&#x2F;request&#x2F;allotments_and_waiting_lists_44" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.whatdotheyknow.com&#x2F;request&#x2F;allotments_and_waitin...</a>

My town&#x27;s public victory gardens also have a waiting list, but not sure how long. The popularity has definitely increased recently and they are sure peaceful to walk through.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.belmont-ma.gov&#x2F;conservation-commission&#x2F;pages&#x2F;victory-gardens-at-rock-meadow" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.belmont-ma.gov&#x2F;conservation-commission&#x2F;pages&#x2F;vic...</a><p>The rules are interesting to read: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.belmont-ma.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;belmontma&#x2F;files&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;handbook_bvg_2019.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.belmont-ma.gov&#x2F;sites&#x2F;belmontma&#x2F;files&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;han...</a>

&gt; <i>Gardens with a 12,000-person waiting list</i><p>Obviously consequence of density. Densified people desperately want something backyard-like, even if it&#x27;s kilometers from their residence.

I volunteer at a Victorian kitchen garden three hours a week. The advantage of working in a shared garden is that the social aspect is larger and I&#x27;m not solely responsible for the end result. Such an opportunity is rarer than having schräbergarten and I feel lucky. It&#x27;s a great way to unwind after a week behind the computer.

As someone with a Schrebergarten in Switzerland, let me tell you... its great for mental balance but its a crazy amount of work to keep it even somewhat tidy.<p>But over here its also shifting from old retirees to young people, at the moment its qquite a good mix.

For a brief moment I expected this to be about WOW’s relaunch where every server was full.

I can confirm this as I&#x27;m living in Berlin :D