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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.

himlion 7y ago
Wow, are those gardens really that big? Here in the Netherlands there are huge waiting lists for your allotted 12m².
- ahoef 7y ago
  Well, I know people who've had 100m² around Nijmegen, so it exists.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- lispm 7y ago
  Here in Hamburg in my region 150-300qm is possible.
- abeppu 7y ago
  In San Francisco, my community garden "plot" is a box of ~17 square feet (~1.6 square meters).
sampo 7y ago
> For many there is no other feasible way to own a few 100m² of green and free sky. For many this is not a feasible way either, as there are 12 000 people in line before them.
- yorwba 7y ago
  Eh, there may be 12,000 names on the list, but that doesn't mean you have to wait for all of them to get a garden before it's your turn. Many of those people will have changed their minds in the meantime, or they don't like a particular lot that's freed up, because you usually can't just leave it as-is. The one in the article burned down, many other lots have houses that violate new regulations but were grandfathered in, so you have to demolish and rebuild. Then there's the workload of actually gardening... I'm also not sure where they're getting the 12,000 from, since to my knowledge every "colony" manages their own waiting lists. If they're just adding the number of people on each list to arrive at the total, they're double-counting people who're not looking for a garden in a particular location and appear on multiple lists. All in all, if you really want a garden, it's absolutely feasible with a few years of waiting. And if you just want to dream about having one, you can still put your name on the waiting list and politely decline each lot they offer. EDIT: there's also a sharing platform for people who need help gardening and those who want to do it: https://www.datschlandia.de/ https://www.datschlandia.de/ That is another way to get the benefits of a garden bypassing the waiting lists.
  - kayoone 7y ago
    even with only 10% of that list, it would still be a long wait.
layoutIfNeeded 7y ago
* in Berlin I’m pretty sure you can buy land in rural areas for pennies.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  The whole point of these is that they are not too far from home.
- southerndrift 7y ago
  Not literally, because farmland isn't that cheap.
sokoloff 7y ago
Are these plots of land actually owned by the users? I assumed they were rented, but the article doesn't seem to specify though the terms "allotment" and "waiting list" imply to me that they're not owned by the gardeners.
- yorwba 7y ago
  The land is owned by an association which leases it out to members; everything on top (house, trees and other plants) is owned by the gardener. So there's a transfer of ownership when a lot frees up, but the market is highly regulated so you can't just outbid everyone else to get a garden faster.
- alistairSH 7y ago
  Not sure about Germany, but in many places, you pay a small administrative fee. In a world of sky-high urban real estate prices/rents, they're approaching free.

himlion 7y ago

Wow, are those gardens really that big? Here in the Netherlands there are huge waiting lists for your allotted 12m².

ahoef 7y ago
Well, I know people who've had 100m² around Nijmegen, so it exists.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
lispm 7y ago
Here in Hamburg in my region 150-300qm is possible.
abeppu 7y ago
In San Francisco, my community garden "plot" is a box of ~17 square feet (~1.6 square meters).

sampo 7y ago

> For many there is no other feasible way to own a few 100m² of green and free sky. For many this is not a feasible way either, as there are 12 000 people in line before them.

yorwba 7y ago
Eh, there may be 12,000 names on the list, but that doesn't mean you have to wait for all of them to get a garden before it's your turn. Many of those people will have changed their minds in the meantime, or they don't like a particular lot that's freed up, because you usually can't just leave it as-is. The one in the article burned down, many other lots have houses that violate new regulations but were grandfathered in, so you have to demolish and rebuild. Then there's the workload of actually gardening... I'm also not sure where they're getting the 12,000 from, since to my knowledge every "colony" manages their own waiting lists. If they're just adding the number of people on each list to arrive at the total, they're double-counting people who're not looking for a garden in a particular location and appear on multiple lists. All in all, if you really want a garden, it's absolutely feasible with a few years of waiting. And if you just want to dream about having one, you can still put your name on the waiting list and politely decline each lot they offer. EDIT: there's also a sharing platform for people who need help gardening and those who want to do it: https://www.datschlandia.de/ https://www.datschlandia.de/ That is another way to get the benefits of a garden bypassing the waiting lists.
- kayoone 7y ago
  even with only 10% of that list, it would still be a long wait.

layoutIfNeeded 7y ago

* in Berlin I’m pretty sure you can buy land in rural areas for pennies.

Ididntdothis 7y ago
The whole point of these is that they are not too far from home.
southerndrift 7y ago
Not literally, because farmland isn't that cheap.

sokoloff 7y ago

Are these plots of land actually owned by the users? I assumed they were rented, but the article doesn't seem to specify though the terms "allotment" and "waiting list" imply to me that they're not owned by the gardeners.

yorwba 7y ago
The land is owned by an association which leases it out to members; everything on top (house, trees and other plants) is owned by the gardener. So there's a transfer of ownership when a lot frees up, but the market is highly regulated so you can't just outbid everyone else to get a garden faster.
alistairSH 7y ago
Not sure about Germany, but in many places, you pay a small administrative fee. In a world of sky-high urban real estate prices/rents, they're approaching free.