Neighbourhood in Amsterdam-Noord
Gardener in Kadoelen
What makes a garden in Kadoelen different from one three streets away, and what that means for what goes into the ground.
Noord district, Amsterdam
What to reckon with in Kadoelen
- 1,347 homes, 85 per cent single-family and 66 per cent owner-occupied: the highest share of gardens in Noord. Source: CBS 2025.
- The historic line runs along Kadoelenweg and Landsmeerderdijk; the surrounding housing dates from after 1976.
- Klein Kadoelen was built after 2001 on the former Kiekens factory site: young, compacted ground.
- Bordering Het Twiske. Birch, willow and maple seed themselves into borders here without help.
Kadoelen has more gardens per household than anywhere else in Noord: of 1,347 homes, 85 per cent are single-family houses and 66 per cent are owner-occupied. That changes the kind of call we get. People here do not usually ring to have an overgrown back garden cleared; they ring because they want the whole thing done properly, with a drawing, and they ask for one.
The name is old, most of the building is not. The historic line runs along Kadoelenweg and Landsmeerderdijk; the housing around it dates from the second half of the 1970s, and Klein Kadoelen was built after 2001 on the site of the former Kiekens factory. On Stentorstraat and Twiskestraat that means young ground with little soil life and a subsoil compacted by the machinery that prepared the site. Planting that goes into that without the ground being opened up first looks exactly the same two years later as on the day it went in.
The area borders Het Twiske, a large recreational wetland, and that is not scenery but a working condition: wind comes across it, and so does seed. Birch, willow and maple sow themselves into any border left alone for a season. A maintenance arrangement for this neighbourhood therefore includes a June round that looks for exactly that.
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 Kadoelen 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 Kadoelen
We have a new-build garden that never took. What is wrong with it?
Usually not the plants but the layer underneath. When a site is prepared for building, the subsoil is compacted by heavy machinery and a thin layer of topsoil is spread over it. Roots stop at that boundary. What we do is strip the top layer, break open the compacted layer to about forty centimetres, and only then put things back. It is not the most expensive part of a garden and it decides whether the rest works.
There is a large tree in my garden I want removed. Am I free to do that?
No. The Amsterdam tree by-law of 2014 (Bomenverordening) counts anything with a trunk circumference of 31 centimetres or more, measured at 130 centimetres above ground, and a permit is required. A replanting obligation is normally attached to that permit. We measure the circumference before anything is agreed, and we say so plainly when a tree falls under the threshold, because then it is simply free.
What does a maintenance arrangement cost for a garden this size?
We charge 4 to 9 euro per square metre per year including Dutch VAT (btw), depending on how much of it is border and how much is lawn. For an average Kadoelen back garden that is an annual figure, not a monthly subscription. The reasoning behind that band, with its source, is on the prices page.
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.