The average household in Germany is very different than most households in America. The way they shop, the houses they live in, and the things that are important in houses like gardening differ from those in the states.
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Most of Germany is a megalopolis which is when the cities seem to just run together such as on the East Coast of America. This means that most homes in Germany are small. County homes in the so called "rural" areas are bigger in size and often times have stories. The houses may have many stories but generally more than one family lives in the house. Grandparents most often occupy the first story, parents on the second and the children on the third story.
The generally small space in homes causes things to be different in Germany than life as I know it. As I look at most of my friends they all have at least one pet in there house. Pets are not as common in Germany this is due to the small space and it can be rather expensive to own a pet. Birds and fish are the most common pets in German homes. Larger pets require more space and most houses don't have a backyard which would help if they had a dog or another large pet.
The lack of a backyard may cause many people not to have a dog but it doesn't keep them from having a garden. Gardening is very important to Germans. If they don't have a backyard or a front yard they simply have a hanging garden. A hanging garden is when people put plants in boxes and hang them out or by a window. .
Gardens are important to Germans because fresh food is very important to them. The supermarkets in Germany are very different than ours. When my family goes our grocery shopping about once a week we go to a supermarket and get fruit, meat, bread, canned goods and all other sorts of things. When people in Germany go grocery shopping which is usually daily they go to markets where they can buy fruit and vegetables from the people that grew them.
