Visiting Pretty's Garden.

Positive Cycle paid a visit to a garden in Gauteng, in a 'previously disadvantaged community' being run by a delightful lady named Pretty. It's a fulfilling thing to do, being involved in such an ethical endeavour. We were very proud to be able to assist Pretty with some seeds and seedlings (particularly jalapenos as we have plenty of those at the moment) and also with a little know how and advice. Compost is going to be particularly helpful to Pretty as making it herself is ultimately going to save money. So will the companion planting and square foot planting advice Pretty got from Positive Cycle. These techniques dramatically increase yields (amounts of crops) and also soil health which again limits the yearly expense of augmenting her soil. Positive Cycle feels strongly about the benefits South Africans can reap by working on our economy where it really counts. Helping poor people to grow food and establish income from the crops they grow. That's why we go out to whatever schools and communities we can gain access to in order to help people understand the basics of both successful economics and healthy environmental practises. Seeing the difference good agricultural advice can bring to a community in terms of health and nutrition, psychological well being and economic prosperity is what it is all about for us at Positive Cycle.

Bio dynamic gardening lessons improve one's quality of life in so many ways you'll think you've had a spiritual experience. Except it's totally practical and hands on. Learning how to grow food and other useful plants in a proper environment, a formal gardening class where the instructor knows what to say and the information makes sense and works when you try it out on your own in your garden at home. Most of the reason so many people get started on a vegetable garden at some point in their lives and give up on it before too long is that without a bit of real world knowledge about how to prepare soil, feed plants, water correctly etc it's going to be a difficult skill to learn. Indeed some say gardening is an art. I am one of those and so were the previous two generations of my family. Come with me on a journey into good health, good food and beautiful surroundings by attending a Positive Cycle gardening class.

Food Growing Training Course.

It has been a little while since we I last touched base here so let me tell you what has been going on at the Positive Cycle garden. Our sponsored efforts to teach and develop gardens and gardeners in areas like Hammanskraal and Lesabe around Gauteng province have borne fruit (literally and figuratively) and those projects are taking off now thanks to some enthusiastic learners and all of the beautiful plants they have been growing. As a result of this Positive Cycle, while still operating an edible gardening service, is now mainly occupied with teaching people from all walks of life how to grow food. Learning vegetable gardening and 'bio dynamic growing' in the Positive Cycle garden has become popular with the locals in Auckland Park as well as with many visitors from further afield who come to find out how to creat this simple, healthy life for themselves. It's wonderful to see people progress as gardeners after attending a garden workshop and learning how to prepare soil, make anti pest solutions from the material in the garden and many other great techniques to turn your veggie patch into a wonderland that feeds the whole family. Teaching organic planting and growing methods is one of Positive Cycle's key areas of focus and we are glad of the opportunity to contribute to agricultural education in South Africa.

Organic Fertilisers and why they make sense.

Fertilisers for the garden. The 'organic method' has become popular.
Entirely organic fertilisers are preferable to chemical fertilisers, which tend to offer partial and impermanent results when compared to a consistent and careful application of the organic gardener's knowledge of how to make and apply fertilser.

'Chemical soup' is undesirable because it is difficult to predict the chemical cocktails that are produced when we introduce synthesized and or extracted chemical additives to our living soil.

The idea of 'living soil' is important since the action of a fertiliser is dependent on these little guys.Microbes, and particular microbes with particular interactions with each other and the surrounding soil are important to the processes that make nutrients available to plant roots.

The twist in the tale comes in when we realise that many purportedly organic fertiliser products may be organically based but they contain a chemical additive. This doesn't help. What one is working with are living organisms and dousing them in the compounds we think they need rather than creating the conditions in which the natural chemical reactions of life takes place is the only real way to achieve balance in your soil.
The quick fix offered by certain chemical recipes is an illusion and if you fall for it you will find yourself constantly amending your soil as it just gets weaker and weaker. Organic gardening and farmng is all about helping natural processes to achieve their most productive balance.

Organic Gardening Service

Gro4u is Positive Cycle's action team. An organic gardening service. We come out to your home and assess your soil, conducting a thorough soil analysis, after which we prepare bds accordingly and plant and maintain an organic vegetable garden second to none. We plant herbs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries. Transforming your garden into a wonderland of culinary delights.
We like to imagine ourselves as ' the gourmet gardeners'. We also take pride in the appearance and designer garden appeal of our garden installations. It's very satisfying to make an out door space not only beautiful but productive too.

Organic Farming.

Organic Farming Workshops.
In recent years many people have begun to realise the value of growing food. Particularly organic farming methods as it has now been quite clearly established that organic yields are superior to monoculture yields. Provided you have the knowledge of what to do, this way of growing food is now the direction of the future. A great deal of work has been done toward recovering the enormous knowledge base that was so badly damaged by the advent of industrial agriculture and chemical fertilisers in the early part of the last century. Positive Cycle is proud to be able to contribute to the recovery of this essential life supporting knowledge and offers organic farming workshops at the Positive Cycle garden in Auckland Park Johannesburg.

Learning Old Ways.
Much of the knowledge of how to grow food organically has been recovered by organisations like Positive Cycle in a process of trial and error. Enough time has now been spent on this endeavour that all over the world it is now becoming possible to roll out organic farming workshops where learners have an unprecedented opportunity to learn what really works. We have made progress in leaps and bounds and are ready to share what has been learnt.

Vegetable gardening classes.

Gardening Workshops.
Positive Cycle is proudly hosting a very comprehensive set of vegetable gardening workshops. The classes run from 09h00 on Saturdays at the Positive Cycle Garden in Auckland Park, Johannesburg and end at around 15h00. An organic and sustainable method of growing your own food is taught and it is well worth it. During the day a delicious lunch is served made from the ingredients learners are being shown how to grow.

It's a fun day out and you can really learn a lot. Positive Cycle is inspired by the idea of getting people growing. In more ways than one. Growing plants can be a tremendously self affirming activity. It's a serious class though. Real permacultural principles that have been tried and tested are used. Get in touch with Positive Cycle and see if you have a green thumb too!