A greener city start with your own garden! That is why IVN Natuureducatie and 12 other organisations in the Netherlands have joined forces to encourage garden owners to make their own gardens and streets (more) green and sustainable.
What Is a Tuiny Forest?
A Tuiny Forest (tuin being the Dutch word for garden) is a ready-made package with 5 indigenous trees and 5 indigenous shrubs and a bag of indigenous seeds, including support for planting and maintenance. By planting the trees and shrubs close together on 6 m2 – a proven Japanese method for quick reforestation – the forest grows extra fast, and the quality of the soil also improves rapidly. In this way, within two years there is a small wilderness in the garden, where birds and hedgehogs find protection and food, all kinds of nectar-guzzlers can find food and where animals can reproduce. The more of these little islands throughout the Netherlands, the better the chances species have at surviving.
Why?
Heat stress, water storage and drought are an increasing challenge. Many of our wild plants and animals do not have it easy, especially in the city. But if you add all the gardens together, you have the largest nature park in the Netherlands! Imagine if we could make those gardens a little greener with a ready-made package full of poison-free native plants! In this way we can combat heat stress, allow the soil to absorb rainwater and give plants and animals a home. With Tuiny Forest, we let the gardens in the Netherlands sparkle with life again.
Why Indigenous?
Indigenous plants have spontaneously settled in the Netherlands after the last ice age and have completely adapted to the conditions in our country. They are more resistant to diseases and attract more bees, butterflies, birds and insects than exotic plants. The more indigenous species we plant, the better it is for biodiversity!
Source: https://www.ivn.nl/tuiny-forest/over-tuiny-forest (in Dutch)
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