This self-picking garden, known as Plukbos Paardenspeelwei, is a community-driven initiative established in 2021 within a larger children’s playground area. Created by local residents, its purpose is to offer a public space where visitors can enjoy and pick a variety of fruits, nuts, and seeds from ecologically valuable trees and shrubs. While inspired by permaculture principles to enhance biodiversity and soil quality, it functions as a ‘picking forest’ rather than a full-scale food forest due to its smaller size and developmental stage.
To ensure enjoyment for all, visitors are asked to treat the area with care, leave no waste behind, pick only what they intend to eat immediately, and leave enough for others. Community involvement in planting and maintenance is encouraged, with regular workdays and social gatherings hosted.
The produce available for self-picking includes:
- Fruits: Strawberries, Apricots, Apples (varieties like Ecolette, Ingrid Marie, Pinova), Raspberries (yellow autumn), Cornelian cherries, Honeyberries (blue-black, oval), Japanese wineberries, Jostaberries, Kaki Sharonfruit, Cherries (Bigarreau Napoléon, Regina), Kiwiberries, Kiwis (Hayward), Quinces (for processing), Medlars (edible after softening), Nashi pears, Pawpaws (Allegheny, Prima 1216, Susquehanna), Plums, Sloes (edible after frost), Black mulberries, and Serviceberries/Juneberries (black-blue).
- Nuts: Almonds, Hazelnuts, Pecan nuts, Sweet chestnuts, Walnuts, and Shagbark Hickory nuts.
- Other: Climbing cucumber (Akebia quinata) which yields fruits with sweet, soft pulp.