Turning Cape Town’s Vacant Land into Indigenous Gardens

Ismail Johnson and Nora Unruh at the new indigenous garden at Dryden Street Primary in Salt River. Photo: Matthew Hirsch.

German-South African collaboration is “greening” urban spaces

Cape Town, South Africa (12 December 2024) — Vacant plots of land in Cape Town are being turned into indigenous gardens thanks to a collaboration between South African organisations and a German work exchange programme.

As part of the exchange programme, ASA, young people from Germany come to South Africa to work on sustainability projects. The local organisations involved in the project are Neighbourhood Gardens, which has been planting gardens around Cape Town for almost five years, Gugulethu Urban Food Forest Initiative and Community Women Action.

Last month, the project opened a new garden at Dryden Street Primary School in Salt River. Teachers and learners access the garden to learn about the various indigenous plants.

“We’ve been teaching children about protecting the environment. It is very important to go back to these green spaces. This is definitely sending a statement,” said Nora Unruh, a German student who has recently finished her master’s thesis on food security.

There are about 15 indigenous species in the garden, including lion’s ear, also known as “wild dagga”, wild rosemary, and wild figs.

The garden was planted on a vacant part of the school, where rubble had been building up for decades. Unruh says it was hard work clearing the land of rubble. The team consists of three South Africans and three Germans.

The school’s principal Stanton Smith said, “We started a garden society under the guidance of teachers where they can learn more about vegetation and green spaces. We are a commuting school. Kids come from all over Cape Town, mostly the Cape Flats.

Ismail Johnson, from Neighbourhood Gardens, said that the organisation runs an eco club at Salt River High that meets once a month to teach high school learners about indigenous plants and conservation.

“The reality is that they don’t have that where they come from. They took ownership of the garden. They really enjoyed being a part of something that was slightly out of the norm for them,” added Smith.
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The project has plans to plant gardens in other areas, especially the Cape Flats. A similar garden next to a church in Strandfontein is already under construction.

“It’s quite close to the sea so we need to protect the plants from the sand. We planted indigenous plants on the outside so they would block the sand,” said Johnson.