I have been a gardener of sorts for more years than I can remember but I do remember being eight when my father gave me orders to look after "his" garden whilst he was overseas for a couple of years - in Singapore. Earlier, at the age of four, my grandfather had had me "helping" in his cottage garden - dibbing cabbages and mixing cement!
I suppose I became more seriously interest (as an allotmenteer) about 15 years' ago when I first took my allotment. Now I am becoming interested in international aspects of allotment gardening. So far I have collected material on Denmark, France, Germany, Russia, and Spain. This note briefly looks at my reading and observations.
Denmark: I visited Denmark in 1977 and my wife and I were taken to see a leisure style allotment. The owners had taken a plot on a laid out site; holding the land on a 35 years' lease. They had built a small timber bungalow for overnight stays on the land. The remainder of the plot was put over to growing vegetables and so on.
France: We have twinning friends and have visited two locations where there are allotments. 1 In Verriere-le-Buisson there is at least one small parcel of land used as allotments. They appear to be mainly used for vegetables and I cannot recall seeing any sheds, etc so they may be "barred" from having them. " In Amiens we have had a couple of boat tours around the hortilliages. Gardens which appear almost "floating". The land is "plotted" into fairly large gardens with narrow canals bordering on one or two sides of each plot. The water is fed from the Somme and I guess that any "dredgings" are rich in plant nutrients. Of course water is naturally abundant and is probably soaking the subsoils - I have never seen such strong healthy crops.
Germany: Readings remark on the diffferent styles of the indigenous Grermans and the migrants from other countries. Home-grown allotmenteers grow a mix of vegetables, fruit and flowers: whereas migrant allotmenteers grow far fewer flowers - concentrating on vegetables.
Norway: The allotment movement began in the late 19th Century. There is a site known as Kongsgard Allotments (Kristiansand) and comprises over 100 plots and has a coffee shop on Sundays. Of the other dozen or so are Etterstad Kolonihager Klemetsaunet Gardens (at Trondheim) and Solvang Kolonihager.
Russia: I know the word "dacha" from boyhood days but had not realised until recently that it applied to relatively humble "leisure" allotments, ie ones with small timber dwellings, as well as "country houses" for the aristocracy of Russian society in the old days. It seems that more than just many town dwellers in Russia have a plot in the countryside for growing food. Where they have build small dwellings they are able to stay overnight.
See http://www.open2.net/blogs/scitechnature/index.php/2007/09/07/russian_allotments
Spain: An interesting link is given below. It descibes how the ownership, management and use of allotments differs in Spain and England. In Spain most seem to date back to the time of the Moors with several changes of ownership patterns. Some local authorities in Spain now seem to be providing allotments which probably reflects the economic circumstances of the country.
USA: I have seen on-line, to my surprise, that they do not have allotments in the USA. I have stayed or visited in houses in Virginia where they had large "backyards" (gardens to the English); except in one case where they had created a typically "English garden", my experience was disappointing at seeing no flower or vegetable gardens.
http://www.allotment.org.uk/articles/Allotment-Spain-1.php
Jots: I have seen from trains on journeys in Belgium, France and Italy parcels of land neatly sub-divided by baulks into plots, each with sheds, and water butts. Some appeared to have been built in the months before the journey. Is it a sign of the times that more and more Europeans - including the English - are finding the lure of land for allotmenteering gardening irresistable? Maybe the European Commission should have a Directorate for Allotmenteering!
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