Do you live in a flat, complex or small house, but wish you could exercise your green fingers and thumbs? Like-minded Durban greenies have started a “growers’ club” based on the allotment system popular overseas.
Story: Glynis Horning
In the picture: Steve Haskins gives young friends Charlotte Radford and Melissa Deeb a taste of country life.
It offers small plots in the Shongweni Valley where members can learn to set up and start planting, growing and reaping the rewards of a “country garden”.
“Most of us have little or no experience in this, but a desire to learn how to grow our own veggies, herbs and flowers,” says club founder Steve Haskins, who runs a textile business. “It’s just not possible in our home situations – I live on the eighth floor of a block of flats in Glenashley. To do this in a natural environment but close to the city is a bonus.”
A country garden is different from the structured gardens of most city homes and complexes, Haskins says. “It has a wonderful wildness about it – there are buck and birds and snakes and frogs and bugs. You’re interacting with nature while exercising your body, mind and soul producing fresh, healthy food. Durban is blessed with a year-round growing season, and we’ve been amazed how much we’ve been able to produce on a small plot.”
Membership fees are based on the size of plot you want, from 50 to 100 square metres, which you can tackle on your own or share with a friend. “It’s like joining a golf or tennis club – a growers club for learning and living a self-sustaining lifestyle; the way of the future.”
The club offers expertise and support. “We promote organic growing and the protection of the environment,” says Haskins. “In industrial farming the priority is profit, not the health of the consumer or the planet. We’re not growing commercially. It takes time and work to get it right, but the experience and rewards make it so worthwhile.”
For more information visit www.go-n-grow.co.za or call Steve on 082 296 3692.