Permaculture! Food Garden 2.0

As a follow on from Niall’s post, here is a simple guide to building your own permaculture vegetable garden. It is supereasy and rewarding – here is an update on the food garden 2.0 just 11 days after Niall’s pic:

Food Garden 2.0

Anyhoo, now to the steps…

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Organic Veges

Khanyisa Projects is assisting in the implementation of community garden projects in the eThekwini Municipality as part of the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Programme. The garden groups (from KwaMashu, Mzinyathi & Maphephetheni) will be selling their produce at the I Heart Market between 8h30 – 13h00 on Saturday, 11 July at St Mary’s Church in Windermere Rd, Greyville (next to Bean Bag Bohemia).

Stock up on organically grown veggies and support the growers in their endeavours. Contact Bev 072 425 2754

My very own permaculture garden

Inspired by the Durban Botanic Gardens permaculture course we attended, my mom and myself set about creating a small garden of our own.  We first created the border of the bed using old bricks we found in the garden.  We then layered the bed with cardboard, then dead organic matter (dry leaves), then live organic matter (green lives), then activator (kraal manure) and lastly topsoil.  The entire mix was about two bricks high.

We then set about planting the bed with a mixture of seedlings and seeds.  We alternated rows between plants that grow up (such as lettuce) and plants that grow down (such as carrots) as these plants require different nutrients from the soil.  We planted broccoli, spinach, carrots, radish, egg plant, green pepper, lettuce, green beans and spring onions, with marigolds interspersed throughout to deter pests.

Lastly, we put a thick mulching (of dry grass) on top of the soil and watered heavily.  This was just over a week ago and my mom has reported that some of the seedlings are already up.  Will visit her on the weekend with my camera and report back next week.

My very own permaculture garden.

Permaculture course

On Saturday I attended a permaculture workshop at the Durban Botanic Gardens run by Bharathi Tugh and her husband Reggie. Both are experienced permaculturists and work extensively with schools in KwaZulu-Natal through the Woolworths Eduplant Trust and Food & Trees for Africa.

The workshop was well attended and dealt with some fascinating topics, including the principles of permaculture, soil conditioning, compost heaps and fertility beds, companion planting and pest management.  I will go into each of these in more detail in later posts but I am amazed by what is achievable through using materials that are freely available in your house and garden.

Durban Botanic Gardens Permaculture Training Centre.

Organic Gardening Workshops

At the moment I am not growing any food (apart from Spekboom I guess) but I would like to start a small vegetable/herb garden.  I am also interested in organic gardening but don’t really know much about it.

I came across these courses offered by Dovehouse Organic Farms and think I may attend one.  Has anyone gone to them?  Anyone want to come with me?

From their promotional material:

The aim of these courses is to introduce the learners to the subjects and to provide the learners with the necessary hands on skills to implement the techniques for themselves. Course manuals are supplied with each workshop.

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