Urban Harvest

There is a shopping centre/center (depending on the English you speak) called Constantia Village a few minutes' drive from my parents' house in Cape Town. It's a regular haunt for me when I am in town. After New York-style shopping (hopping between butcher, baker, candlestick maker) I find mall culture exotic. Everything under one roof. There is a tiny biltong shop selling the delectable air-dried meat that South Africans love. There are two big supermarkets purveying irresistible items like affordable (by New York standards) free range South African lamb, piles of passion fruit, and the best raisin bread, ever (except now I have my own recipe). Or custard and malva pudding, if you are the Frenchman (who is in Cape Town, at last). There are banks and clothes shops and a book shop and a jeweler and hairdressers and home stores and a pharmacy and a health shop and a bakery and a camping equipment shop.

And there is a huge parking lot, patrolled by car guards who watch over cars, and help with bags.

At one end of this vast parking lot there is a small vegetable garden planted on a raised island topped by two old stone pine trees. I climb the wooden steps to look at it almost every time I visit. Recently, in this late winter, early spring crossover time in Cape Town, my curiosity got the better of me and back at home after taking these pictures I visited the website advertised on the garden's pole fencing. This led me to Urban Harvest.

Above, perfect fava (broad) beans. Did you know that their flowers are scented?

I emailed Ben Getz, Urban Harvest's founder. Ben said that he immediately saw the potential for turning this previously unused space into an edible garden, when he first noticed it, and approached the center management with a proposal. "They were entirely enthusiastic about the idea of using the space to grow organic food, raise awareness about edible gardens and benefit the community, " he wrote, in an email. The neat fencing and all the wood was donated by The Poleyard, and then Ben and his team installed the garden over three weeks in 2013.

I love wine bottle beds, especially in winemaking country, which this is. These upcycled bottles came from Oasis, a recycling centre "which empowers physically and mentally different beneficiaries," says Ben (all my parents' recycling goes to them, too). And while Urban Harvest has used "tens of thousands of bottles" in various gardens, they do not use them often anymore because, he says, "they are particularly time consuming to layout properly." Still, pretty.

The straw that covers the beds comes from horse farms or is bought in bales and is an effective mulch - not as necessary for moisture-retention now in the rainy season, but useful in hot dry summers.

Mature cool-weather-loving chard tempted me...just a few stalks, who'd miss them? When I asked Ben how the vegetables here are used he said, "We often give vegetables to the car guards, and street people, especially if they show real interest in the garden." The produce has also been used for weekly on-site markets as well as for local delis and restaurants. "But most of the harvests are donated to the local Haven Night Shelter," says Ben. Cape Town has a significant and mostly uncharted homeless population and shelters are few and far between.

Despite its public nature (and perhaps because of the car guard presence, as well as pretty tight video surveillance of the car park itself) he says that neither theft nor vandalism has been a problem in this garden.

Diversion. 

Quick-Pickled Beet Recipe: 

Peel 3 medium-sized raw beets and slice thinly. Stack the slices and cut into matchsticks. Combine 1/3 cup sherry vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 3 Tablespoons sugar (trust me), 2 teaspoons salt, and mix. Pour over the beetroot slivers in a small bowl (the beets should be covered by the brine). Ready after 15 minutes and will keep for a week in the fridge. Wonderful in salads or on banh mi, and exquisite with creamy burrata.

This organic garden is just one of 300 food gardens that Urban Harvest has established in Cape Town. Of these about 50% are community-based CSI-related gardens, 40% are private home gardens and 10% belong to hotels and restaurants.

With a degree in philosophy, social anthropology, environmental and geographical science, as well as personal interests in yoga, meditation, permaculture and archetypal psychology, Ben said he wanted to make a living doing something that would benefit society and marry his diverse passions. Urban Harvest was a perfect fit. "I find I'm at my happiest when my hands are busy and when I'm working with people less privileged than me," he says.

This particular garden is tended weekly by Urban Harvest Edumaintenance Teams, led by gardeners Tichaona Nyaruviro, Edmore Manomano and Famous Kuseli. Generally, however, Ben says, "We consider it a completion of our service and a success when clients graduate to self-sustainability. Eventually all our clients get there. This could take 3 months or more than 3 years, depending."

I am not sure how many of the thousands of shoppers who frequent Constantia Village ever look more closely at this little garden, but if, like me, they are drawn to its seasonal crops and well tended beds, they might think twice about the tomatoes they are buying in pre-spring, and the provenance of cold season red peppers, both denizens of late summer, and learn to watch a little, and wait, and listen to what the seasons tell them about eating.

To learn more about Urban Harvest and the gardens they create, visit the link to their website.

[Photos courtesy of my Samsung Galaxy S7. I am a fan.]

Gardener Q&A: Richard Arm

I visited historic Vergelegen, outside Somerset West, on my recent trip to South Africa. I first saw this wine estate when I was studying archaeology at the University of Cape Town, and was involved in a dig on the crumbling property. I remember picking small ripe oranges from disintegrating wine barrel planters on the decaying stoep of the manor house. Later, at home, I scooped out their shells and filled them with orange sorbet for a dinner party. I wasn't cut out for archaeology. Digging up the past never interested me as much as creating something for the present and future.

A lot has changed since then. For one thing, the estate is now owned by Anglo-American - so money is no object. The land and buildings are now a showpiece, and have been beautifully restored over the years. You can read my article about Vergelegen's background and gardens, with lots of pictures, on Gardenista. Richard Arm, the head horticulturist and garden manager at Vergelegen since 2010, was very generous in providing information for that piece. He was also kind enough to sit down and answer the questions that I like to put to people who have gardening in their blood:

Photo: Marianne Alexander

Do you garden for a living?

Yes, I am lucky enough to be the horticulturist and get to play in the dirt every day.

Where is your garden?

Vergelegen Wine Estate near Cape Town, South Africa. We have extensive historical gardens and our estate is open to the public

What size is your garden? Approximately!

All the area in the heritage core of Vergelegen is approximately 60 hectares [148 acres].

When did you start to garden?

I remember being at least five years old and helping my dad in the garden on a weekend.

Who or what inspired you to garden? 

The love of the great outdoors and remembering a well-proportioned garden gives a sense of calm and peace that everyone should experience. Unfortunately these days people are too busy to stop and take in these elements that make living – living.

Do you remember the first plant you grew? 

That has to be the bean in a jar in pre-school but I also remember growing radishes from seed in our veggie patch at home in my early years.

Has a plant ever disappointed you?

No plants don’t disappoint, we make mistakes and try to grow plants where they are not happy. I always say work with nature and then things start working well.

What plant has made you happiest?

I started out as a young horticulturist in 1990 and since then planted thousands of trees. I get great joy from seeing these trees now being majestic parts of the landscape; these are the rewards.

What do you love about your garden right now?

Right now we are entering spring and all the big oak trees on the estate have brand new leaves and are looking fantastic. The wisteria have also started flowering - also, Wow!

What do you feed your garden? 

I stick to certified organic fertilizers in our gardens and worm compost .

How often do you garden?

Every day is a good day to garden.

What is the garden chore you look forward to? 

Sounds a bit strange but I love mowing the lawn. This is my thinking time and nothing bothers me as I make lots of noise with my lawn mower. Also the smell of freshly cut grass is a happy childhood memory.

What is your least favourite garden chore? 

I have dogs at home … this is my least favourite job…

Where would you like to garden, if you could garden anywhere? 

I must say I am happy in my space now; it takes a lifetime to learn what to grow where and why. If I changed it would take me way out my comfort zone (this might be a good thing?).

What would you like to grow, that you can't?

I would love to grow vanilla vine just for fun. These rare and sought-after culinary ingredients fascinate me.

Food, flowers, native or ornamental? 

I grow all these at Vergelegen. The best of all is to grow ornamental flowers that are food – artichokes for example. My favourites are the flowers that bring joy to the garden.

Your favourite garden writer, or personality?

My favourite garden personality is Keith Kirsten. From a young age I remember his TV gardening programs and these made a big impression on me. Now, later on in life, one of his favourite gardens is Vergelegen. He often visits with overseas visitors and I then have the privilege to show him around. Inspirational!

What plants do you dislike?

Invasive alien vegetation in our fynbos areas. These create severe fire threat, and they are very bad for our water resources.

Would you like more sun or more shade?

I am lucky to have the best of both worlds with everything in our gardens. I am a summer person so preferably sunshine, and I love growing our own vegetables and herbs and these prefer good sun.

If you could visit just one garden, where would it be? 

That would be Kew Gardens on top of the list, no doubt.

What would you like people to know about gardening?

Gardening is good for the soul. It's where you can find that inner peace we are all looking for in our hectic lifestyles these days. Nature teaches us to slow down, breath, and smell the roses. It works for me, anyway!

____________________________

Previous Q&A's 

Stephen Orr
Maureen Viljoen

Gardening Q&A with Stephen Orr

Stephen Orr is the editorial director of gardening at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the author of the acclaimed Tomorrow's Garden published by Rodale earlier this year. He's also one of the nicest and most unassuming people I have met. I asked him my ABC of gardening questions:

When did you start to garden?
Photos show me gardening with my dad before I have real memories of it.

Early influences - who are what inspired you to garden?
My parents, also an elderly neighbor across our street, Mr. Overton Faubus. He gardened every day in a wide-brimmed hat and tan coveralls and I would go tag along after him. My father for outdoor gardening and growing edibles. My mother for houseplants and flowers.

What was the first plant you grew?
The first one I remember growing from a seed packet was balsam (aka touch-me-not or Impatiens balsamina) when I was about 5 or 6. Also alyssum.

How often do you garden?
Depends on the week. Mostly every weekend. Sometimes I get too busy with work or travel and have to rush to catch up.

What is your USDA zone now and in what zone were you born?
I garden in NYC (zone 6B) and grew up gardening in West Texas (zone 7B).

What size is your garden?
I have a large city garden (several thousand square feet) that I work on with my cooperative apartment building. We have a garden committee. I also have a small 1/4 acre woodland garden at my lake house upstate

What plant has most disappointed you?
I don't know if one disappoints me. I am challenged by certain plants I'd like to get to thrive but never have luck with... Narcissus 'Sinopel' and snake’s head iris – Hermodactylus tuberosus. Funny, I notice both are greenish!

What plant has made you happiest?
Presently I am most happy growing spring bulbs, narcissus, rock garden iris, alliums, fritillaries. etc. I also love my city shrub border.

What do you love about your garden right now?
Watching how well the flowering shrubs (viburnum, elderberries, butterfly bushes, and clethra) or maturing at the city garden.

What do you feed your garden?
Only organics, compost and sometimes fish emulsion.

What would you like to grow, that you can't?
Huge agaves.

Food, flowers, native or ornamental?
All of the above in equal measure.

Most inspiring garden writer, thinker, designer, personality?
They are not really garden writers per se but I was very influenced by The Good Life books written by Helen and Scott Nearing. They presented such a bucolic image of back-to-nature self sufficiency as their chosen lifestyle.

What plants do you dislike?
Stunted dwarf hybrids of tall graceful plants.

Would you like more sun or more shade?
More sun.

What is your favourite garden chore (or tool, or gadget)?
I love pruning. I like my felcos and my okatsune pruners.

What is your least favourite garden chore?
Cleaning up after myself... I tend to leave things laying around.

If you could garden anywhere, where would it be?
Both NYC and LA.

Where is your favorite public garden?
Hmmm, so many. I love Millennium Park in Chicago, Wave Hill in the Bronx, Lotusland in Montecito, Filoli near SF, Vizcaya near Miami, Dumbarton Oaks in D.C.

Whose is your favourite private garden?
So many, I featured many of them in my book, Tomorrow's Garden.

Why do you garden?
To stay connected to nature and the patterns of the earth.



Aside from seeing Stephen's eye and art at work in Martha Stewart Living, you may also find him at his personal blog, What the Skies Were Like.

Gardening Q&A: Maureen Viljoen

My mother, Maureen Viljoen, gardens in Cape Town, South Africa. She is a member and 2013 chairperson of The Constantia Valley Garden Club, which raises funds biennially via an Open Gardens Weekend for Abalimi bezekhaya and Soil for Life, two non-profits providing financial and practical support to enable underprivileged South Africans to grow their own food. The club's 2010 Open Gardens Weekend raised over $12,000 for these organizations.

My mother taught me to garden and to love plants as much as she does. Anything I know about gardening, she taught me, either by example or by showing me how. My earliest memories involve soil and earthworms and a compost pile and radishes and fresh cut flowers, and a rose garden in bloom for my birthday. She loves roses, so I love roses. She needs flowers in the house, so I need flowers in the house. The way I live and work now is because of what my mother did, then, and continues to do, every day, in her garden in Cape Town.

Why do you garden?
I garden because I absolutely have to. There is nothing I enjoy more, nothing more fulfilling, more pleasurable...It makes my life good.

What inspired you to garden?
When we built our first home in Bloemfontein in 1957 I was presented with an empty piece of ground. We'd had a lot of rain that year and it was a morass. My mother had always had a garden, and my sister had a garden. And as my garden grew, so did my interest.

In what climate were you born?
I was born in Port Elizabeth, on the south coast of South Africa. ['PE' has a subtropical climate with year-round rainfall. The region falls between the Mediterranean climate of the Western Cape and the summer rainfall areas farther up the east coast. Technically Port Elizabeth has an oceanic climate, shared with much of Europe and the Pacific Northwest.]

What was the first plant you grew?
My first garden was in Pinelands, Cape Town, where I was a little girl. I constructed a small house of bricks and made a tiny garden. Most of the plants were weeds pulled out of my mother's garden.

How often do you garden?
Every day! The garden has a lot going on in it and is not low maintenance.

What is your garden's climate?
Mediterranean [winter rainfall]. But in Cape Town we have this chunk of rock - Table Mountain - in the middle of the city, which dictates the climate, so my garden has its own microclimate.

What size is your garden?
A little less than half an acre.

What plant has most disappointed you?
I'm tempted to say roses, but they looked gorgeous last year because I fed them a lot. Broad [fava] beans. They haven't grown well here in Cape Town. In Bloemfontein where I had a big, sunny vegetable garden I had wonderful broad beans. And the tomatoes here get blight.

What plant has made you happiest?
There are so many...I'm looking at the garden as I speak. Maybe the Agapanthus. I have so many different kinds, now, all sorts of hybrids and cultivars.

What do you love about your garden right now?
It's green, it's peaceful, spring is springing. The sky in the evening is faintly pink as the sun goes down behind the mountain. And there are lots of arum lilies in bloom which just came up by themselves; I didn't plant them.

What do you feed your garden?
Lots of compost, lots of organic stuff. I use Bounce Back - made from chicken manure, in pellet form. I have 80 bags of compost delivered three times a year. I use the compost I make in my own bins as a mulch - they are not in a warm enough spot in the garden so the compost breaks down slowly.

What would you like to grow that you can't?
Vegetables. But I would have to knock out a whole flower bed. I do have cabbages and baby marrows growing in pots.

Food, flowers, native or ornamental?
Flowers. With a little bit of food.

Most inspiring garden writer, thinker, blogger, personality?
My daughter! You often plant things and then I think, I must do that, too. And Christopher Lloyd, because of his flowers. He put the most amazing colors together. Great Dixter - I saw a photo of his patio there: He had everything crammed in there - those big aeoniums, like beacons, they were beautiful!

What plants do you dislike?
Oh! Jasmine. Not the Trachelospermum jasminoides, but the other one [Jasminum officinale], because here it is so invasive. Once you plant it, you just can't get rid of it. It goes everywhere. It smells nice, but it gives me hayfever, too. When it flowers I have terrible sinus trouble.

Would you like more sun or more shade?
More sun. If I chopped down a lot of shrubs and trees I would get it, but that is not going to happen. Trees become very important.

What is your favourite garden chore or activity?
Sowing and germinating seeds. Propagation. I like it because it's fun: you never now if it's going to come up, or if something will eat it before it does. It's so exciting when seeds come up.

What is your least favourite chore?
I don't think there is one. I enjoy it all.

Where is your favourite private garden?
Leona Norman's Constantia garden is incredibly well run. She is meticulous, everything that I am not. She keeps notes on everything and her planning is impeccable. And Lyn McCallums' garden in Bergvliet. It is so interesting, and she grows vegetables in troughs...[both gardeners are fellow Constantia Valley Garden Club members].

Where is your favorite public garden?
Wisley, in England - the headquarters of The Royal Horticultural Society. In Cape Town, Kirstenbosch, of course, and the garden at The Cellars-Hohenhort Hotel. Jean Almon created the sort of garden there that I aspire to. Fabulous roses with interesting groundcovers beneath them. It's a garden that has been put together with love.

If you could garden anywhere, where would it be?
Maybe somewhere where the northwest wind doesn't blow. It's the strong, wild, winter wind and knocks things flat, but it brings the rain, which we need.


Here is a slideshow of my mother's garden. Thanks to Vince for his patio shot with bubbly.

Chelsea Cove's entry garden and its keeper

Yucca and catnip.

In the baking sun last week I visited the Lynden B. Miller-designed entry garden at the end of West 22nd Street, near the water. She also designed the Pier 44 garden in Red Hook, Brooklyn, whose yucca flowers I admired so much in June. I had not visited this section of the Hudson River Park before. Beyond this first garden - made up of raised islands of perennials and shrubs in a sea of concrete and pavers, is a gorgeously inviting, soft arc of lawn, right on the water, with raked sides, and beyond that, a rock garden planted with native perennials and willows, and then more piers, more trees. It was quite empty, with human traffic restricted mostly to the bike path beside the West Side Highway. Vince and I will return to that grass, with a picnic. It seems quite secret.

Imperata cylindrica "Red Baron", cogon grass. 

It was quite surprising to see in this different space, miles away from Red Hook, what may be a signature of Ms Miller's: the same burgundy berberis (which is, incidentally, highly invasive, like the grass above), the same catnip, the same Spiraea thumbergii "Ogon", as well as the same yucca, albeit a striped version. Ms Miller dislikes its flowers and prefers them to be cut back. Combined, the foliage of the golden-leafed spiraea and grey catnip is very striking, and the purple mounds of berberis rolling beside the filigreed, willowy spirea compelling, so perhaps it is hard to let go of something that works.

The use of Imperata cylindrica "Red Baron", above, while visually arresting, is troubling. It is a cultivar of cogon grass, which is classified as a noxious weed in the States. Perhaps this is a deliberately politically incorrect design? Hm. Time to talk to Ms Miller, if she'll have me.

Less successful are the panting hostas, parched lady's mantle and bergenia, and crispy heuchera: the site is in blazing, full sun, and unprotected from the ripping winds that tear off the Hudson in winter. These plants are deeply unhappy, and a very odd choice. It seems impolite to post their pictures.

I was there to talk to Mimi Jorling for "Growing Curiosity", my series of interviews with gardeners, for ShelterPop. You can read the main interview there, as well as learn more about the garden. For instance, why is it red, blue and yellow?

Mimi's official title is 'maintenance technician' of the area known as Segment 5, running along the Hudson from West 22nd to West 28th Streets. Maintenance technician? Mops, buckets, wrenches and electrical wires? The job title speaks volumes about the mentality that governs our parks. But I digress.

Spirea "Ogon"

Mimi is in fact a horticulturist, a gardener, responsible for the upkeep not of the electrical outlets which dot the entry garden so that you can plug in your laptop, but for the health of the wealth of plantings in Segment 5, which was rechristened Chelsea Cove by its super star architects, Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates (who also designed Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park).

Here's Mimi (who owns the most glamorous sunglasses in New York City). She is sitting in front of some Amsonia hubrichtii, which I must catch in bloom next spring. In fall it turns solid yellow.

In what zone were you born?

I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland (Zone 6b, minimum winter temperatures of -5 to 0'F).

When did you start to garden?

As a kid. And when I lived in Montana I transplanted weeds from one place to another in the garden. I could not afford plants, then, but just knew that the weeds were not working where they were and had to be moved! My neighbor was fascinated.

What is your favourite garden chore?

Even though I am not into lawns I like weeding them; there is something meditative about it.  But only for an hour. And transplanting perennials. With my own garden in Denver I did more rearranging than was good for them.

What is your least favourite garden chore?  

Deadheading. I like the result but I don't actually want to do it. Fortunately I have a lot of volunteers who like deadheading...

Where would you like to garden?  

That is what I like about gardening: You have to deal with the space. The challenge is to use those limited things and make it work.

Where is your favourite private garden?  

No one in particular. In the city I like looking at people's front yards. There's a block in Leffert's Garden, Brooklyn - different from all the other blocks, where there is nothing. On this block each stoop has its own plants and style. And the other day in the city I saw just one special tree, maybe a cutleaf maple, with wisteria growing up the balustrade nearby. Knowing that someone is putting extra effort and energy into that one tree feels good.

Which is pretty much how I feel about things, too...

Gardening Q&A: Alex Mitchell

Alex Mitchell in her London Garden. Photo: Paul Debois

British garden writer and urban gardener Alex Mitchell's new book The Edible Balcony-about small spaces and what you can grow in them-will be released by Rodale later this year in the United States. (Full disclosure: this blogger's Brooklyn terrace appears in it.) In the meantime you can get to know Alex at her website, The Edible Gardener.

1. Why do you garden?

I garden for some space from my little kids (though they usually follow me outside within minutes and start shooting each other with water pistols) from London and from work pressures. Mainly though-and it's so hard to express this without sounding pretentious so I'm not even going to try not to-it's for self-expression, to create my own little world that's beautiful to me.

2. Who or what inspired you to garden?

My nursery school was a hut at the end of a long woodland garden in the Kent countryside run by a very eccentric old lady.On the way to the hut you walked down a stepping stone path past perfect little clearings of lawn surrounded by foxgloves and honesty, like magical woodland glades. I thought fairies lived in there. We weren't allowed to step off the path and go into them-she probably wanted to protect her lawns. Maybe that's what made gardening so appealing to me-I can finally walk on the grass.

3. What was the first plant you grew?

A miniature yellow patio rose I planted in the front garden at my shared house in Bristol when I was at university. Looking back, it was quite hideous, but I loved it because it survived a street party that got rather out of hand. The morning after it looked like a dead twig trampled into the mud by the trainered feet of a few hundred students, but a week later it had recovered and was putting out green shoots. How can you not respect something that plucky?

4. How often do you garden?

Whenever I have a spare moment. But also whenever I have a work deadline and that cosmia just suddenly needs deadheading.

5. What is your gardening climate zone?

I was born in Kent which I think is equivalent to your USDA Zone 8. This is only 25 miles away from London where I live now, which is equivalent to your Zone 9, due to the urban heat island effect. Winter temperatures rarely dip below minus 5 Celsius/41' F and summer temperatures often reach 30 Celsius/ 86' F.

6. What size is your garden?

About 50 foot long and 15 foot wide

7. What plant has most disappointed you?

My cocktail kiwi planted with great excitement and expectation of bunches of grape-sized sweet kiwi fruit hardy enough to survive our winter. Apparently. For two years I've watched it put out
fresh green shoots full of promise. And for two years I've watched helplessly as they are munched right back to the base – probably by snails. Never seen a bud, let alone a kiwi.

8. What plant has made you happiest?

There's something about nasturtiums that makes me deliriously happy. They're so uncomplicatedly cheerful. And they cover awkward bare spaces and clamber up ugly fences. Of course, you can also eat them so they're a win-win plant really. Californian poppies come a close second – I must have a thing about orange.

9. What do you love about your garden right now?

Watching the bees buzzing like crazy over the lavender and the thornless blackberry, eating apricots and peaches straight from the tree with the kids, snipping off globe artichokes and throwing them straight into boiling water to be eating with plenty of mayonnaise, and rooting strawberry runners from the plants which had the tastiest fruit. I like making new plants without having to go and buy them.

10. What do you feed your garden?

Garden compost and worm compost as a soil conditioner, diluted liquid seaweed feed and worm tea for growing plants.

11. What would you like to grow, that you can't?

Pomegranates – heaven in a fruit.

12. Food, flowers, native or ornamental?
Ornamental food.

13. Most inspiring garden writer, thinker, blogger, personality?

I love reading anything by Anna Pavord and Monty Don – they make gardening sound vital, exciting, essential, like it's about more than just plants. Which, of course, it is. As a designer, I love everything Andy Sturgeon does.

14. What plants do you dislike?

I don't think there's really ever any excuse for spotted laurel.

15. Would you like more sun or more shade?

I live in London. Of course I want more sun!

16. Where is your favorite public garden?

Sissinghurst in Kent. A cliché I know, but I've never seen such glorious, jumbly, colourful planting as here last summer. A perfect mix of formality and exuberant wildness. And it's fun climbing up the tower and pretending you're Vita for a moment – tweed jacket optional.