Tuinderij De Groenteboer Biologische zelfoogsttuin

Tuinderij De Groenteboer is a self-harvest vegetable garden in the Kamerik polder, a kilometre north of Woerden, where members pick their own vegetables, herbs and small fruit each week through the growing season.

About 60 crops are grown: spinach, broad beans, mangetout and turnip greens in spring, carrots, beetroot, broccoli and strawberries in summer, parsnips and squash in autumn, and kale and leeks in winter. The garden is certified organic (SKAL), which we found in the register, and no artificial fertiliser or pesticides are used. Vegetable families move to a new bed each season to keep disease and pests down, and a wide mix of plants, flowers and herbs gives room to the creatures that eat insect pests. In spring and summer there is also a flower-picking garden grown in open ground.

The garden works as community-supported agriculture: members (aandeelhouders) take a share and come to harvest every week for about 30 weeks a year, and the sign-up form for 2027 is a waiting list. The garden lies on the grounds of Boerderij De Boerinn on the Mijzijde, next to the windmill. The grower runs it with volunteers, and since 2022 everything grown here goes to the self-harvest members.

The plants are given time to ripen fully rather than pushed on with fertiliser.