Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
  • Cue Media
    • Cue online
    • Cue Archives
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Boxing Heritage Hero: Mzimasi ‘Stopper’ Mthana
  • Makhanda Heritage Day MMA tournament thrills fans
  • Amasango Career School premises handover in Extension 10
  • Gutters for the rain
  • Anti-Crime group murder trial postponed
  • Concern and condemnation of recent attacks on Grocott’s journalist
  • Bekushiyana OoMama ukondla kwi tumente yamagqiyazana
  • Makana’s crime spirals out of control
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
  • Cue Media
    • Cue online
    • Cue Archives
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Xolani gardens go organic
Uncategorized

Xolani gardens go organic

Busisiwe HohoBy Busisiwe HohoApril 22, 2010No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Xolani residents got their green fix during a permaculture workshop on Saturday organised by the Rhodes University Masincedane Society to inform residents about organic vegetable gardening.

Permaculture is permanent agriculture. One of the principles is working with nature and getting nature to do the work for us.

Xolani residents got their green fix during a permaculture workshop on Saturday organised by the Rhodes University Masincedane Society to inform residents about organic vegetable gardening.

Permaculture is permanent agriculture. One of the principles is working with nature and getting nature to do the work for us.

It is about using the things around us to use in our gardens and putting only natural things from the  earth into our gardens.

People learnt about the importance of mulching, where a protective layer  consisting of grass, dried leaves and shredded newspaper is placed over the soil to retain moisture.

They were also informed about companion planting, where vegetables that benefit each other – such as mielies and beans are grown together, and to plant strong smelling vegetables such as leeks on the outside row of the patch as they repel insects and keep them off other vegetables.

Workshop facilitator Robyn Hills was hired by Food and Trees for Africa, a Johannesburg- based NGO, to help with Eastern Cape projects.

One of these projects is establishing a sustainable food garden for a feeding scheme at Boy Boy Mginyana  pre-school in Xolani. Hills said, “We’re trying to get them to move forward in an environmentally friendly way to address food security.”

She said that organic gardening is important because “people are losing touch with where their food comes from.

To see the process of a plant growing from a seed and putting it on your table creates an understanding of how life is supported by other things.”

Students and community members were able to put their newly-learned knowledge into practice when they helped to fix up the garden at Boy Boy Mginyana pre-school.

They spread mulch over the plants and picked geranium and lavender leaves to make a natural insect repellent.

Naniwe Klas, one of the residents who attended the workshop, said would implement the knowledge in her own garden.

She said that she had learnt things which she did not know before such as the concept of a potato tower where potatoes are planted in a  stack of tyres.

This makes the plant produce more potatoes than if it was underground. Masincedane  Society chairperson Emily Jones said, “The Masincedane soup kitchen is reliant on external funding  because we make soup from soup mix which we have to buy from Port Elizabeth.

“Through increasing our vegetable output, we’ll decrease our reliance on external funding.” 

Previous ArticleSamwu strike ends
Next Article Grahamstown Samwu members unhappy with resolution
Busisiwe Hoho

    Comments are closed.

    Tweets by Grocotts
    Newsletter



    Listen

    The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

    Humans of Makhanda

    Humans of Makhanda

    Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

    © 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.