I don’t think this is the first year the city has decided to do this, but this spring during our landscape planning, Nico came across a municipality initiative to green your garden, or Groen moet je doen. A lot of homes in my neighbourhood have a low maintenance (and honestly, not cute) grey tile-filled front garden, including our own. Although some homes also have some garden beds filled with seasonal flowers, the tile still blocks wildflowers from growing and inhibits natural habitat growth. It’s an easy fix for muddy flooding gardens that most people have chosen, instead of deliberately curating their garden with water absorbing plants and pollinator friendly wildflowers.
Amstelveen aims to change this tile go-to by encouraging everyone to swap them out for a green space. This greening initiative includes: free tile pickup (and I think even removal if you are unable to do so yourself), as well as curating a green landscape in public spaces suggested by residents. Luckily every public space surrounding our apartment is already proliferating with plants, so we didn’t have to reach out about that. If you have a concrete space near you (in Amstelveen) that has garden potential, you can contact them through this website here.
Now that it’s spring, we were finally able to tackle our garden. I will be going into more depth about the development of our garden in a two-part series for paying subscribers later this spring. We registered on Rainproof Amstelveen, the website set up for arranging tile pick-up and (Nico) began with task of removing the tiles. If you live in Amstelveen and want to do the same, I really recommend it, it was super simple to register and they offer you a free plant to christen your garden.
This website also offers tips on how to rainproof your garden, or how to implement a green roof in your home. It’s so great that information like this is so easily accessible and tailored to the lifestyle and weather in NL.
I believe I mentioned in a previous newsletter that you can request tiles to be removed along the public sidewalk beside your home if you live on the ground floor and want to have a mini garden outside your window. You can also contact the municipality in Amstelveen to do that as well in case you don’t have an official front garden. It’s always nice to look outside your window and see plants like a flowering wisteria or lilac, or just a row of tulips instead of everyone’s scooters and bikes stacked on top of the sidewalk.
The municipality will be doing the tile collection this year until Autumn I think, so if you live in the area and are looking for a good excuse to green your garden, check it out! If you have local initiatives like this where you are from let me know! I’m always curious <3
Thank you for being here <3
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