Eat your veggies!

I love gardening. It’s in my blood and the passion has been passed down from generation to generation in my family. However, unlike my mother and aunts, I don’t walk around a nursery and name each plant by its biological name but are more interested in the layout and landscaping side of gardens.

There is nothing better than making salad with freshly cut salad leaves from your garden and you don’t have to live on a farm like Germarie and I do to plant your own – a sunny spot on a balcony will do just fine!

Here are four of my favorite veggie gardens. Good Food’s Hydroponic tunnels, Babylonstoren, Oranjezicht City Farm and Leopards Leap in Franschoek. They are all well worth a visit!

I hope these images of some clever gardening ideas inspire you to start your own or revamp your current outdoor space. After writing this post and revisiting my pictures I can’t wait to get my fingers in the soil, even if it’s just to prepare the layout, beds and trellises I’ve planned before planting starts at end of winter.

Oranjezicht City Farm Photography: Margaux Tait

Oranjezicht City Farm is situated below majestic Table Mountain and used to be a lawn bowls field! Here’s to urban veggies! Visit their market every Saturday – rain or shine – from 9 – 2.

Oranjezicht City Farm Photography: Margaux Tait

The Babylonstoren garden is formal in structure. Every one of over 300 varieties of plants in the garden is edible and it is grown as organically as possibly. Fruit and veg are harvested year round for use in the restaurant. The garden is divided into fifteen clusters spanning vegetable areas, berries, bees, indigenous plants, ducks and chickens and includes a prickly pear maze. Gravity feeds water into water ways from a stream into the garden as it had been done for 300 years.

Babylonstoren Photography: Margaux Tait

Leopard’s Leap was conceptualized at the turn of the century by winemaker and businessman Hein Koegelenberg, with guidance from his late father in law, internationally renowned industrial leader Dr. Anton Rupert. Following its formidable success as a wine producer during the first decade, a decision was made in 2011 to broaden the horizons and, at the same time, create a home where visitors can get close to the values of the Leopard’s Leap brand and experience the Leopard’s Leap identity and principal passions – wine, food, conservation and literature.

Leopard’s Leap Photography: Margaux Tait

It’s time to eat better. It’s time for Good Food! The Good Food Hydroponic project is based on BioDelta Farm in the Franschhoek Valley. Based on a low carb high fat (LCHF) lifestyle, the brand offers nuts, seeds, biltong, droewors and all other manner of pro-banting goodies which is being sold from their Deli at Root 44 Market in Stellenbosch. The hydroponics also enable them to grow a variety of vegetables and herbs all year round which can be purchased from the weekend market as well.
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