Garden maintenance

The trellis at Traversine Villiot is now entirely covered with mulberry trees! Maintained in this way, they are developing rapidly, with stems reaching up to 4 metres! Enough to provide a shady passageway that is beginning to fill with fruit … Read More

The mandala in the Garden of Skills is located at the entrance to the garden, near the kitchen. It includes a sample of the crops grown in the kitchen garden: shallots, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, etc.

The strawberries love the Garden of Skills just as much as the women in the garden love the strawberries…Just the thing… The plants have produced a huge number of runners, which the women have taken care to transplant onto new … Read More

As part of the seed production project launched in West Africa by The Ivory Foundation in collaboration with Agrosemens, Abdourahmane, the gardener at the Bala seed farm, is currently transplanting courgettes into beds in the seed greenhouse. Courgettes are preferred … Read More

At Bala, Abdourahmane has set up a variety of crops. Two varieties of basil are grown for seed production. One is in flower and will soon be producing seeds. Okra will also be harvested once the fruit has ripened for … Read More

At Bala, gardener Abdourahmane has planted a variety of local crops, including okra, chilli peppers and cassava.

Twice a week, children from the Villiot nursery help to maintain the garden. After enriching the compost with peelings from their canteen, they help to water the vegetable garden.

As part of their work tending the Traversine Villiot vegetable garden, the nursery school children from école de Bercy transplanted lettuce plants onto the mandala and the garden beds.

5 women are in charge of the cultivation beds in the Garden of Skills, a daily task carried out since 2021, when the project began in the Malanti hills in Eswatini. Growing the plants in parallel rows at right angles … Read More

The Yagma garden team prepared courgette and maize beds before the onset of the rainy season. Maize requires a lot of water, so this season is ideal for planting and growing it. Its rapid growth will enable it to be … Read More

The women in charge of the Garden of Skills at Malanti in Eswatini are preparing the selection of seeds that they will put into pots in the greenhouse. It’s a painstaking task, so as not to waste this precious resource … Read More

This Friday, the children of the elementary school of Bercy planted strawberry plants on the vertical wall of the garden of the Traversine of Bercy. They particularly enjoyed this activity which signs the return of spring!

Sweet potatoes at the Garden of Skills, Malanti, Eswatini The sweet potato is very popular in Eswatini, and is also suitable for sloping ground as it produces abundant creeping foliage. After each harvest, the women take cuttings from the harvested … Read More

As part of the seed project involving Agrosemens, APAF and The Ivory Foundation, Thieleme, the technician in charge of greenhouses in the Mbour region, planted courgette seedlings in the Sandiare and Nobadane greenhouses. The varieties were selected to best suit … Read More

Every day, the children of the inclusive school of the Petits Princes in Rufisque, accompanied by their teachers and Joseph,  the person in charge of the garden, take part in the watering and maintenance of the planters.

 Every Wednesday and Friday morning, children from the Villiot collective crèche spend an hour in the Traversine-Villiot garden. The children come with some vegetable waste from the crèche kitchen and put it in our compost, along with dead leaves collected … Read More

During the seed training course organised by The Ivory Foundation and Agrosemence, the women from the Dawady vegetable garden were given advice on maintaining their collective garden: watering, hoeing the plots, treating diseases with natural treatments such as neem oil. … Read More

The Nobadane seed farm is one of three seed production sites operated by Apaf in collaboration with The Ivory Foundation and Agrosemence. It includes a greenhouse and outdoor section where onions are grown for seed production. The greenhouse has been … Read More

As part of the seed project involving Agrosemens, APAF and The Ivory Foundation, a new greenhouse has been set up at Sandiara to complete the production system, giving priority to one variety per species at each site, in order to limit … Read More

The Ivory Foundation, in partnership with the French seed company Agrosemensand APAF Senegal to encourage the production of reproducible organic seeds adapted to both climatic conditions and the local market, while developing, with the expertise of Agrosemens, accessible tutorials adapted to … Read More

With the children of the center Paris Anim’ (CLAJE), we collected the topinamburs (or Jerusalem artichokes) of the garden of Traversine-Villiot. They were each able to leave with a bag of several topinamburs that they had collected themselves. We prepared … Read More

Every day, the women in charge of the vegetable garden harvest fresh vegetables in order to make balanced meals for the women in training at the Garden of Skills. Designing Hope takes advantage of these training moments to promote balanced … Read More

To mark the end of autumn and to brighten up the garden, the children of the elementary schools of Bercy helped the team of Dessine l’Espoir to collect the leaves of the garden of Traversine-Bercy in Paris.  They put them … Read More

In the agroforestry garden of the Yagma school, located on the outskirts of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, the students are involved in the daily maintenance of the vegetable garden.  This garden, set up on a real wasteland with the support … Read More

The sweet potato is very popular in Eswatini, and is also suitable for sloping ground as it produces abundant creeping foliage. After each harvest, the women take cuttings from the harvested sweet potato stalks and transplant them to new beds. 

Peppers are particularly popular in Eswatini in the local cuisine.  The harvested fruits are small but very flavourful, and will enhance the meal served daily at the Garden of Knowledge. 

In the vegetable garden of the Garden of Skills, nothing is lost!  When the women thin the carrots to encourage their growth, the young shoots are collected and cooked for the daily meal offered to the women in training.  The … Read More

Deaf and hard-of-hearing youngsters from St Monica’s farm water the keyhole. The Keyhole is a traditional garden from Lesotho. So it was very important that the garden at St Monica’s should also have this high circular vegetable garden. The perimeter … Read More

With the children of the nursery of Villiot, we planted bulbs of tulip all around the kiosk of the garden of the Traversine Villiot. The children put the bulb in each hole and then covered it with soil before watering … Read More

At St Monica’s farm, the youngsters look after the crops, chickens and sheep.

The harvest of vegetables realized at the beginning of November in the garden allowed us to organize a meal in the garden of the residence Villiot-Râpée, in the presence of all the actors who interact regularly with the garden. The … Read More

Even in November, it is still time to sow some seeds… and it is what the children of the nursery school of Bercy did!  Hoping that the first sprouts will survive the cold winter, the children sowed yellow turnips, lettuce, … Read More

Every day, the children look after the vegetable garden at Roosboom, helping the women in particular with watering and tending the beds. The cabbages and spinach are harvested to accompany the meals served daily at Half Way House.

The children of the primary schools of Bercy helped us to transplant in the playground’s garden the spinach which proliferated in the Garden of the Traversine-Villiot.  After digging holes in the enriched soil trays, the children planted the spinach plants … Read More

The team of the Traversine garden takes care now of four culture trays in the playground of the nursery school.  Before planting fruit, vegetables and other plants with the kindergarten children, we enriched and aerated the soil in the containers. … Read More

In October, it is still time to sow parsley, it is what we made with the children of the primary schools of Bercy.  In the school’s containers, which had been prepared with fertile soil, the children delicately sowed parsley seeds. The … Read More

On the roof terrace of the inclusive school of the Petits Princes in Rufisque, the garden developed by Designing Hope welcomes the children every week for a moment of active recreation, dedicated to the maintenance of the garden.Watering is essential … Read More

In the garden of the Traversine Villiot, our cauliflower, after having formed a compact vegetable, continued its growth. To the astonishment of the children, it has grown new stems. This is what we call the process of going to seed … Read More

The seedlings prepared by Abdourhamane, the head gardener of the Bala garden, are a success! The shoots of the different varieties of tomatoes and aubergines have emerged from the plates with a very satisfactory germination rate. As part of the … Read More

It is autumn, it is time to enrich and to refill the tubs of the mandala and the Keyhole of the garden of the Traversine Bercy in order to prepare the tubs to welcome new cultures. The bins have been … Read More

Set up in 2021 with the children and young people of the St Paul’s School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Leribe, Lesotho, the Palesa garden (Palesa means flower in Sotho, the language of Lesotho) is providing a … Read More

The Ivory Foundation has developed a reproductive seed production project in Senegal with the organic seed company Agrosemens. The Bala medical centre in eastern Senegal, near Tambacounda, is one of the pilot sites associated with this initiative. Abdourhamane, head of … Read More

A large 10-cubic-meter tank has been installed in the garden, fed by water from a nearby river. While waiting for the installation of a drip irrigation system, the women take care of watering the plots every morning, especially during the … Read More

For its first summer, the garden of the Traversine Villiot is blooming and gave many vegetables. Potatoes, leeks, cauliflower, spinach, celery, Jerusalem artichokes, squash, beets, cucumbers and different varieties of tomatoes are growing and ripening in this garden in the … Read More

The Malanti garden was built on the principle of permaculture with 80 cm wide plots on which the women grow vegetables in association in fairly dense plots. Densifying the crops allows them to limit water consumption. To prepare and maintain … Read More

When preparing the beds with the “Campagnole”, the soil is enriched by sprinkling a mixture of biochar and compost on the surface. The Campagnole will then mix this input deep into the cultivated plots. Biochar is a natural fertilizer produced … Read More

The vegetable garden at St. Monica’s Farm was built on the principle of permaculture, with 80 cm wide raised beds on which the young deaf and hard-of-hearing gardeners grow vegetables quite densely, combining varieties that are compatible in terms of … Read More

Our association made and installed a teepee in bamboo in the garden of the Traversine Villiot. It allows us to optimize the surface by using the principle of vertical culture. Squash, cucumbers and tomatoes grow around the tepee and climb … Read More

The women use natural fertilizers such as compost, manure and biochar produced locally with the support of The Ivory Foundation to enrich the crop beds in the Garden of Skills. Grass, previously cut on the ground and then dried, is … Read More

The mandala of Yagma garden has grown well ! Plantations of corn, cucumber, pepper, and green bean were carried out on the 8 plates of cultures forming a flower.

Today, the women of the Garden of Skills planted peppers, beets, lettuce and spinach on the beds of the “Teenji” (Teen G for youth garden), the garden in front of the workshop, half of which is used for educational activities … Read More

The women of the Garden of Skills harvested Jugo Beans which they then prepared with a traditional recipe. Jugo beans are beans grown in Eswatini and have a taste similar to peanuts. Once cooked in water they are ready to … Read More

The women in charge of the maintenance of the Garden of Skills have begun harvesting the sweet potatoes planted a few months earlier on one of the first plots of land set up on the new Malanti site.

After having followed the training in agroecological techniques at the Yagma garden, the women started their own vegetable garden, either in the open ground or above ground, depending on the size of their plot. One and a half months later, … Read More

Six young people maintain the Palesa Garden, the circular vegetable garden created for the children of the St Paul’s School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The garden is divided into four sections, each of which is available to … Read More

A system of interlocking trays developed by Designing Hope was entrusted to the women of Malanti to optimize their plant production. This durable and resistant system avoids the use of disposable cups, which are difficult to find locally.

The children from the nursery were introduced to gardening at the Villiot garden by planting onion and oca bulbs on the earth beds that form the mandala. In the holes dug with their little shovels, they put potting soil to … Read More

For the women who have a large enough plot of land to start production in the open ground, the fourth day of training was devoted to the creation of growing beds. 19 women attended this session. Using the Yagma garden … Read More

In the bioclimatic greenhouse of the Grand Potager (Domaine de Fontenille), the Lauris preschool children realized seedlings. They filled their little cardboard pot with potting soil, then packed the soil. When the soil is almost at the top of the … Read More

Thanks to the maintenance of the Yagma garden by the gardener and the young volunteers, the production of crops is regular and allows a rotation of the cultivated species. Indeed, the tomato, the local aubergine and the cabbage have come … Read More

In order to facilitate the maintenance of the garden and to limit to the maximum the return of the weeds, we applied the technique of the vegetable ground cover to the garden of Villiot. Along the path surrounding the circular … Read More

The development of the Malanti field is ongoing and the plantations begin with sweet potatoes! This species is particularly well adapted to the landscape of small mountains and hills with rocks in Eswatini, as well as its tropical climate. The … Read More

In this video, Emile shows us an example of a beneficial crop combination in the Grand Potager de Fontenille, in the Luberon. Here, the cultivation mound is composed of white onions associated with savoy cabbage. This combination of alliums and … Read More

Little demonstration of sowing at the Grand Potager of Fontenille, in the Luberon. On prepared ridges of 80cm wide, Mael , the head of cultivation in the vegetable garden, uses the single-row precision seed drill for a new row of … Read More

The animation team of the Grand Potager organised this Wednesday afternoon a cutting workshop activity in the garden. The mild temperatures of the last few days and the coming arrival of spring mean that it is currently a good time … Read More

The 6 young deaf and hard of hearing people manage the Saint Monica Educational Farm in Leribe, Lesotho, funded by The Ivory Foundation in 2019. Within a year they have structured a wasteland into a fertile and productive plot of … Read More

The last tomatoes have been harvested in the Grand Potager while the autumn vegetable plants make their appearance on the growing beds. Chard and young mustard shoots develop well. During this season, it is also the occasion to harvest the … Read More

Between flowers and vegetables, the harvest was fruitful and colorful at the Grand Potager de Fontenille! We have squashes, eggplants, peppers of all sizes and shapes. Enough to prepare good meals for the coming weeks.

Summer has arrived at the Traversine! It is manifested by the strong presence of the sun and its warmth. A perfect setting for the growth of plants grown in the garden, as long as they are watered properly. It is … Read More

In the agroforestry garden at the Yagma school on the outskirts of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, students are involved in its maintenance. Indeed, they prepare cultivation beds that will contribute to the improvement of their daily meals. This garden, set … Read More

Every morning and every evening, Yagma students take part in watering the garden. Since the well installed by The Ivory Foundation and Energies sans Frontières is in operation, the water problems have been greatly reduced and the garden is in … Read More

This winter, La Traversine harvests seasonal vegetables … The “Jerusalem artichokes” gave us the idea of an animation with kindergarten students … After the harvest, we organize a tasting in class, without forgetting to recover the peelings to try with … Read More

The first harvest of peppers from the Macambeni Garden was offered to the Macambeni day care center in charge of the neighborhood orphans. Designing Hope and Fundzisa Live started the Macambeni garden with 2 objectives: – Provide vegetable for the … Read More

In order to quickly produce vegetables in the garden, a nursery has been set up in the office of Fundzisa Live Association, located near Macambeni. The plants can be grown with better control of the watering needs, and with better … Read More

The beginning of 2017 saw the first seedlings and plants on the garden of the Traversine … The season is certainly not the best for seedlings, but we still have sown cabbages and leeks in mini the greenhouses, and lettuces … Read More

Small tour of the garden with the children of the halfway house in Roosboom. The children water the plots and harvest spinach that will complement the lunch that will be served to them.

On the occasion of the agroforestry training given by APAF in May 2017, a visit was organized to Ladysmith. The children of the Halfway House of Roosboom have set up a nursery and sowed the seeds of fertilizer trees given … Read More

Today, the children take care of the chicken coop. The chickens have started laying this week ! The manure and straw are used for incorporation into the compost and enrich the garden.

Several strawberry varieties have been planted on the Grand Potager, as well as berries (raspberries, blackcurrants, currants, blackberries …)

Chaya is a plant of Central America similar to spinach. Chaya is easy to grow in temperate climate. It is tolerant to heavy rain and drought. Propagation can be done easily by cutting 20cm of the stems and planting them … Read More

Following the training given in 2016, the garden of Leribe is flourishing. With the help of the youth, the gardener Leepa, has multiplied the plots of cultivation, and the harvests are here.

The seeds of fertilizer trees are covered with a natural coat which protects them but which also slows down the germination process. Some seeds require a scarification, which breaks this protective envelope. The seeds of moringa or gliricidia require only … Read More

Preparation of winter seedlings in plastic buckets. The seedlings will then be placed on the garden beds.

Fundzisa Live’s garden now hosts the nursery that supplies the various gardens around Piggs Peak Macambeni Garden, Piggs Peak Hospital Garden, and the school gardens, in addition to the local nurseries allready in place in each school. The seedlings are … Read More

The children of the Half Way House take regularly care of the garden, watering the plants, and ensuring the maintenance of the beds, the management of the weeds etc … It is an opportunity for them to acquire the practical … Read More

The children harvested the seeds of chard ribs which they let grow seeds in the garden. These non-hybrid biological seeds can be reproduced.

In Piggs Peak, at Fundzisa Live’s garden, the women in charge of Designing Hope’s Garden Project harvest seeds after each season. They keep the best lettuces for instance, let them grow and then move them out of the garden bed … Read More

Children can enjoy every day a hot meal that uses some fresh vegetables they grow in the pilot garden.

During the few hours they spend daily at the Roosboom halfway House, the children work in groups in the garden and are in charge of its maintenance. During the winter season, crops are limited, and cabbage is the plant that … Read More