At least one gardener in the Kowie Valley, Barbara Church, is not worried about flowers.

Rather, she's more concerned about her formal vegetable garden which provides visitors with an exciting visual and mouth­watering experience.

Don't let the name Donkerhoek con­jure up gloomy images of a barren, ugly and run-down cottage in the midst of some dark forest as the farm is one of the most charming and unusual to visit.

There’s an interesting story behind the family’s occupation of the farm starting in 1835 when Barbara Church's great-great­-great-grandfather, William Ainslie, bought 4 500 hectares of land between Glen Gre­gor and Cullendale for 5700 and named it Spring Grove.

Ainslie was married to Jessie Pringle, sister of the famous Scottish writer, poet and abolitionist, Thomas Pringle, who brought out a party of settlers in 1820.

In 1833, William brought his three sons and two daughters to South Africa, one of whom was Robert, Barbara's great-great-grandfather.

After William died his farm was sub-di­vided into Spring Grove, Cavers and Kelvinside.

One son, also named William, moved to Cavers while another son, George, finished build­ing the house at Donkerhoek in 1868.

Lochart Ainslie, Barbara's brother and neighbour who lives on Glen Gregor, bought Donkerhoek to add to his grazing but in 2006, while still living in Cape Town, Barbara and husband Mike purchased it from him.

The only building standing when they arrived at the farm was a stone-walled house.

There was no garage, no visitor's cot­tage, no back stoep and the house had on­ly tiny windows.

"There was no swimming pool, just veld," she said.

There was an outside courtyard but be­cause of the rocky nature of the hillside it appeared as though nothing had ever been planted in it.

Renovations started in 2008 and, when Barbara and Mike finally moved in during February 2012, there was no garden to talk of, only some lawn in front and an overgrown flow­er-bed full of weeds.

The flower bed was filled in and the grass was planted right up to the wall to highlight the beautiful stonework.

At the back, there was only gravel and veld.

Before moving to Donkerhoek they had employed local staff (who worked for her brother) to dig trenches in the rock at the back in which to grow veg­etables.

Soil for the trenches was made using kraal manure, anthills, mole-hills and com­post and as nobody was there to supervise the staff, a reward system was used.

Staff members were told: "If you dig that hole in such and such a time you'll get a TV, the next hole you'll get a fridge," Bar­bara said.

But now Donkerhoek features an abun­dance of vegetables but with only a sprin­kling of flowers.

"I think flower gardens are beautiful but I'm more into vegetables because you can eat them.

"I just love see­ing green things growing and it's much healthier eating home-grown," she said.

The main problems associated with growing vegetables here are the variations in the seasons.

Seasons are sometimes delayed be­cause of very hot winter days with dry wind followed by very cold nights so there are late germinations.

"I've got a little hot cupboard where I germinated quite a few things. I germinate peppers, aubergines and basil and I've got beans over there, all sown in situ," she said.

Barbara also grows vegetables such as spinach, beetroot and loads of different beans.

The seedbeds are only used in winter for broccoli, kale, parsley, cabbage and Brus­sels sprouts which are then trans­planted.

"I use mostly heirloom seeds which I source from Johannesburg. They are very good at germinating on their own," she said.

The garden is not confined to the court­yard and carries on further up the slope to where there is an orchard.

As there are two distinct seasons, ex­tremely hot summers and icy cold win­ters, the weather dictates she grow let­tuce, spinach, broad-beans and cauliflower in her winter garden.

In summer seeds are sown and covered with dry horse manure to keep the beds damp.

In summer the runners are covered with runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and pumpkins.

Spinach, carrots, beetroot and lettuce grow throughout the year.

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower as well as rosemary and thyme do well.

"Then there are pumpkins, butternut, zucchinis, Hubbard squash, cucumbers and all the bush beans - that's also sum­mer produce.

"I've got all sorts of beans, black beans, speckled beans, green beans and an an­cient vegetable called kale.

"It's a brassica, it's a predecessor to cabbage but it is full of antioxidants, it's nature's super-food.

"Juice kale alongside with ginger and or­ange juice and you've got a super, super, anti-oxidant drink.

"I've citrus trees in pots: two limes, lemons and oranges and four oranges. My orchard con­sists of pomegranates, quince, figs, peach­es and almonds. This is now their third spring and the peaches, apricots, almond and quince are full of small fruit.

"You can go out and pick your veggies just before you cook them," she said.

Water for the house and garden is pumped from the river to a large reservoir situated higher than the house which is then gravity fed.

"We've got good pressure," she said.

The river is not affected by drought as it's fed by springs - that's why the farm was originally called Spring Grove.

Spring Grove mountain has many springs and the annual rainfall on the mountain is close to 1 000mm - enough to feed the springs, keep the Kowie River flowing and keep the reservoir full.

 

Text and Photos are Copyright: Ivor Markman 2015