Groundsman Jurgen Groendijk (on the left) working near Orion with his colleague Peter Helbach. Photo: Guy Ackermans They are indispensable on campus: the cleaners, caretakers, caterers, gardeners, receptionists – the list is long. Resource looks up these key people. This time, meet Jurgen Groendijk (19), a gardener with Donker Groen.
‘Three years ago, I was looking for an internship when I was at the Pantarijn secondary school. I already knew I wanted to do gardening work, but where? My father, who is a technician at WUR, said: “I see Donker Groen vans driving around campus.” So he had a chat with the foreman and that’s how I ended up here.
The day starts with coffee here in Donker Groen’s shed in Bennekom. We discuss what we are going to do and then drive to campus in a van. At WUR, we often work in a team of three or four people. From seven thirty to four, we work outside or in the two indoor gardens at Gaia and Lumen.
Eventually I’d like to do something involving tractors
I love working outside and working with my colleagues makes it fun too. Summer is my favourite season; I don’t like the cold. In the summer our work is mainly weeding and mowing, and it’s all about grass. In winter there is a lot of pruning and hedge-trimming to do.
There are many nice spots here at the university. The garden behind Lumen, for example. It needs mowing twice a year – not all of it, just the sections that have flowered. And then it’s time to tidy it up. You don’t see many flowers now, but later in spring and summer it will look lovely.
At Aurora we recently dug new borders, which involved shifting a lot of soil. It was very muddy, and it came up to the top of my boots. We spent quite a lot of time on that – it took five days, working with the whole team of 15 people. I think it will be beautiful there when it has all matured.
I am now working towards getting a tractor driving licence, because I’d like to do something involving tractors eventually. A contracting company appeals to me: driving a tractor and shifting soil, like BMG does here on campus. Preferably with a New Holland tractor. I used to be picked up in one of those as a child.’
