Mother City Living

Building a vertical food garden at Constantia Village

Posted on 25. Nov, 2009 by Pia Taylor in City News, Green Living, Urban Farming

One thing one generally doesn’t expect to see when entering a shopping mall is a vegetable patch, full of green, leafy edible plants.  Now picture them being grown vertically – a “Living Wall”… a vertical food garden.

That’s the fabulous sight that greeted me as I wandered in to Constantia Village yesterday morning to attend the launch of the new-look Woolworths food store (more about that another time) and of course I very quickly jumped in and planted my very own tomato seedling.

I think it’s an awesome idea… passing shoppers get to plant their own vegetable seedlings in recycled plastic cold drink bottles which are then fixed to a fence, gradually forming a living wall of green.

And, most importantly, it’s not just about the show – according to the press release I received today, all the vegetable and herb seedlings planted by the Constantia Village shoppers will be donated by the Woolworths Trust to Constantia Primary School, an under-resourced school near the centre.

Constantia Primary has a permaculture food garden and this seedling donation will be used to start their own nursery – to boost the sustainability of their food garden.

In a world where consumerism is king (especially at this time of year), it’s sometimes good to be reminded about the source of things, and I think this very simple but effective display does just that.

The Woolworths Trust “Living Wall” will be up until Saturday the 28th of November – so go ahead and get planting!

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Tags: constantia, constantia village, living wall, vertical garden, woolworths