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GARDEN ANYWHERE You don’t need a proper garden to grow your own veggies. Balconies and even bits of wasteland can be cultivated for your and your community’s health s
BY DUNCAN GUY Xolani Hlongwa of the Green Village and Green Gallery projects admires tomatoes and beetroots planted in the ruins of a building in Durban’s Umbilo Road.
INDEPENDENT on Saturday’s editor Mazwi Xaba has a passion for helping homes and communities grow food gardens – which was spurred on further because of lockdown. His weekly newspaper features all the tips, tricks and stories you need to turn your balcony, garden or community land into a kitchen garden. Read the newspaper every Saturday to get the latest news from avid gardener Duncan Guy. 2 4
THE CITY’S urban agriculture scene is emerging from winter and lockdown. In Durban’s Umbilo Road, a healthy row of tomatoes and beetroots planted during level 3 are on their way towards rooting and fruiting in the dilapidated ruins of a building where former ballet artist Xolani Hlongwa has started a food garden and art centre at his Green Camp project. “It’s to show that you can farm anywhere,” he says. Much of the agricultural activity, however, now happens at his associated Green Village project in Monteseel, near Drummond. In Durban North, seedlings have
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sprouted in compost bags as Fin McLean prepares to spread the idea to inner-city balconies, complete with guides on how to grow food in South African languages, French and Swahili. His initiative, Ubuntu Farms, was born out of wanting to make a lockdown feeding scheme in the Point area more sustainable. “It will empower people to take control of their food production. We’re trying to create the idea that they can grow anything,” said McLean, 20, who has been back home from Stellenbosch University since the beginning of lockdown. He is studying sustainable urban development.
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