Urban garden grows fresh vegetables in Lorentzville
What began as a simple idea to grow fresh vegetables in the city has blossomed into a thriving urban farm that’s feeding a community and inspiring change.
Tucked between the industrial walls and creative studios of Victoria Yards in Lorentzville, an oasis of leafy greens, root vegetables and hope flourishes under the care of Tony Bensusan, a quiet urban farmer with a lifetime of soil under his nails and passion in his heart.
A former Norwood resident, Bensusan’s journey from organic farming on the KZN South Coast to cultivating city gardens is as rich and layered as the compost he makes himself.
Though he joined working the vegetable garden after it had already taken root, Bensusan was drawn by its promise to nourish both the land and the community. The aim was to offer fresh, affordable produce to residents while demonstrating that even the smallest urban space can be transformed into something beautiful and bountiful.
Winter crops now fill the beds with colour and life – kale, spinach, mustard, bok choy, cabbage, broad beans and more. All of it is grown organically and picked fresh to order, with customers able to walk through the garden, select what they want and watch it being harvested.
With the help of two full-time gardeners, the project not only feeds people but also provides jobs and practical inspiration. Many customers live or work nearby, and some travel across the city just for the garden’s trusted produce. Although a veg box system didn’t work out due to low volume, the direct approach has helped build lasting relationships.
Bensusan also leads Living Soil Workshops, where he teaches the fundamentals of organic gardening. Sustainable methods like composting, companion planting, crop rotation and seed saving are core to the garden’s philosophy.
His love for gardening began in childhood, as he helped his father in the garden and later fed his family from their vegetable patch in Orchards. Urban farming, he said, was his way of bringing green back into the concrete jungle and proving that anyone could grow healthy food.
The most rewarding part, he added, was watching a seed become food and sharing that journey with others. His advice for aspiring growers? “Start small, plant what you love and don’t wait.”
This green space reminds people that good things still grow when people care enough to plant the first seed.
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