Go Green

Sow your future – grow your own vegetables

Food gardens are the latest catchphrase in international sustainability trends. Everybody’s planting to feed their families – from America’s first lady to top international chefs. In South Africa, the 5-a-Day for Better Health TRUST and the Food Gardens Foundation (FGF) have teamed up to get South Africans planting.

Food gardens provide an endless source of fresh produce and are a cost-effective way to encourage healthy eating and healthy living. You literally sow your families’ future by growing your own food. There is a perception that buying vegetables and fruit is expensive, which is why growing your own is such a brilliant idea! Food gardens are fun and can be established in even the smallest urban space. The best part is, they’re inexpensive to set up and maintain.

In fact, FGF has pioneered an economical food garden system called organic trench gardening, which uses domestic and other organic waste to revitalise the soil and feed the vegetables.

The system has a successful 25-year track record, is environmentally friendly and designed to deliver maximum nutrition against limited resources, such as space, water and money. And at between R50.00 and R80.00 per year for a family garden of four vegetable beds, it’s incredibly cost-effective – excellent news for cash-strapped consumers.

“We encourage South Africans to maintain a healthy lifestyle not just by eating vegetables and fruit, but also by growing them themselves and cooking them correctly,” says Hilda Pheto, FGF executive director. “This message is particularly significant now, during the global food crisis, and critical in addressing issues around chronic and lifestyle diseases.”

FGF has been supporting people in growing their own food since 1977. Become a FGF member and receive detailed information papers on how to make a Food Garden, non-poisonous pest control, a seed-sowing guide for all seasons and all climatic areas in South Africa, and much more. For more information go to www.foodgardensfoundation.org.za.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a spade and get digging – you too can enjoy the bountiful benefits of food gardening.

Additional resources: To find out more about vegetable gardening, go to Athol Mclaggan’s Vegetable Gardening Page (courtesy of 702 Talk Radio.)