Gardening isn’t a question of square metres

Just over one in four Germans are involved in urban gardening, growing plants on balconies, roof terraces and windowsills, or tending to courtyard or community gardens. This is according to the ‘Gardens of Europe’ survey, commissioned by Stiga, a manufacturer of gardening tools and equipment, from YouGov. 28 per cent of Germans surveyed – almost as many as the average among Europeans surveyed (31 per cent) – are involved in urban gardening. The French (39 per cent) and Spaniards (36 per cent) are even more active, whilst urban gardening is also widespread in Italy (26 per cent) and the United Kingdom (25 per cent).

Furthermore, a large proportion of the urban gardeners surveyed are now more interested in gardening than they were five years ago. The United Kingdom leads this trend (65 per cent), closely followed by Germany (64 per cent) and Italy (63 per cent). France stands at 60 per cent, whilst Spain is at 55 per cent.

But there are also regional differences: balconies are particularly flourishing in the east and north of Germany. The east (Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia) leads the trend nationwide – here, 32 per cent of respondents are involved in urban gardening. Close behind is the north (Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), where 30 per cent of people garden in small spaces. In the west (North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland), the proportion of urban gardeners stands at 27 per cent. Things are somewhat more traditional in the south: in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the proportion of urban gardeners is at its lowest, at 25 per cent.

Younger age groups in particular are urban gardeners: 39 per cent of urban gardeners in Germany are aged between 18 and 34 – compared with 23 per cent in the over-55 age group. When it comes to gender, however, there is hardly any difference: urban gardening is almost equally popular among women (28 per cent) and men (27 per cent) in Germany.

For the vast majority of people in Europe, gardening is far more than just a hobby: it is a factor in their personal quality of life. Most urban gardeners say that tending to plants noticeably improves their general well-being: this sentiment is particularly strong among urban gardeners in the United Kingdom (89…