Landgoed Buitenleeft

Landgoed Buitenleeft is an estate in the Delftse Hout on the edge of Delft with a self-harvest kitchen garden (zelfoogsttuin), run as community supported agriculture, where members pick their own vegetables, fruit and herbs.

Everything grows in the open ground in one large kitchen garden, and their website says no synthetic fertiliser or pesticides are used. They grow many different crops per hectare, including old local varieties, mix perennial plants with annual crops and leave room for wild plants and animals, and they add organic matter to the soil so it holds more water.

Joining means taking a harvest share for the season, which runs from late April or early May to about late October, around 24 weeks. A share lets you harvest five vegetables a week, once a week, on Thursday from 16:30 to 18:30, Friday from 10:00 to 12:00 or Saturday from 9:00 to 13:00. You can take more than one share, split one with someone else or send someone to harvest for you. The share is paid in advance, runs on into the next season and can be cancelled each year before 1 January; helping in the garden is welcome but not required. Sign-up is by email.

In 2025 the estate's yearly investment went into water management, because the vegetables will not grow with their roots standing in water.