Making a difference by planting a ‘pavement garden’

Claudia Seegers started the initiative of planting vegetables on her pavement at 104 Park Street.
The idea was realised during lockdown, but she’s been wanting to launch the project for a few years already. She planted the seeds in lockdown and the vegetables are now ready to be harvested by anyone in need. Claudia says she isn’t a very ‘green person’ and this is her way of contributing to the environment. One thing that annoys her is the way food is wasted and she hopes that, with this vegetable garden, she can limit the wastage and enable the community to save money and food. However, she confesses that she didn’t do it by herself and had assistance from her landscaper, who is as passionate about the project as she is. He even donated some of his own vegetables to be planted on the pavement. At this stage, nobody has taken any of the spinach, lettuce, beetroot or cabbage yet; only those who know her personally have made use of the garden. This encouraged her to erect a sign two weeks ago with the words ‘Vegs to share, pls take, but not more than you need’. Claudia wants to expand on her ‘pavement garden’ and plant herbs, tomatoes and green beans in the future. She prefers to plant perennial vegetables; ‘the more you harvest it, the more it grows’. She would like to encourage everyone to have a vegetable garden on their pavement to help each other in these tough times and also to limit the wastage of food. Local economic development is close to her heart and with this initiative, she believes she is also contributing to local businesses in a small way. She is indeed an inspiration to the community of Vryheid.

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