“We see a growing interest in allotments among all levels of society,” says Herman Vroklage of the umbrella organization General Association of Allotment Gardeners Netherlands (AVVN). “In recent years we have seen an increase in academics and people with office jobs who like to have their feet in the clay.”
Retired man
According to Vroklage, the image of gardening in an allotment garden has changed over the years. “When you used to talk about an allotment gardener, you pictured a retired man, or poor families who grew tomatoes and zucchini to eat themselves. That is different now. An allotment gardener can now be anyone.”
“Allotment gardeners can be a nurse, a construction worker, a judge or a doctor,” says Els de Wit of the Association of Allotment Gardeners, responsible for 6,000 allotments at 29 locations in and around Amsterdam. “The nice thing about this is that you often don’t know what kind of work the other person does. Because you’re all walking around in your old clothes. On the allotment garden you’re just an allotment gardener.”
According to De Wit, allotments are a place where people can relax when they want to escape the busy life. Many Amsterdam residents are apparently interested in this. The association is faced with long waiting lists.
At horticulturists’ association Ons Belang in Nieuwegein, they have also seen the population of the complex change considerably in recent years. Young wealthy Families now make up almost half of the association’s membership base, says board member Rob Abels. “This was much lower a few years ago.”
According to Vroklage of the AVVN, the increasing popularity is because the purpose of gardening has changed over the years. “People are fulfilling a need to be in a natural environment by taking an allotment,” he says. “The world around us has become harder and petrified with more asphalt and buildings and little nature. Young families also like their children to become acquainted with nature and life in the garden.”
In this video Lisa talks about the backyard of her self-sufficient house. She transformed it into a vegetable garden that she can eat from all year round.
2024-03-11 16:27:33
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