Cape Town - World Food Day on October 16 focuses world attention on the crucial role of eradicating hunger.
With awareness and concern for the shortage of food in South Africa, food gardens have been established at institutions, at schools and churches, and in community and suburban gardens.
For homeowners, a place for a vegetable garden may be of fair size, or be the space between the house and boundary walls. No matter the size, what is of importance is that by growing fresh pesticide-free vegetables, you can control what you and your family eat.
Be creative
Vegetables have traditionally been planted in rows. There is nothing wrong with growing vegetables in rows, but why not make it more attractive by planting clusters of cabbages, triangles of lettuce, cushions of sage and edgings of chives?
Vegetables don’t even have to be grown in the ground. They can be grown in pots, in wine barrels, in troughs and in raised beds. The advantage of raised beds is that you have control over the soil mixture best suited to what you intend growing. This is important for root crops, such as carrots that need a loose soil or their roots become deformed.
Design
Rethink your vegetable garden and make use of the textures and shapes of vegetables, such as curly kale, feathery carrots, coloured stems of Swiss chard, purple eggplants and grass-like leaves of the onion family.
Why not a mini potager, a tapestry garden that has a low clipped hedge to provide a framework to the patterned planting of vegetables, herbs and flowers? Keep the design simple, with square or rectangular beds divided by paths. Steel or wooden tripods in the centre or corners of beds will provide additional interest and support for climbers.
A design for a vegetable garden could be based on the wheel, enclosed by a low hedge of rosemary, with wooden sleepers as the spokes radiating from a central birdbath, and herbs and vegetables planted between the spokes.
Semi-circular beds separated by paving or lawn could enclose a small raised circular pond. Providing there is sufficient sunlight, a narrow, unused space on the side of the house could become a small but productive vegetable and herb garden.
Enclosure
Not only will a fence frame and define the boundaries of a vegetable garden, it will also keep out animals. Fences can be as simple as chicken wire stretched between posts, or as decorative as sections of squared trellis attached between posts and painted forest green or storm blue.
A hedge of rosemary or lavender would provide a framework for a vegetable patch, as well as attracting pollinating bees and butterflies.
Structures and features
Gates and paths should be wide enough for a wheelbarrow. A path of paving squares is practical.
Trellis panels that are free-standing or attached to walls are useful supports for climbing vegetables and flowers. Obelisks or wigwams constructed of bamboo or twigs, placed in beds, serve the same purpose. Focus attention on the entrance gate with an archway. But why stop at one arch? A series of arches down the centre would provide a tunnel of vertical support for beans, tomatoes, sweet peas and nasturtiums.
Make your garden more personal with ornaments, such as a sundial or raised pond.
Make use of vegetables and herbs in pots as focal points in the vegetable garden and group them near the kitchen door.
Plants and colour
A vegetable patch can be as colourful as a flower garden. Choose vegetables for their colour, texture and shape, and combine with colourful flowers. Grow marigolds as a soil cleanser between vegetables, and nasturtiums as a trap-plant for aphids.
Paint pots planted with vegetables to provide additional colour at the gate, along paths, and in beds in the vegetable garden. Picture orange pots with marigolds and bright green lettuce and yellow bell peppers in pots painted turquoise.
Tips for growing vegetables
* Grow vegetables that your family enjoys eating. Plant little and often. Sow salad crops fortnightly so that there is a continuous supply of tender young leaves. Plant beet, brinjal, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, corn, cucumber, gems, lettuce, leek, peppers, potatoes, pumpkin, radish, Swiss chard, tomatoes and turnip.
* Most vegetables need six hours of sun a day. Plant so that tall varieties do not block out the sun from lower-growing vegetables.
* Beds should be no wider than 1.2m to make it easier for harvesting and weeding.
l Before planting, dig in generous amounts of weed-free compost to encourage strong, healthy growth and to better retain moisture, thereby reducing the need to water.
* A 10cm layer of mulch spread around vegetables will help retain moisture in the soil.
* Fertilise once a fortnight with a liquid fertiliser such as Nitrosol, or with Margaret Roberts Supercharger.
Kay Montgomery, Weekend Argus