A Kleingarten, also known as a Schrebergarten, is a plot on the outskirts of the city where people who live in apartments can do some gardening, enjoy the outdoors, and grill meat. The gardens each have a little shed and they are laid out in long fenced-in rows with little gravel roads running in between them.
When my parents came to visit and we were on the train from the airport, my mom looked out the window at a row of Kleingartens and said, "what is that place? Safety Town?". The tidy rows with their tiny houses do like a village for small children on bikes, or better yet for dwarves and garden gnomes.
Here's a link to a good little article about the Kleingartens.
Last Fall, four of our friends from the international school went in together to but a Kleingarten. Andrew, who is the Australian chief gardener, celebrated a birthday on Thursday. He invited a bunch of us to a cricket game followed by a barbecue at the garden. Apparently the cricket was a good show - all the players had to wear white and they had a break for tea and cucumber sandwiches. I missed the cricket game because I had to invigilate (i.e. supervise) exams at the school, which the students had to take even though it was a holiday. It was so boring that one kid fell asleep while taking his own exam. I had to wake him up and it was the most exciting moment of the afternoon. I considered giving each of them just one sheet of scratch paper so that they would raise their hands to ask for more and I would have something to do. Eventually the minutes ticked away and I headed out to the Kleingarten. After getting hopelessly lost for a while, we got to sit outside and hang out in front of a fire in the evening. That reminded me a little of home.
The main difference, though (other than the whole being in Germany part) is that when we had fires out back on the patio, our house was right behind us. In the Kleingarten, it's like they have outsourced the back yard.When you hang out there, you have to go home afterward, even if the garden is yours. You are not supposed to spend the night at the garden. I am not sure whether it's illegal or just against the rules of the Kleingarten association. The Kleingarten has electricity but no sewer system. Each plot has its own little well for water. There are also rules about how the size and shape of the plot, how large your shed can be, and what times of day you are not allowed to mow the grass. It sounds sort of like owning a condo. But of course there are rules. It's Germany.
Rules or not, we enjoyed our day at the garden. Our friends have put a lot of work into planting veggies and herbs and fruit trees there. I didn't see any dwarves, but that must be because they come out at night when all of the people have gone back to sleep in their apartments..
Here are some photos of the event:
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| Andrew tending the grill |
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| Andrew, Brian, and Mark |
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| Our small friend Noah, and Brian's cricket wear |
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