Wildegaard Ede

Buurttuin Wildegaard is a community garden and young food forest on the former Prins Mauritskazerne in Ede, started in 2024 and run by a volunteer foundation along permaculture lines.

In the food forest the volunteers are planting a wide range of perennial food plants such as quince, pawpaw and hawthorn, and a mushroom bed is being started. Part of the ground is a shared vegetable garden, where a group of members draws up its own plan for vegetables, soft fruit, herbs, potatoes and flowers. No pesticides or synthetic fertiliser may be used, and the soil is built up with compost, mulch and green manure.

Nothing is sold. The harvest goes to the people who do the work: members garden together every Friday from 14:00 to 16:00, and the vegetable group meets twice a week and signs up by the end of January for a season that runs to November. Anyone may join, whether or not they live in the neighbourhood, and free lessons in permaculture, vegetable growing, foraging and food forests come with membership. Sign-up is by email. There is also a food-sharing cupboard (voedseldeelkast) where neighbours leave shelf-stable food for each other.

Weeds are given a role in the garden, which is why it looks less tidy than a conventional vegetable plot.