General tips for greening your garden
We want more greenery and fewer tiles in our city. This will keep our city cooler in the summer, reduce flooding because rainwater runs better into the ground, and provide more space for plants and animals.
That is why we are greening Zoetermeer more and more. To get you started with greening your own garden, we have some tips for you:
- Garden tips | Foundation Stonebreak
- Turn your garden into a green oasis | IVN
- Getting started yourself | Garden rangers
Within Zoetermeer, residents have the opportunity to request gardening advice from a volunteer, trained Garden Ranger. These Gardenrangers will then visit to advise on greening the garden. In Zoetermeer more than 100 advices have already been requested. - Preventing flooding with your garden | Milieu Centraal
- Weather boss grant | Schieland and Krimpenerwaard Water Board
- Month of the Green Garden | Stone Breaks Foundation
- Garden and Balcony | Bee Landscape
Includes information on facades and nursery listings that grow poison-free. You can also ask at a garden center for organic or poison-free grown plants or seeds. In fact, poisons used in growing garden plants can be harmful to insects and other animals in the garden.
Especially for Zoetermeer gardens
The Garden Rankers give a bag of flower seeds for the garden as a thank you for the request for advice. These bags of flower seeds are also available for free at various public locations.
Below are some plant species that occur naturally in Zoetermeer and its surroundings and whose seeds are in the bag. These plants contribute to the biodiversity of our city (such as butterflies and wild bees). These plants are therefore particularly suitable for your garden.
| Flower border (annuals) | Flower border / meadow (perennial) | Shady spot | Water in the garden / wadi (wet banks, up to 2 meters from water's edge) | Aquatic Plants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| True chamomile | Evening cuckoo | Buckthorn | True cuckoo flower | Great hedgehog head |
| Yellow goose flower | Common brunel | Day cuckoo | Yellow lis | Arrowhead |
| Large poppy | Little stripe seed | Yellow nailwort | Common kingcup | Swan Flower |
| Cuckoo | Knotweed | Look-without-look | Common angelica | Water Lily |
| Cornflower | Margriet | Stinking goldenweed | Cattail | Calamus |
| Odorless chamomile | Parsnips | Verge Storkbek | Poelruit | Water vine |
To give 2 examples here:
- The orange tip tip (a butterfly species) uses the garlic-without-look for depositing eggs. After hatching, orange tip caterpillars eat the leaves. This makes garlic-without-look a so-called host plant for the orange tip. Also, orange tip butterflies drink nectar from the flowers of garlic-without-look.
- Another example is the knotweed: the garden bumblebee, among others, drinks nectar and collects pollen from the flowers of the knotweed.
Rules and advice around planting greenery in the garden
Homeowners
The rules for planting trees, shrubs and hedges in one's own garden are found in the Civil Code. If the plot adjoins the plot of another private person then the following distances to the plot boundary apply:
- Trees: 2 meters distance
- Shrubs and hedges: 0.5 meter distance
These distances do not apply when:
- The piece of land borders a public road or public water.
- Plantings that have been in the same place for more than 20 years.
- An agreement with neighbors has been made that specifies a different distance.
- If the tree or shrub is not higher than the property boundary.
Agreement with neighbors: make a written agreement on paper or notarized.
If you participate in an Owners' Association you need permission from the other members.
Tenants
If you rent a property, there may be rules about garden maintenance and planting trees and/or climbing plants. Please check with the landlord for this. There are a number of major housing corporations in Zoetermeer, below are links to information and rules about gardens:
- The Good Housing: www.dgw.nl/tuinonderhoud
- Vidomes: www.vidomes.nl/ik-huur/mijn-woonomgeving/groenonderhoud/onderhoud-van-uw-eigen-tuin-en-balkon
- Stedelink: stedelink.com/gardenmaintenance
Removal of tiles from the garden (bulky waste)
Garden tiles fall under bulky waste. Information on how to dispose of them can be found on the page Waste, bulky waste. There is no Tegeltaxi in Zoetermeer.
Another option is to reuse the tiles in your own garden: make stacking walls and/or a herb spiral, for example. For more information: www.nk-tegelwippen.nl | What to do with your tiles
Green roofs
A green roof captures rainwater, provides food for insects and can be cooling in the summer. With a roof full of plants, you contribute to a healthy and pleasant living environment for people and animals. Learn more about a green roof at:
- How to make a roof bee-friendly | Bee Landscape
- Green roof: a garden on your shed | Milieu Centraal
- Subsidy Green Roofs Zoetermeer 2025-2027
Within Zoetermeer are many nature and environmental associations and municipal sites with knowledge on specific topics:
- Play and city farms (municipal site)
- District gardens (municipal location)
- School gardens (municipal site)
- Neighborhood Garden Sweet Earth | Taste the Season
- Imkerij De Honingpot | Honey, Beeswax, Mede and Courses
- DuurSamen Zoetermeer | Network organization for sustainable Zoetermeer
- Zoetermeer | Grandparents For Climate
- Court of Seghwaert
- IVN (Institute for Nature Education) Zoetermeer
- Royal Dutch Nature Society (KNNV) | Zoetermeer Section
- Lake treesnow
- Environmental Defense Zoetermeer
- Vegetable garden coach Evelien Smits | Young Learning to Eat
- Friends of the Plas van Poot / Xena Foundation
- Geuzegroen.nl | Food neighborhood forest in the Nieuwe Driemanspolder
- Bird and Nature Association Zoetermeer
- Friends of the nature and landscape garden Zoetermeer
- Friends of the neighborhood garden Rokkeveen | Facebook
Websites for inspiration
Accessible garden: comfort and experience for all
A well-designed garden is a place for everyone to enjoy - including people with physical or visual impairments. Some tips for a beautiful, as well as practical and safe garden:
- Provide a stable, level pavement.
- Make garden paths at least 90 centimeters wide.
- Pay attention to raised edges: they should be no higher than 2 centimeters, to avoid tripping hazards and obstacles for wheels.
- Clear extra space for the patio. A turning radius of 1.50 meters is needed to turn properly with a wheelchair.
- Lighten up gardening with automatic watering, such as drip systems or sprinklers (preferably using rainwater instead of drinking water).
- Place tools at seat height in storage areas or on hooks within easy reach.
- Remember to add strategically placed seating areas or resting points so that there is always an opportunity to take a break while gardening.
The garden experience can also be enhanced with smart modifications. Consider raised planters or borders so that plants are more accessible from a seated position.
There are also great options for people with visual impairments: choose plants that stimulate the senses, such as fragrant lavender, honeysuckle or aromatic herbs. And for the visually impaired, flowers with bright, contrasting colors such as sunflowers, cornflowers or knotweed are a wonderful addition With these tips and options, your garden will be an accessible and inspiring place!
