There is something everyone can achieve, come lockdown or no.
That is the satisfaction that comes from growing your own food for the table.
For just R5 you can buy five vegetable plant plugs at R1 each at Lone Oak seedling nursery on the edge of Gonubie, East London.
Lone Oak has seen to it that a veggie patch, and ultimately self-sufficiency, is in the reach of anyone who has a bit of loose change jingling in their pockets.
And possibly just through blessing others with this sense of hope — and, of course, hard work — this farming operation under the co-ownership of married couple Wayne and Chenay Jefferies is a huge success.
This is clearly evident judging by the fields of healthy seedlings thriving under the East Coast sun on growing tables at the working farm.
An accomplishment that is hard-earned but satisfying to all concerned.
“In summer (September to March) we produce on average one-million seedlings per month and in winter (April to August) we have 800,000 seedlings.”
In their season they offer — cabbage, spinach, beetroot, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, brinjals, chillies, butternut, maize, cucumber, coriander ...
“We do grow herbs — parsley, basil and thyme — but they don’t like winter so they take about three months to be ready,” Chenay said.
“Seedlings take between four to six weeks to grow from seed to seedlings depending on the vegetable variety and the season.”
They are then sold in plug form.
Young schoolchildren on an organised school visit who boldly declare “we don’t eat vegetables” are quickly converted when Chenay tells them that every form of fresh food begins life being raised by some kind of vegetable food. (Such as mielies needed to feed chickens).
A while later these same children return to the farm with their parents in tow proudly bearing their own home-grown vegetables raised from Lone Oak’s seedling plugs given them on their school visit.
From roadside hawkers and nurseries to big-scale vegetable farms, Lone Oak supplies them all from the open-air nursery.
The seedlings grown outdoors are hardier and there is less stress on the plant when it is transplanted into the customer’s garden or lands.
The workday for the Jefferies and their 30 workers can be tough, as its pure manual labour and they and the product are exposed to whatever the weather decides to do.
However, both Wayne and Chenay enjoy their work away from the city environment.
Wayne was formerly a Pick n Pay store manager and Chenay an industrial caterer.
The business was established more than 20 years ago and the couple, who worked there for 13 years, then took over as co-partners 2½ years ago.
Their work hours in “boots and takkies” might be longer and more demanding, but the life they have chosen better suited their time raising three children who are now grown and have left home.
“We can liken our commitment to that of a dairy farmer. Just as cows have to be milked and fed every day, we too have to tend to our planting schedule around the clock,” Chenay said, adding that it was a 4am to 4pm day with a staff complement of 30 who work in shifts.
And it’s the wagtail bird’s contentedness that they monitor to see that all is in order in the fields.
“They are our barometer to check whether the chemicals we use are harmful.”
The presence of bees, ladybirds and butterflies are also a positive indicator.
The business thrived during the lockdown as it was considered an “essential service”.
“Everyone wanted to start to garden,” Wayne said.
“We had queues going out of the gates with people waiting to buy vegetable seedling plugs. Some even arrived equipped to wait with deck chairs in their car boot.”
On arriving at Lone Oak, you are greeted by massive sunflower blooms which Wayne grew using one of the soil enhancer products, African Dream, they sell along with other bagged soil enrichment products.
Another outcome using the same growing medium for planting cosmos seed saw the pretty flowering annual too reaching a lofty height.
While I was at Lone Oak, I was amused at a customer who had come to ask especially for the cosmos seed of the overly tall plants she’d seen growing at the entrance.
As well as the seedlings, the couple sell fruit trees which they buy in bulk to keep the prices down for the gardener.
Unusual tree stock, among others, is the Kiwi fruit and Tamarillo (tree tomato).
Why do they not sell radish and carrot seedlings?
“All root vegetables should be grown from seed sown directly in the garden bed.”
That is to ensure that the root vegetables such as the carrot grows straight. They need to grow in loose friable soil.
What should you be planting now?
Brassicas (bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, turnips, kale and cabbages) as well as spinach and lettuce.
Wayne says that the best results are also achieved by using rainwater.
• In the Garden is written by feature writer, garden enthusiast and former teacher Julia Smith, who has returned home to live in Chintsa East. The column aims to inform novice and accomplished gardeners on how to make the most of their green patches.
Weekender
IN THE GARDEN | Home-grown vegetables for the table
Planting seedlings can put you on the road to self-sufficiency in the kitchen
There is something everyone can achieve, come lockdown or no.
That is the satisfaction that comes from growing your own food for the table.
For just R5 you can buy five vegetable plant plugs at R1 each at Lone Oak seedling nursery on the edge of Gonubie, East London.
Lone Oak has seen to it that a veggie patch, and ultimately self-sufficiency, is in the reach of anyone who has a bit of loose change jingling in their pockets.
And possibly just through blessing others with this sense of hope — and, of course, hard work — this farming operation under the co-ownership of married couple Wayne and Chenay Jefferies is a huge success.
This is clearly evident judging by the fields of healthy seedlings thriving under the East Coast sun on growing tables at the working farm.
An accomplishment that is hard-earned but satisfying to all concerned.
“In summer (September to March) we produce on average one-million seedlings per month and in winter (April to August) we have 800,000 seedlings.”
In their season they offer — cabbage, spinach, beetroot, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, brinjals, chillies, butternut, maize, cucumber, coriander ...
“We do grow herbs — parsley, basil and thyme — but they don’t like winter so they take about three months to be ready,” Chenay said.
“Seedlings take between four to six weeks to grow from seed to seedlings depending on the vegetable variety and the season.”
They are then sold in plug form.
Young schoolchildren on an organised school visit who boldly declare “we don’t eat vegetables” are quickly converted when Chenay tells them that every form of fresh food begins life being raised by some kind of vegetable food. (Such as mielies needed to feed chickens).
A while later these same children return to the farm with their parents in tow proudly bearing their own home-grown vegetables raised from Lone Oak’s seedling plugs given them on their school visit.
From roadside hawkers and nurseries to big-scale vegetable farms, Lone Oak supplies them all from the open-air nursery.
The seedlings grown outdoors are hardier and there is less stress on the plant when it is transplanted into the customer’s garden or lands.
The workday for the Jefferies and their 30 workers can be tough, as its pure manual labour and they and the product are exposed to whatever the weather decides to do.
However, both Wayne and Chenay enjoy their work away from the city environment.
Wayne was formerly a Pick n Pay store manager and Chenay an industrial caterer.
The business was established more than 20 years ago and the couple, who worked there for 13 years, then took over as co-partners 2½ years ago.
Their work hours in “boots and takkies” might be longer and more demanding, but the life they have chosen better suited their time raising three children who are now grown and have left home.
“We can liken our commitment to that of a dairy farmer. Just as cows have to be milked and fed every day, we too have to tend to our planting schedule around the clock,” Chenay said, adding that it was a 4am to 4pm day with a staff complement of 30 who work in shifts.
And it’s the wagtail bird’s contentedness that they monitor to see that all is in order in the fields.
“They are our barometer to check whether the chemicals we use are harmful.”
The presence of bees, ladybirds and butterflies are also a positive indicator.
The business thrived during the lockdown as it was considered an “essential service”.
“Everyone wanted to start to garden,” Wayne said.
“We had queues going out of the gates with people waiting to buy vegetable seedling plugs. Some even arrived equipped to wait with deck chairs in their car boot.”
On arriving at Lone Oak, you are greeted by massive sunflower blooms which Wayne grew using one of the soil enhancer products, African Dream, they sell along with other bagged soil enrichment products.
Another outcome using the same growing medium for planting cosmos seed saw the pretty flowering annual too reaching a lofty height.
While I was at Lone Oak, I was amused at a customer who had come to ask especially for the cosmos seed of the overly tall plants she’d seen growing at the entrance.
As well as the seedlings, the couple sell fruit trees which they buy in bulk to keep the prices down for the gardener.
Unusual tree stock, among others, is the Kiwi fruit and Tamarillo (tree tomato).
Why do they not sell radish and carrot seedlings?
“All root vegetables should be grown from seed sown directly in the garden bed.”
That is to ensure that the root vegetables such as the carrot grows straight. They need to grow in loose friable soil.
What should you be planting now?
Brassicas (bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, turnips, kale and cabbages) as well as spinach and lettuce.
Wayne says that the best results are also achieved by using rainwater.
• In the Garden is written by feature writer, garden enthusiast and former teacher Julia Smith, who has returned home to live in Chintsa East. The column aims to inform novice and accomplished gardeners on how to make the most of their green patches.
Weekender
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