In South Africa, permaculture was introduced several years ago as a development solution especially for townships, with the notion of “Door Gardens.” These gardens, the size of a door (2m x 1m), are adapted to suburban housing from townships, which often have a small fenced plot of a few square meters.
the idea is to create on that small surface a fertile land, using household waste mixed with plants available nearby (leaves, branches, grass …) and to associate crops for maximum performance on a small surface to provide a dietary supplement with fresh vegetables for families throughout the year.
Designing Hope supports the Silethithemba Halfway House since 2007 in Rosboom, one of the most disadvantaged suburb of Ladysmith District, in Kwazulu Natal.
Since 2011, Permaculture raised beds have been implemented in a pedagogical garden in this center.
Set up in January 2025, the greenhouse at Roosboom’s Halfway House is off to a great start! This is the fruit of the collective efforts of the entire garden team, who prepared the growing beds, installed the automatic watering system … Read More
The women in charge of the Roosboom vegetable garden had prepared a nursery of fertilizer trees, to be transplanted onto the garden beds. These trees will provide shade for the vegetable garden, as well as fertilizing the beds in accordance … Read More
The chard plants produced in the garden nursery have been transplanted. onto the newly-created beds in the greenhouse garden at Halfway House in Roosboom. Thanks to the automatic watering system installed in the greenhouse, these seedlings should grow quickly and … Read More
To ensure the preparation and maintenance of the garden at Roosboom’s Halfway House, which has now doubled in size, a new team has been set up, reinforced by 4 women and 2 men from Roosboom. They work 3 days a … Read More
Once the beds had been prepared, and the soil refined and weeded, the women of Roosboom set about preparing a typical bed, sown with carrots in rows close together, according to permaculture principles.In fact, we try to maximize production on … Read More
While the greenhouse is still under construction by the Lesotho team, a team of 4 women and 2 men from Roosboom set about installing the growing beds in the greenhouse, under the guidance of Sphephile and Fezile, who had come … Read More
Now that water is available in the garden of Roosboom’s Halfway House, thanks to the borehole and the installation of a pump supplying the 10,000-liter water tank, we were able to install automatic watering for the vegetable garden. A main … Read More
Once the greenhouse’s wooden poles and metal frame were in place, the sunshade fabric, which had been hand-sewn with a nylon cord, was positioned on the structure. A perimeter trench was then dug all around the greenhouse to bury the … Read More
To complete the nursery, additional seedlings have been placed in traditional seed trays.Regular watering is important to prevent them drying out too quickly.The children at Halfway House take on this task every day! A project undertaken by Designing Hope with … Read More
Once the nursery frame and internal grid had been installed, all that remained to be done was to fit a protective frame with a number of purposes:– Reduce the intensity of the sun’s rays, which are particularly hot in southern … Read More
