Eco gardening secrets from Africa
The most impressive stand I visited at Hampton Court was the Back to the Future Garden in the Climate Zone, designed and built soley by a unique charity called Send a Cow.
It was one of the busiest with visitors intrigued by a method of growing vegetables in a keyhole garden:
As you can see, this is basically heaps of soil based around a compost that continually feeds the garden with the rotting matter as it grows. This a great way to use up kitchen waste and means you can grow lots of vegetables in a small area, all year round. Perfect for city balconies or terraces where space is at a premium and there is often nowhere to have a compost heap. The height is good for elderly people who may find bending down to tend their vegetables more difficult.
For many families in Africa these amazing keyhole gardens are the difference between life and death. Climate change has seriously reduced the levels of soil fertility in many parts of Africa and the situation has been made worse by the loss of almost a whole generation to Aids which means that horticultural know-how is very limited.
About 70% of Africans depend for survival on what they grow on their land and keyhole gardening is just one of the areas that Send A Cow is involved with. Set up in 1988 , this group of farmers in the West Country helps African farmers develop answers to this need to grow their own food. They deliver direct, practical help to poor farmers in Africa, by providing, cows and other livestock, training in livestock rearing and organic farming, plus low-cost veterinary and advice services .
Another novel idea that was demonstrated by Send a Cow was the bag garden - see pictures above right. These tall hessian sacks of soil are sent to families trying to survive famine in Africa . They are deep enough to grow potatoes in, plus you can also cut holes in the sack and plant things up the sides too. They can be watered easily when irrigating fields isn’t possible. The bag garden saves lives in Africa but it will also do well on a tiny British patio or balcony.
Congratulations to Send a Cow for their invaluable work in Africa and for inspiring UK gardeners to think more about natural gardening techniques, soil erosion and water shortages - all things we need to consider for a future of gardening in a changing climate.
Check out their excellent web-site at http://www.sendacow.org.uk for more information on their various projects plus some more sustainable gardening suggestions from Africa - making your own natural pesticide and liquid manure.
Garden sustainably from Send a Cow
1. Make your own natural pesticide
Soak seven cups of marigold leaves, one cup crushed chilli and seven bulbs of garlic in five litres of water. Add a piece of soap, three spoons of baking powder and some wood ash. Use after four days.
2. Make your own plant ‘tea’
Fill a bucket with chopped docks, comfrey and clover. Cover with water, adding a pinch of ash. Cover and stir daily. After a week, remove the leaves and use as you would a diluted liquid feed.
3. Make a keyhole garden
Draw a 3m circle and edge with rocks. Mark a tiny central circle with posts and make a compost “basket” inside with sticks and string. Fill bed with soil sloping down from centre, leaving a tiny path for access. Fill the basket with vegetable waste and enjoy your fertile plot.
Filed in Climate Change, Vegetables 3 Comments so far
The Intercontinental Gardener on 21 Jul 2008 at 2:40 pm #
Hi, really interesting texts from Hampton Court! (Your texts and pictures make me miss the UK so much!) It sounds like we are swinging between hope and fear with the climate change. Later, earlier, wetter, dryer… everything polarizing towards the extremes. As the glimpses of light for Africa’s gardeners, you just hope that they will have enought water for even these tiny growing solutions!
Dagny on 22 Jul 2008 at 3:31 am #
I love the idea of a keyhole garden. I don’t have a backyard but have always wanted to grow my own veggies. Thanks for brining this up, it also helps me with my dilemma of how to compost food with no yard.
Dagny
http://www.onnotextiles.com
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willem van cotthem on 23 Jul 2008 at 11:13 am #
Thanks for sharing these practical ideas with us. We are involved in humanitarian actions for rural people in the drylands and in the combat of desertification. Keyhole gardening and bag gardening fit very well in our strategies to help people suffering from drought and lack of soil fertility. Thus, container gardening is broadening to a growing number of “container types” of which most are described on my containergardening site. All kinds of pots, bottles, bags, drums, even wheelbarrows and many more containers have been suggested as solutions for food productions in rural and urban areas. I like the ideas of keyhole gardens and bag gardens very much. We will contact “Send-a-Cow” and set up some trials quite soon.