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This article considers the structure of a contemporary urban reform in Geneva (as in other European cities) concerning family gardens the status of which is now in competition with the recent increase of new forms of community gardens. It highlights the ecological, rationalistic, aesthetic and ethical criticisms of various public or private “reformers” with regard to family gardens, and in doing so, contributes to legitimating community gardens. While this reform is presented as a necessity, it is only welcomed with a certain reserve by the spokespersons of the family allotment associations. When taking a position “for” or “against” the reform, all the social actors tend to refer implicitly to different socially situated modes of gardening and of lifestyles and these differences reveal how much the “urban agriculture” in reality masks – behind the visible consensus of which it is the object – heterogeneous social meanings.