Your own square metre of Texel, where beautiful native flowers bloom from May until the end of summer, helping the island's insects. Nice isn't it? When you adopt a Texel square metre, you will receive, among other things, a personal certificate and invitations to the plot for a tour by the farmer.

Bloemrijk Texel

That farmer is Vincent Lap of Bloemrijk Texel. Vincent was keen to give something back to the earth. How does he do that? By sowing a native flower mixture, so that insects, including the Texel black bee, will have space again. In spring 2023, he started sowing a thousand square metres of native flowers. Then anyone who wanted to, could adopt a square metre. Meanwhile, the field is many times larger thanks to adopters and sponsors. A great asset for the island!

Your own square metre of Texel

So every year, you can now adopt your own Texel flower meadow. The price of € 15 for one square metre includes seed, sowing, care of the crop, a personal certificate, picking flowers in the picking garden, a monthly newsletter and invitations to the plot for a guided tour by the farmer (given in May, June, July and August). Vincent does the work, you pick the flowers. You remain an adopter for 1 year. After that, you can choose to adopt another m2 so that new flowers can be sown.

A nice gift

You can also give a square metre or several square metres as a gift. You enter the details of the recipient in the form, who then receives a personal certificate with his or her name and an accompanying text stating that the certificate has been given as a gift by the buyer (your name). The giver will receive a confirmation e-mail that the certificate has been given as a gift to that person.

Vincent on biodiversity

‘Biodiversity in the Netherlands is not doing well. Even on Wadden Island Texel, nature is having a hard time. We see fewer butterflies, bees and other insects here. Opinions are divided about the causes. Monoculture in agriculture, with only a few crops in a field. Use of pesticides or fertilisers, global climate change. The fact is that insect populations are under pressure. In 30 years, numbers have declined by 75%. The black bee, which has been present on Texel for 100 years, is threatened with extinction. We don't want it to come to that. Time for action!’

The seed mixture

The native seed mixture used by Vincent was compiled by the Institute for Nature Education and Sustainability (IVN) on Texel and is obtained via Cruyd-Hoeck, purely because it is not yet offered on Texel. The Texel flower mixture consists of over 30 different species of annual and perennial flowers that will bloom throughout the year. Some examples: grassbell, cuckoo flower, daisy, sand blue and large poppy.

Sowing and growing

Sowing is done in early spring. This gives all seeds a good chance to sprout. Because the seeds are so small, they should not get too much soil on top. It is therefore important for it to rain shortly after sowing to prevent dehydration. The crop grows and germinates slowly because no fertiliser is used beforehand or fertiliser during growth. About three weeks after sowing, you can see the first sprouts emerge.

A flower field

The newsletter will keep you informed of the latest developments. The fields slowly turn blue, soon filled with yellow and red flowers, followed by purple and white. It is a colourful sight and hear all those insects buzzing! In the picking garden, everything is also starting to bloom. Adopters of one or more square metre(s) may come here to pick their bunch of flowers. You can find the field on the Rommelpot near Den Hoorn. On Google Maps, you can use these coordinates: 53.03917095873494, 4.734913362447924.

Autumn and winter

In autumn, many of the seeds are already germinating because of the fading flowers that scattered seeds on the ground. As winter approaches its end, these plants are already well prepared with their leaves open, ready to catch the first rays of the sun. Will you adopt a piece of flowering Texel one more time?

Want to sow at home too?

Next to the paved road to the farm in Den Hoorn, there is a sales stall containing Vincent's products. You will find pots of various (native) seeds and seed mixtures, both for the small and the somewhat larger garden.

More about nature on Texel