• The Soldatengasse allotment garden site on Eupener Straße in Aachen has been awarded a gold medal in a state-wide competition organized by the NRW Ministry of Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
• The motto of the competition was "Allotment garden happiness - where people and nature come together".
• Whether deadwood pile, communal shredder or garden library: the site is characterized by a balanced ecological concept and open, social interaction.

A paradise for people, plants and animals: Anyone who visits the Soldatengasse allotment site on Eupener Straße can experience this. 25 allotment gardeners lovingly maintain and design their plots on around 8,100 square meters, live a communal association culture and have been pursuing a balanced ecological concept since 2022. This was rewarded this year: the allotment garden site won the gold medal in the state-wide competition under the motto "Allotment garden happiness - where people and nature come together" from the NRW Ministry of Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

Intergenerational togetherness
"One thing is immediately noticeable when you enter the site and underlines the uniqueness of Soldatengasse: there are no typical fences between the garden plots," says Jan Nigl, Head of the Real Estate Maintenance team at the City of Aachen, describing the first impression of the site at a joint press event. The open concept is also reflected in the way the club members interact: children and older people are just as involved as former members. Christmas and Easter parties, a monthly garden café and joint renovation work fill the association's calendar. In this way, the allotment garden site strengthens social, intergenerational togetherness.

The plots are divided according to the rule of thirds: one third of the area can be used for recreation, one third for ornamental plants and one third for growing fruit and vegetables. Zucchinis, kale, eggplants and leeks grow here.

The ecological concept
The association's first sustainability project was launched in 2022. Lecture series motivated members to actively participate in the conversion of the facility. The board distributed ecologically valuable plants to the tenants and a shredder was purchased for everyone to use to make mulch. In particular, the association tackled the issue of sustainable water supply: Members unsealed paths and created water reservoirs. Together with children, they built their own ollas, clay pots for watering plants.

But that's not all: the allotment site also has a dry stone wall, a leaf trap and provides space for hedgehogs. Some of the association members grow their own seeds and have installed nesting aids for bees and bats. An extensive range of information events, worm vases and a new deadwood pile complete the ecological concept. Children and allotment gardeners alike will find what they are looking for in a garden library with specialist literature and board games.

A surprising win
The ecological concept, the design of the plots and the club life impressed the jury. The association was awarded the gold medal in the "NRW Allotment Gardens" competition on November 15 in Dortmund. The competition takes place every four years. The allotment garden site had applied after it had last been awarded the traveling prize of the city of Aachen in 2024, explains Gabi Babendreyer, board member of the Aachen city association of family gardeners. In the summer of this year, the jury, including NRW Minister of Agriculture Silke Gorißen, visited the allotment garden site and gained an impression on site. After that, the members of the association had to wait. Nobody had expected that they would actually win, as Serife Kara from the board of the Soldatengasse allotment garden site explains. "We were in good spirits after the jury's visit, but we knew that the NRW-wide competition was a different kettle of fish to the city's internal competition. That's why we were really in disbelief and pleasantly surprised when we received the gold medal." A total of 14 plants took part in the competition. Winning the NRW competition enables us to take part in next year's nationwide "Gardens in Urban Development" competition for allotment gardens. The application for the Aachen site has already been submitted.

Aachen allotment garden sites
The Aachen allotment garden association manages a total of 42 allotment garden sites and around 2,500 tenants in close cooperation with the city's real estate management department. The Soldatengasse allotment garden site is a relatively small site and a particularly old one. It was founded by gardening enthusiasts back in 1905. The oldest allotment garden site is the Erholung site, which has existed since 1904. The largest is the Lochmühle site with 68,000 square meters, the smallest is the Wasserwerke site with 2,700 square meters and seven plots. Aachen's allotment gardens contribute to improving the city's climate, offer recreational areas in green surroundings and fulfill an important social function. The entire allotment garden system in the city is based on the commitment and voluntary work of the allotment gardeners.

Many more projects on the horizon
There's never a dull moment at the Soldatengasse allotment garden site, as there are also a number of projects on the calendar for next year: in addition to taking part in the national competition, for example, there are plans to cooperate with the squirrel charity and the "St. Johann" kindergarten in the neighborhood. Some members would like to plant mosses. The gardening friends would also like to focus on bird protection with feeders, nesting aids, water troughs and lectures on native bird species.