Inner city greens

Shanthini Naidoo visits a haven of organic cultivation a stone's throw from high-rise Joburg

In the shadow of the Ponte building and Ellis Park rugby stadium is a green lung of lusciousness. The Bambanani Food and Herb Cooperative, also known as Amon's Garden, is a community vegetable-growing project created by the City of Joburg that is flourishing amid the concrete of Bertrams.

Fresh herbs, cabbage, carrots, spinach and lettuce are grown using organic and sustainable methods, such as companion planting and crop rotation.

Volunteers Amon Maluleke, Maria Maseko and Refileo Molefe have worked on the half-hectare plot for about 10 years. Produce is sold to the surrounding community or donated, volunteers can be paid in food, and the co-op holds soup kitchens a few times a year.

"Gardening is something many people want to do, but don't dedicate the time to it," says Maluleke. "It is really labour-intensive. I am from a rural area in Vhembe, where subsistence farming is the norm. Organic farming is similar to the rural way of farming, where we would pick fruit and vegetables and eat them straight from the trees. It was a healthy way of living and we could go the whole year without consulting a doctor, so these vegetables are good for the health." Maluleke, who works in the garden during lunch breaks from his job as a groundsman at the Joburg Cricket Club next door, has a background in ornamental horticulture and farming.

Maseko says: "We planted some herbs that are indigenous to the Congo after some immigrants from there said they couldn't find them anywhere in Joburg. We also tried curry leaves and we want to try more vegetables when we get sponsors for seedlings."

Maseko has a keen interest in agriculture, learning her skills from the books of gardening guru Margaret Roberts.

"We have sponsors, like JoJo tanks who put in irrigation, and Talborne Organics for the fertiliser," says Maluleke. "We don't use pesticides, we created a spray with chilli and garlic. And we recycle what we take out. The weeds are used to make compost."

After a Mandela Day planting by volunteers, 8000 seedlings have grown into abundant greens which now need harvesting. Volunteers can help with the harvest from Monday to Saturday. Produce can be purchased at reasonable prices.

• Amon's Garden, cnr Bertrams and Thames roads, Bertrams, Jhb. Contact Amon Maluleke on 0768739886.