Königreich Schrebergarten | WDR Doku

It's a special year for the Castrop-Rauxel North allotment association: They've already been officially named the best allotment in Westphalia – and that also means they've been nominated for the major national competition for all allotment associations in Germany. This competition only takes place every four years – with a grand awards ceremony and gala in Berlin. And of course, the Castrop-Rauxel allotment holders are aiming for gold there too! It will be a challenging year, a real test for the association and all its members. 89 plots on 5.3 hectares, 149 members, and all this in the heart of a socially disadvantaged area – that's the Castrop-Rauxel North allotment garden. A primary school class walks past Stefan Bevc, the association's gardening advisor: the children are holding small shovels. "The children should learn that fruit and vegetables don't grow on supermarket shelves," Bevc explains. Today, they're being assigned their own potato patch, which they're expected to tend themselves. “The days when it was solely about providing a little bit of happiness for everyone in an allotment garden are over. It’s about more than that: ecology, sustainability, social cohesion. Allotment gardens are a reflection of society,” explains Bevc. André Suren, at 23 the youngest board member, dreams of an allotment garden 4.0 – with free internet for all gardeners. The club chairman, Hans Vondey, wants a tidy complex with uniform fences. Garden warden Günther Kusik is realizing his own vision with an improvised raised bed. Everyone here has their own dreams – but for the competition, they all have to pull together. They don’t stand a chance against nature anyway: weeks of drought are causing the flowers to wilt, an introduced pest is gnawing at the boxwood hedges – and soon the commission from Berlin will be coming to inspect their club. Allotment gardeners are having a field day. For a year, the film follows the residents of the Castrop-Rauxel North allotment garden association – from the first awakening of the gardens in spring to the grand allotment garden gala with awards ceremony in wintry Berlin. There's sowing, harvesting, hoping, and worrying – and completely unexpectedly – ​​the garden even starts to be haunted… ______ A film for "People Up Close" by Marko Rösseler. This film was produced in 2020 (filming took place from December 2017 to March 2019). All statements and facts reflect the situation at that time and have not been updated since. More documentaries on this topic:    • Noch einmal verliebt sein | WDR Doku