De Oude Bogten florishes because of trends like sustainaility, consciousness when it comes to food, recycling, keeping bees, integrating with other cultures. In June they celebrate their 25th anniversary and the garden is flourishing like never before.
“We do not really know the exact date of the jubilee, it was somewhere early this year. But we will celebrate it June 23rd. I’m talking to Désiré Lachmeijer, she is the treasurer of the board and a passionate avid gardener. “There are booths,, activities for children and our members can show off their gardens to the visitors. Everyone is welcome! ”
At the beginning of 2017, almost 10% of the gardens was still available. But this year there will be a waiting list. “We have experienced tremendous growth since last year. People get more and more conscious when it comes to food. They want to know all about the origin, the way it is produced, etcetera. When you grow your own vegetables and herbs, you don’t have to wonder about that anymore.
Compared to similar gardens, Oude Bogten is rather cheap. “We want to make it possible for everyone to get in” according to Désiré.
Oude Bogten has about 140 members from different nationalities, French, Germans, Afghans for instance. “We all share our knowledge when we meet up in the cafeteria”, according to chairman Jago Lachmeijer. “People from Iran or France grow very different vegetables than the Dutchies. They use selfmade tunnel greenhouses which allow you to grow more tropical vegetables.”
Something new in the allotment garden is the wild bee garden, with special plants and flowers. Désiré says “Wild bees quickly become an endangered species and that is a obviously a very bad thing. We do need bees and we must do everything in our power to save them. Two of our members are now fully focussing on that.”
According to her, the allotment also has a social function: “People who are just by themselves come here everyday to work in their garden but also to get company. There is always someone there who they can talk too. That’s why people like to be here as well. And we organise all kinds of activities like making sauerkraut or how to trim your plants.”
All this started when the new board came in about a year ago. The canteen got refurbished, the maintenance of tools and the complex as such is now structured and people feel more and more involved. Désiré and Jago put a lot of hours in but feel they get a lot in return. Check out Oude Bogten!
