How chiilies birthed a heavenly garden in Auckland Park
AUCKLAND PARK – Jane Griffiths shares on the inception of her organic vegetable garden and tells on how you can grow your own.
If someone would have told Jane Griffiths when she was in her wild mid-20s that she would one day write a best-selling book called Jane’s Delicious Garden on growing edible plants – she would have wondered what they were smoking from their garden.
An Auckland Park resident, who up in Pietermaritzburg, Griffiths said her mother had incredible green fingers and a beautiful garden. “Despite this, I had absolutely no interest in growing anything until I was in my mid-30s.”
She explained that while spending a year travelling in the US, she fell in love with the wide variety of chillies there, which weren’t available in South Africa in 1995. “If I wanted them, I had to grow them. I dug up some lawn, threw in some compost and scattered the seeds.”
It was in that summer that she had about 25 varieties of chillies growing. She quickly fell in love with the seemingly simple process of sowing seeds, nurturing the plants and then making the most of the harvest. These chillies were soon joined by tomatoes, eggplants, beans and more. Today, in addition to vegetables, she has herbs and fruit trees growing throughout her garden.
Griffiths prides herself in being an artist, she paints large landscapes and seascapes in oils, and her garden is part of her creative canvas. “I am always thinking up new ideas and plans. It has become my oasis, a place that feeds my body and my soul. It has been a particularly wonderful haven during Covid-19.”
She said growing your own food is far easier than one might think – even with limited space, one can still grow plenty of edibles in containers.
She recommended you start small, with only one bed, or a few containers, and learn to manage these before expanding. “The easiest is to start with seedlings but seeds are cheaper and offer a wider variety.”
Griffiths added that starting with easy edibles will provide a harvest quickly. Winter, however, is not the best time to sow seeds as it is too cold for most seeds to germinate. Nevertheless, you can still plant seedlings of greens such as lettuce, bok choy, kale, Swiss chard, spinach and mizuna. “Herb seedlings like parsley, origanum, chives and rosemary can also be planted. Once the weather warms up in spring, add green beans, tomatoes and basil.”
She concluded that the most important tool one can have in a vegetable garden is knowledge – of the plants’ insects, season, soil and cycles. “The more you grow to understand these, the better off both you and your garden will be.”
