To each his own: garden plots

0 Comments | Swiss News, June, 2002 | by Kim Hays

If you take over a plot in Bern or Basel, for example, you will be required to start your tenancy by attending a free organic gardening course. Offered by specially trained garden-club members, tile course will teach you about planting and composting effectively; fertilizing safely; and lighting pests, diseases, and weeds without poisons. "Although we want people to garden as naturally as possible," explains Andre Wyttenbach, "we don't forbid them to use conventional fertilizers and pesticides. We can only try to convince them that our methods are better for the land. We do strictly forbid chemical weed-killers, because they are so destructive, but unfortunately we can't always catch the people who use them despite our restriction."

Dos and Don'ts

Weed-killer is not the only restriction that confronts family gardeners. Each location has its own requirements about how plots should be fenced, what materials may be used to make paths, how garbage should be disposed of, and what should be the maximum size of garden-houses, terraces and storage facilities. While some may find the rules tiresome, the end result is row upon row of neat, attractive, and yet highly individual gardens. Some have spaliered fruit trees adorning the sides of their tiny houses, others have vine-covered pergolas shading their flagstone terraces or display flagpoles flying an Italian, Swiss or Croatian flag.

There are almost no restrictions on what a family gardener may grow. Lina De Berardinis, for example, has had a plot in Bern for the last four years. A conventional rather than organic gardener, she really enjoys taking fresh vegetables home to her family. "I grow lettuce, zucchini, com, potatoes, tomatoes and basil in the summer, and pumpkins in tile fall," she says. "I don't plant winter crops, but many people do. Spinach and Nusslisalat are ideal, because they keep your soil from eroding over the winter."

Garden plots usually become available on March 1 for the following year, but it is worth calling now to get on the waiting list. If you are lucky, there may even be an unoccupied garden that you can take to get in some tomato plants, over right away. It's still not too late.

Garden Info

Regional Representatives of the Swiss Family Gardeners Association

Romandie

Frederic Schar; 022 782 4560, Ehrhard Marti; 021 728 3139

Aargau

Rene Kaufmann; 056 496 0038

Basel-Land

Werner Schaublin; 061 311 3103

City of Basel

Peter Saner; 061 692 1654

Bern

Hans Heiniger; 031 941 2049

Biel

Willy Pulfer; 032 341 7623 (w.b.pulfer@bluewin.ch)

Canton of Zurich

Franz Taiana; 01 721 0604, Werner Koller; 052 343 8972

City of Zurich

Ernst sturzenegger; 01 341 4144, (sturzi@swissonline.ch)

Central Switzerland

Hans Felder; 041 320 1946, Fredy Klingenfuss; 041 497 27 36

Eastern Switzerland

Alois Lenherr; 081 756 3516 (riwilh@bluewin.ch)

Hilda Rohner; 071 223 6141 (hipero@bluewin.ch)