Gardens and Trains

Last Sunday, we took a walk next to our house. I couldn't believe it, but we are only two blocks away from a garden colony and the S-Bahn tracks. They're hidden behind some apartment buildings, but I have never heard the trains going by. The kids were very excited to watch the trains go in and out of the station, and they tried to get the drivers to wave to them as they left. Eastbound drivers are more likely to wave from our short experience.
On unused train rights of way, people can buy leases and have a small garden plot which is called a Schrebergarten. These had obviously been around for a long while and most of them had a teeny house too. This allows the trains to get rent money out of the real estate while they're not using it, and makes it easy to use it when they need to. It also lets people get gardens and second homes and the land looks a lot better than it would if it were left unattended.
The garden colony had a lot in common with our neighborhood in Grandview. There was the avid gardening/avid pruning element, a strong Christmas light presence, and a high Fiberglass Lawn Ornament Quotient, or F.L.O.Q. We were amazed at how much gardening they could get out of such small lots -- some were masterpieces.