Where radishes grow and rules blossom

It all began with a recommendation for better health: in the mid-nineteenth century, Leipzig doctor Moritz Schreber lauded the health benefits of physical exercise in nature. Posthumously, his name was given to an institution that has long been just as integral a part of Germany as football or the cuckoo clock – the allotment garden, known in German as a Schrebergarten, Kleingarten (small garden) or Datsche (from the Russian word dacha). 

If you are now assuming that only petit-bourgeois garden gnome aficionados would be interested in such a pastime - think again! Even progressive families and urban veggie hipsters are desperate to get their hands on free plots of land in big cities so that they can relax and unwind in a natural environment and get to work growing their own organic produce. It’s rumoured that waiting lists in some cities are even longer than those for coveted childcare places.  

Hedges of a specific height 

It goes without saying that rules apply to the nearly 900,000 allotments run by around 13,000 allotment associations. A lot of rules. The Federal Allotment Garden Act and various other regulations, charters and statutes leave no room whatsoever for doubt about how the garden plots - which must not exceed 400 square metres in area - can, should and must be used. For instance, it is stipulated that any cabin built on the plot cannot have a footprint of more than 24 square metres, hedges must be cut to a precise height of 1.25 metres - and the types of plants that are allowed to be cultivated is by no means a matter of personal choice either: if - in contravention of the statutes - even a Thuja hedge is to be found growing rampant, not to mention any type of palm, the gardener responsible is likely to be reprimanded by the board of the allotment association. 

An idyllic haven complete with to-do list 

The idyllic leisure pastime that is the Schrebergarten does involve certain chores, however. Weeding, removing excess side shoots from tomato plants, harvesting the courgettes in good time: it’s not only beans, roses and herbs that grow in an allotment garden - the demands on your gardening skills will grow equally in the endless bid to outcompete your neighbours’ veg patches. 

But the hard work will certainly pay off. Allotments are oases of green, even if some are situated right next to the Autobahn. What could be nicer after all that sweaty toil than munching on an organic carrot you’ve harvested yourself - while politely pointing out to your neighbour that it might be time to give his hedge a bit of a trim again?