"Many allotment gardens are ecological deserts"

Berlin is Germany's allotment-garden capital, with more than 70,000 plots covering over 2,900 hectares - about three percent of the city's area. Plots are hard to get, and those who have one are dealing with the effects of climate change and sometimes with strict garden rules. In an rbb24 interview, landscape planner Jennifer Schulz of the University of Potsdam, who leads a research project on urban forest gardens, says allotments are extremely valuable for the city as green corridors that store water and provide cooling, and as social spaces - 'small villages inside the big city'. But many neat, tidy plots with mown lawns are 'ecological deserts' with no niches for nesting birds or insects. Her advice: plant more densely with trees, shrubs and varied ground plants; leave dead plants standing and cover soil with leaves to build humus and hold water; collect rainwater in barrels, create small hollows, mulch beds with straw or leaves, and replace lawn with shade-giving shrubs and trees. She avoids cherry laurel, thuja and couch grass. Schulz supports the rule that part of each plot is used for fruit and vegetables, citing its educational value for healthy eating and against food waste. She points to the Urban Forest Gardens in Berlin-Britz - a 28,000-square-metre allotment park with a shared forest garden, an edible park and forest-garden plots, where plots can also be leased by shared households - as a model, and notes that since June Berlin's administrative rules also allow community gardens within allotment plots. She encourages colonies to use the flexibility of their own statutes, remove fences between plots, and plant fruit trees along paths for the public.