Peter de Ruiter (70) has already cleaned up, cleaned and refurbished more than a hundred gardens. “In every street there are people who can no longer do it themselves,” says the gardener, who offers his services for free. “If things are not going well physically or mentally, I come to help turn the jungle back into a garden.”
Peter de Ruiter had several jobs before his retirement. He has worked, for example, in psychiatry in the prison system.
In November he started his free garden maintenance in the municipality of Heusden. “Every street has a garden that is the annoyance of the neighborhood and urgently needs cleaning. There’s always a story about why people let their yard go down.”
Requests for free garden help are pouring in. “I am shocked how many people there are, who for whatever reason, can no longer keep up with their garden.”
“Every week I spend about forty hours working in someone else’s garden.”
Peter has started his free garden service to have something to do himself. “When I sit at home, I get the creeps. But I only work with people in the garden who really need it. If someone can still do it themselves, if there are children or if people can afford a gardener themselves, I won’t come. I first visit the people to assess the situation.”
Peter does everything on his own. “When I started, I bought (garden) tools from my old age pension and a few savings and just got to work. Unfortunately, even at the moment I have a waiting list for my free garden help, which is why I often work through the weekend. Every week I work about forty hours in someone else’s garden.”
It gives him great satisfaction when he sees people getting back to work in the garden themselves. “Seeing work makes work”, he believes. “Recently I was working in the garden of a 94-year-old man. At one point he came to help, in his own way. That’s so beautiful.”
The bustle also has its dark side, because his old car with which he also removes all the garden waste, is literally about to collapse. “It’s almost over and out,” he says. “It moans, squeaks and sighs. I’m not pathetic, but to be able to purchase something else I had to set up a donation campaign. I need 4500 euros to be able to buy something else. A quarter of that has already been received.”
“There was no response to a call to help.”
Peter gets plenty of pats on the back, compliments on Facebook and even a cake from the municipality of Heusden, but otherwise he only nags from garden to garden. “There was no response to a call to help out,” he says, somewhat disappointed.
“But I’ll just keep going, although I can already see the storm coming. More soon registrations when people read this. But if they are serious requests, I’ll come. I am working hard to get rid of the waiting list.”
