Sustainable grower: Flower and Harvest

Eline Houtkamp grows beautiful cut flowers from organic flower seeds. At her nursery in Wapserveen, she cultivates both annual and perennial plants, carefully assessing their suitability for our (changing) climate. You can also find her nursery at the Craft Plant Market this year.

Eline primarily grows annual and perennial cut flowers in a variety of colors and shapes, perfect for creating a beautiful cut flower garden, even in a small garden! You can also find more unusual cut flowers at Bloem en Oogst . The seeds are shipped and sold in paper bags. And, of course, also at the Artisanal Plant Market!

On September 27th and 28th, Bloem en Oogst will be at the Artisanal Plant Market , the most sustainable plant event of the year. Will you be there at De Wiersse Estate in Vorden? Read more about this nursery's sustainable offerings at the plant market below.

"Bloem en Oogst is an organic flower seed nursery where working independently and at your own pace is paramount, both for the growers and the flowers we grow on the farm," explains Eline. "We minimize the need for external inputs. Fertilization is based on our own compost, mulch, and green manure, and we operate entirely without digging. We find that this fosters a well-functioning soil food web. We collect rainwater, which is sufficient for watering young plants in the spring. And as a water buffer in the landscape, we have a large natural pond."

Eline: "We see the great diversity of life every day at our small-scale nursery, which contributes to the development of a robust and versatile range of flower seeds. Flowers that are resilient, suitable for the Dutch climate."

"The best part of my job is that we're right at the beginning of the seed production chain," says Eline. "We provide organic starting material for flower growers and cut-flower gardeners, so they can start their operations clean right from the start. This aligns with our ideal of a sustainable supply chain. It's also symbolic, because we're involved in the seed production from start to finish; the entire circle is completed at our nursery."

We have copied this information as carefully as possible and edited it for readability, based on the contract signed and explained by the growers at the Craft Plant Market .