Neighbourhood in Amsterdam-Noord
Gardener in Tuindorp Nieuwendam
What makes a garden in Tuindorp Nieuwendam different from one three streets away, and what that means for what goes into the ground.
Noord district, Amsterdam
What to reckon with in Tuindorp Nieuwendam
- 1,841 homes, 90 per cent single-family: the highest share in Noord district. Source: CBS 2025.
- Laid out between 1924 and 1934 to a design by Berend Boeyinga, with Jan Boterenbrood and Jouke Zietsma.
- Built as family houses with gardens, at most two storeys under a pitched roof.
- Back gardens around courtyards near Purmerplein: pruning goes round by round, not garden by garden.
Of every neighbourhood in Noord district, Tuindorp Nieuwendam has the highest share of single-family houses: 90 per cent of 1,841 homes. The estate was laid out between 1924 and 1934 to a design by Berend Boeyinga, with contributions from Jan Boterenbrood and Jouke Zietsma among others, and it was built as exactly what it still is: family houses with gardens, at most two storeys under a pitched roof.
That plan makes the work here different from the other garden villages. Around Purmerplein and along Purmerweg the blocks enclose courtyards, and the back gardens look onto each other rather than onto a lane. A tree that outgrows one garden takes the light out of three. We therefore prune a courtyard in a single round rather than garden by garden, and when a neighbour joins in it works out cheaper per address.
The architecture is protected, and you notice that at the front. On Wognumerplantsoen and Monnikendammerweg the front gardens are part of the street: low hedges, a path to the door, no paved parking bay. We will not lay a front garden here that breaks that pattern, even when asked, and that is written down on our methods page.
Closed over at most
50%
We will not build a garden that is more than half hard surface. On this ground the water has to go somewhere.
Lead time
3 to 6
Working days for a garden up to a hundred square metres, spread over two weeks.
We come back within
12mo
Anything we plant that fails to take, we replace within a year at no cost.
What we come to Tuindorp Nieuwendam for
Garden renovationThe whole garden out and back in, with a scale drawing before the first spade goes in.
Paving and terraceWhy a terrace goes out of level here, and what has to sit underneath to stop it.
Planting and bordersWhat takes on wet peat soil, and what is gone again within three years.
Pruning and hedgesHedges, shrubs and trees, and what does and does not need a permit in Amsterdam.
Garden maintenanceFour fixed rounds a year, with what happens in each of them written down.
First whether it can be done, then what it costs
Photograph the spot where the water stands. That answers half the question on its own.
Questions from Tuindorp Nieuwendam
My neighbour's tree takes my light. What can I do?
First establish where it stands and how thick it is. Under Dutch law you may have overhanging branches removed subject to conditions, but the tree itself belongs to your neighbour and falls under the city tree by-law once the trunk reaches 31 centimetres in circumference at 130 centimetres height. In these courtyards a joint pruning round works better in practice than an argument about the boundary, and we regularly do three or four addresses at once.
Can I pave my front garden to park a car on it?
We do not do that here. These front gardens are part of the protected character of the street, and a paved bay in a row of low hedges is visible immediately. Beyond that it is a poor idea on this ground: water that now soaks into the front garden has to go somewhere else instead. What we will lay is an open-jointed surface that grass grows through, which does the same job.
Our rear lane is narrow. Does your equipment fit?
A wheelbarrow does; a mini digger usually does not. That decides the price rather than the feasibility: anything done by hand takes roughly twice as long as the same work with a machine. We measure the narrowest passage during the survey and put that measurement in the quotation, so there is no argument about it afterwards.
The other neighbourhoods we work in
Your request
Six fields and a photo. With the area and the type of garden we can name a band before coming out; without those two, any answer is a guess.
Start with a photo
One photo from the back door showing the whole garden almost always saves a trip. Send two if you like: one of the whole and one of the spot where it goes wrong.