How Does Your Garden Grow?

I have always been one of those people that wanted to be "into gardening." You know the type: when you come into school or work on a Monday and ask “what did you do this weekend?” they respond with “I spent the whole weekend working in the garden.” And they always sound so happy when they say it. It’s such a nice way to spend time outside. But up until now I’m pretty sure I couldn’t get a weed to grow. Sad, really.

I had a feeling (or was really just hoping) that this would change once I started my Peace Corps service. To be honest, I have no evidence it has changed yet…but it is coming soon, because this past weekend I spent two full days learning to garden, Permagarden style. Apparently (and I did absolutely no research on this other than to ask the workshop facilitators) the method has been around for “thousands of years” but we credit the formal naming and documenting of it to an Australian who coined the phrase and technique some time in the 1970s. We covered only the very basics: creating a seedbed to start growing seedlings, double-digging a trench bed to use for growing vegetables, companion planting, mulching, crop rotating, composting, and starting a wormery.

Each of the PCVs that attended the workshop were required to bring a counterpart from either their school or village, who would also be learning the techniques, in an effort to spread the knowledge a little further. Even though my school has a school garden (turns out they are required to since they are a part of the National School Nutrition Programme), I really wanted to focus this project more in the community, since nearly all of them garden. I would have loved to bring my host mother since she works in our family’s garden almost daily (with fair results). But since care for my 4-year-old host sister was not available, my host mom arranged for me to bring a neighbor who sometimes helps her in the garden as well as gardens herself. So Sbongile and I set out on Friday for the not-so-nearby town of Bulwer to learn a few things about digging in the dirt.

The weekend was full of great hands-on practice. We dug a seedbed and then learned how to best keep in protected and cared for so the seeds would grow to healthy and hearty seedlings. We dug a trench bed about knee deep and then filled it back up, layer by layer, with things like tin cans, shredded paper, compost and raw food waste, and brush in between layers of soil. By the time it was filled back up, there was plenty of soil to pile on top to create a raised bed that would be used for the actual planting. Seedlings were brought along so that we could practice choosing a host of plants that were both appropriate for the season as well as planting near each other. Although there is nothing wrong with planting a whole bed of cabbage, alternating cabbage with beetroot every other row is even better! Lastly, we gathered up the materials to start a small compost pile – there is actually more to it than just throwing everything in a big heap in the yard, who knew?

At the garden workshop with the Peace Corps facilitator Malapane, and my counterpart, Sbongile.

So time to get my garden gloves and garden boots on! (Actually, no one here uses gloves, and I’m going to need to get out and by myself some garden boots next weekend.) Then time to find a little spot in the family garden for digging. They have been offering me space since I arrived in September, so it’s about time I gave it a try! Most important thing is to start small. If I can get a few good things growing at my house, hopefully I will spark some interest, and Sbongile and I can pass on the techniques to others. Finally a project outside of the school! And now I can be one of those people who talks about working in my garden all weekend long.