Allotment garden festival: Brandenburger celebrate their green oases!

Allotment garden festival: Brandenburger celebrate their green oases!

in Brandenburg an der Havel, the Rolandsaal in the town hall on July 1, 2025 was a place of encounter and celebration: The Brandenburg State Association of Garden Freunde invited to the ceremony, which was all about commitment for the allotment garden. Mayor Steffen Scheller warmly welcomed the guests and emphasized that Brandenburg an der Havel with his 5,232 allotment gardens not only offers green oases, but also makes an important contribution to climate protection and the preservation of biodiversity. These small gardens are not only habitats for plants and animals, but also places of community encounter and exchange.

The festival was also organized on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Brandenburg district association. In his speech, Steffen Scheller emphasized the importance of socially acceptable lease conditions and the creation of good framework conditions for the allotment gardeners. A general lease was signed in 2018 that optimized the management of over 75 individual contracts. There are currently 226 intermediate lease contracts with private property owners, which underlines the good cooperation between the city and garden friends. The total area of ​​the allotment garden plots amounts to an impressive 2.82 million square meters.

award for commitment in the allotment garden

A special highlight of the ceremony was the allocation of the Wilhelm Naulin badge. This is traditionally awarded for special merits in allotment garden. This year, Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke and the district association of Gartenfreunde Berlin-Hellersdorf e.V. received the award. Gert Schoppa, President of the Landesverband Berlin of Garden Friends, praised the commitment of the Hellersdorfer allotment gardeners, who contribute to strengthening social cohesion in the community.

The Wilhelm Naulin Foundation, which has been awarding this award since 1984, honored the garden project "Outpatient Group Housing" from AWO Potsdam last year, which works with a lot of passion for young adults between the ages of 18 and 27. The participants have been managing an allotment garden for over three years, with gardening having a therapeutic component that strengthens self -confidence. Project manager Annekathrin Hinsche also emphasized the great positive effects of the award on the residents and their skills.

allotment gardens as part of the urban habitat

The importance of the allotments extends beyond the individual projects and awards. According to the Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research, almost 910,000 tenants in Germany have an allotment garden, and the majority are organized in BDG e.V. These gardens are not only refuge for hobby gardeners, but also important elements of urban infrastructure. The demand for allotment gardens is increasing in large cities in particular, while in rural regions there is often a need. The demographic change, which leads to an increase in one-person households, shows how important smaller garden areas become.

ecological gardening also plays a major role: allotments can contribute to biodiversity and climate protection. In addition, innovative concepts are being worked on, which should enable new allotment gardens to create or use existing areas together. The cooperation between allotment garden organizations and municipalities is essential in order to secure the valuable green infrastructure in the long term. The support of the city for garden enthusiasts could not be more important - after all, it is about maintaining the allotments as social meeting places and green retreats for everyone.