The horticultural world of small gardens is huge! They include small gardens of antiquity such as those planted by Greek women to venerate the god Adonis (Detienne, 1972); the balcony and windowsill gardens common in many cities of Europe; the universe of miniature Asian gardens such as the Chinese p'en ching or the Japanese sakai and bonzai planting (Stein, 1987), and finally, the small allotment or community gardens found mostly in urban areas, the subject of the present paper. These small community gardens are found in many places around the world, where they serve a wide range of purposes, including a source of food and ornamentals as well as recreation. Those who operate these gardens have formed local, regional, and even national organisations and some countries have issued laws for their regulation.
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