Heemtuin Creative Garden is a community garden in Wageningen, the Netherlands. It is a place to garden, be a community and be creative. For everyone and throughout the year. On 13 June we’ll be hosting a lunch walk between 12.00 and 13.30 hours.

If you can’t make it that day, you are always welcome to visit us another time. We are located on the grounds of the organic care farm De Hoge Born. Every Sunday between 12:00 and 16:00 we get together to work, garden, and socialize. On top of that, we regularly hold pizza parties and other activities.

We have about 25 regular participants, and many more casual volunteers. The garden is a place to relax, enjoy, and socialize, and supplies the majority of our yearly vegetable consumption.

The total area of the garden is roughly 8,000 m², which includes the following facilities:

• Vegetable garden
• Food forest with fruit trees, bushes, and berries
• Test plot for new crops
• Chicken coop
• Kitchen area for communal eating, cooking, and making preserves
• Wood-fired pizza oven
• Wheelchair-accessible herb garden
• Wheelchair-accessible outdoor toilet
• Cellar
• Small playground for children
• Pipowagon
• Tool shed
• Pond
• Private plots

Join us

Everyone is welcome to join and participate in the garden. The easiest way to start is just to come on a Sunday between 12:00 and 16:00. For more information, you can read more about how we work, contacting us, and joining us.

Are you a high school biology teacher? Then sign up for a tour for you and your students in the most advanced research greenhouse in the Netherlands. The tour at the Netherlands Plant Eco-phenotyping Centre (NPEC) is in Dutch, free of charge and organised by Wageningen University & Research. The tours will be held in Dutch and take place on 23 May between 10.00 and 15.00 and last about 1.5 hours.

In NPEC, we observe and measure the physical characteristics and properties of plants (phenotyping). This used to be done manually, but nowadays we use advanced technologies such as sensors, drones and cameras, making the process fully automated. This allows us to examine many more plants at once than before.

Plants use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen (photosynthesis). Our scientists conduct research to make this process more efficient and thus increase crop yields. This is important to be able to produce enough food for the growing world population in the future.

During the visit, you and your students will get an exclusive insight into the goings-on at NPEC and you will get to work on your own in a mini-practicum.

What’s on the programme?
Tour of the greenhouse and climate cells of the Netherlands Plant Eco-phenotyping Centre (NPEC)
Demonstration of drones and NPEC’s TraitSeeker in the field
Mini-lecture and practical on phenotyping and photosynthesis
Going into the field to inspect plants yourself
Assessment of your own brought plant for photosynthesis efficiency (with a chance to win a prize).

During a heat wave in summer, or when the rivers are over-flooding, plants have nowhere to go. However, that does not mean that they stand no chance. Through evolution, plants have obtained traits that help them survive when times get rough. Did you know for example that plants can “hold their breath” for days when they get submerged? To learn more about the wonderful survival mechanisms of plants to overcome climate change, come to the Plant Fascination Day exhibition organised by the plant research cluster of Utrecht University! This exhibition is targeted at kids aged 6 – 12 and includes a fun (free!) scavenger hunt.