6x sustainable picking gardens in the Netherlands

Near the Loonse and Drunese Dunes, you will find the organic picking garden of forest farm Sprankenhof. On the farm, which dates from 1779, everything is about 'Know what you eat'. By picking vegetables, fruit and herbs yourself, you get back in touch with the origin of your food. All crops grown in the garden are grown organically, without fuss and chemicals. The small country shop sells all kinds of organic products, including honey from its own bees and eggs from chickens from the garden.

If you take part in one of the many cooking workshops at Boshoeve Sprankenhof, you will first pick the ingredients and then immediately start preparing the dishes. In between, you will learn which flavours go together and which herbs and spices are a tasty addition to your meal.

"My father is actually the vegetable gardener. And we all helped to row the beans, plant the potatoes, weed and so on. We ate from the garden, but a pig was also kept for meat. That's how I grew up." says owner Benita of Vegetable Picking Garden The Meulenhof.

I imagine Benita's father to be like my grandfather. Always outside in his vegetable garden, hands dark from the earth. Together with her husband Ronnie, Benita continues her father's work. In this picking garden in Brabant's Heeswijk-Dinther, it all grows: from endive and cauliflower to Brussels sprouts and summer carrots. Fresh-tasting healthy-unsprayed-all natural food from the garden, that's their motto. And you can taste it.

I spend most of my working hours behind a screen, in our little flat on the third floor. After a long working day, I sometimes long for the outdoors, the smell of the earth and the hum of the bees. That's why I like the Glimmer Garden so much. Everyone can help in the garden here. It is not only a picking garden, but above all an experience garden. It brings you back in touch with nature and yourself.

If you don't have the time or inclination to help out in the garden, you can still pick your own berries and flowers. The fruit and vegetables grown ecologically by the volunteers are of course also for sale in the garden.

In Bartiméus' vegetable garden, people with a visual or mental disability grow vegetables and herbs. The garden in Doorn is a meeting place for Bartiméus residents and visitors from outside. From mid-April, you can harvest vegetables such as lettuce and turnip greens yourself. Of course, it is all pure nature, as they do not use artificial fertilisers or pesticides.

The vegetable garden is part of the Historical Tea Garden. In the tearoom, they serve fair coffee and home-baked cake (with fruit from the kitchen garden). Or stroll through the rosarium, Bartiméus' special rose garden.

Extra tip if you love tea gardens, also read this blog by Honeyguide Yalou about the most beautiful tea gardens in the Netherlands. Theetuin Bartiméus wouldn't be out of place in it either if you ask me.

The Olmenhorst estate in North Holland has been growing fruit since 1890. Since then, the orchard has undergone a number of changes and is now 100% organic. In the picking season from mid-September to the end of October, you can pick apples and pears in the orchard.

What I find very special is that you can adopt an apple tree for a small contribution. They then choose a tree for you, and it gets a sign with your name on it. When your tree's apples are ripe, you can come and pick them. A whole bomb full of organic apples, just for you!

In the flower picking garden Do it yourselves by Marloes, graduated garden and landscape architect, over a hundred different flowers grow. And all without any fuss, just in the ground and without pesticides or artificial fertilisers. In other words, sustainably. During the season (from early June to early September), you can pick your own beautiful bouquet in Woold in Gelderland.

Marloes also dries flowers for drying bouquets, harvests flower seeds so you can plant them in your own garden and illustrates beautiful cards, of course with the most beautiful flowers and plants. Picking happiness for home.