Ivor Markman

 

To all intents and purposes, the Baviaans River Valley outside Bedford in the Eastern Cape is a dry and desolate area.

Desolate, that is, except where man has made his contribution.

Gardeners have turned areas of barren ground into lush beautiful gardens and while farmers tend their stock, their wives look after the home and garden.

Griet and Rinaldo Marais started their farming career many years ago on their farm, Silverbrook.

When, in 1980, they returned home after spending a few years on an irrigation farm near Grahamstown, they found vandals and thieves had completely destroyed the farmhouse.

“There was nothing left, it was just a ruin,” said Griet.

“Bricks and everything had been taken away, the windows, the doors, the lot. There was just an open dead space here.”

Not ones to wallow in self-pity, they started rebuilding the farmhouse.

First they used the rubble to build a slope to do away with the original sharp drop and then they started constructing their home, removing an old rambling hedge in the process.

“I had to start from scratch and plant everything in the garden. We started off with the traditional idea of rose bushes and shrubs and very lush border plants,” said Griet.

Soon they realised a lush garden in the Baviaans River Valley required copious amounts of water, a commodity of which they were short.

After Griet lost all her roses through a severe drought in the 1990’s, she decided to re-think her garden.

“I thought OK, there's enough (water to spare) for about a third of the garden so I grouped my exotics, ferns and things, around the water feature.

“So a third of my garden became exotic and the other two-thirds became totally water-wise. In fact, totally drought resistant.”

Visitors may find it strange to find a water-wise garden with pools, but Griet quickly responds.

“Ja, but you see, I re-use all my water. I love water, it's softening (effect) and it's recycling,” she said.

“I had only so much water for the vegetable garden so I put it through the water feature in my flower garden.

When Griet first laid out the garden an aunt from George came to visit and asked if there was anything she could bring.

“I said she could bring a yellowwood tree and a stinkwood tree,” said Griet.

To her surprise, when her aunt arrived she brought 32 trees - a case of yellowwoods trees and a case of stinkwoods.

“Those are the trees we now walk under,” she said as she indicated their private little forest.

When the Marais returned to Silverbrook they obtained the necessary permit to move their cycads with them to the farm.

Griet says she is never allowed to forget they have a very heavy sticky soil.

“It's a funny red, but it sets rock hard. The main problem I have is drainage and I'm slowly beating it, but we've also got some of the healthiest soil in the whole country.

“I had to bring in a tremendous amount of shale and sand. I make all my own compost,” she said.

Griet is very vigilant with the preparation of the compost and everything in the garbage is sorted.

“My brothers were big, big tobacco farmers in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). When they came down and saw the lucern fields one of them asked Rinaldo ‘How many tons of fertiliser do you put down per hectare?’

“None. I don't use fertiliser," he said.

“I'll never forget my brothers face. ‘What? And you deliver that? What do you do to it?’

“We've just got the most fertile soil that I've ever come across,” said Griet.

Most of her plants are acquired from her walks in the veld, but neighbours contribute plants as well.

Whenever she travels a trip to the local nurseries is foregone conclusion in her quest to find new and exciting plants.

“I specifically look for water wise and drought resistant plants. If I see exotic things I just say I'm not interested,” she said.

As her garden is drought resistant, succulents play a large part in the display and she spends much time propagating them, always looking for mature plants because they’re ready to start multiplying.

“You snip off the lower leaves and then you put it into a well-drained mix of compost, sand and soil. It’s important to give slips a stem.

“You can propagate most common (succulents) with leaves (as) they root themselves,” she said.

While some people use hormones to stimulate plant growth, Griet prefers to use homemade compost.

In order to create attractive displays in her garden, she uses masses of the same plant.

In the case of succulents, collecting large numbers is a slow process.

For example, in one area, because the plants were so tiny, it took seven years before she had enough to fill a small bed.

Griet has used river stones to make lovely patterns around the somewhat stark looking succulents, carefully placing them at strategic places.

“I can't explain how I know where to place them,” she says. “I looked at nature, then I looked up at the mountain and said to Rinaldo ‘Have you noticed that all the stone is layered?’

“I don't want to be formal, you've got the round (shapes) with the tall (shapes) in the back and the flat in front. Its a natural artistic arrangement when you don't want to be formal.

So after years of hard work, this little piece of paradise is a just reward for Griet’s loving endeavours.

 

TEXT: Copyright Ivor Markman 2013