Organic Garden Project

Wheatgrass - ready to juice

2012-02-06T10:27:00.000+02:00

Wheat grass shot

Wheat grass trays 16cm x 23 cm

Have you had your shot of GREEN today ?

Wheatgrass juice is a complete food with no toxic side affects. It contains all of the vitamins and most of the minerals needed for human maintenance and well-being. It is also a complete protein with about 30 enzymes and is approximately 70% crude chlorophyll. It acts as a natural appetite suppressant so usually adding wheatgrass juice to your diet will cause you to balance your weight at the optimum for you.

Wheat grass:

cleanses and builds your blood,
improves skin and hair,
builds muscle and endurance
fights infections,
lowers blood pressure,
dissolves tumors,
acts as an appetite suppressant.
Trays R 35-00, (16cm x 23 cm)
Order today. Please note there is a 12 days lead time.

email : ariston organic@gmail.com

Christmas Greetings

2011-12-24T08:56:00.001+02:00

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a very prosperous New Year

Ariston Elemental Organic Garden Christmas Market Day

2010-09-06T11:55:00.002+02:00

Ariston Elemental Organic Garden will host a Christmas Market day
on Saturday 10 December 2011. Times :1030 to 1500
Corner of Dunluce and Malone Avenues Claremont
Organic Plants
Organic Compost and Potting soil
Organic Vegetables
Organic Sprouts
Organic Wheat grass
Organic Sunflower greens
Organic Red Wriggler worms
Organic Kasha croutons
Organic Herbs fresh and dried
Organic Herb salts
Organic Lavender posies
Organic Lavender Pot Pouri
Organic Lavender Wands
Organic Lavender Hydrolat

... and much more

Bring your family for a fun outing and come and see what is happening at the farm in the middle of Claremont.

Nylandtia spinosa / Tortoise Berry Bush

2010-07-28T11:33:00.000+02:00

GreenPeople Submit Business listing Ad

2010-07-26T18:20:00.000+02:00

GreenPeople Submit Business listing Ad

Order : Elementally Organic Wheatgrass

2010-07-26T17:46:00.003+02:00

Wheatgrass juice is a complete food with no toxic side affects. It contains all of the vitamins and most of the minerals needed for human maintenance and well-being. It is also a complete protein with about 30 enzymes and is approximately 70% crude chlorophyll. It acts as a natural appetite suppressant so usually adding wheatgrass juice to your diet will cause you to balance your weight at the optimum for you.
Wheat grass

cleanses and builds your blood,

improves skin and hair,

builds muscle and endurance

fights infections,

lowers blood pressure,

dissolves tumors,

acts as an appetite suppressant.

Trays R 30-00, R 5-00 refund on return of empty tray

Order today. Please note there is a 12 days lead time

Email your order to : aristonorganic@gmail.com

Elemental Organic Pest solutions

2010-05-13T12:31:00.001+02:00

In keeping with the organic gardening concept, it is always preferable to seek natural solutions to garden problems such as pests and common diseases. We would like to share the following natural controls that you may find useful

Rocket - Eruca vesicaria sativa

2010-04-26T14:21:00.001+02:00

Goji Berry Health properties

2010-04-25T17:25:00.002+02:00

Cape Gooseberry

2010-04-23T11:58:00.001+02:00

FRIEND OR FOE? – BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS

2010-04-05T11:29:00.001+02:00

GARDEN PESTS: FRIEND OR FOE?

2010-04-04T11:59:00.000+02:00

Earthworm interesting facts

2010-03-10T13:00:00.005+02:00

The healing powers of Honey

2010-03-09T19:00:00.002+02:00

Cedarwood Essential Oil

2010-03-06T13:52:00.003+02:00

Companion Planting

2010-02-24T15:33:00.003+02:00

Bird's Eye Chili Mazavaroo

2010-02-04T09:54:00.001+02:00

ARISTON - HISTORY

2007-08-29T08:58:00.004+02:00

Ariston “the best of the best”

Introduction: Many of you will have noticed that a portion of land has been fenced off at the end of Dunluce Avenue, Lansdowne Road, Palmyra Road and Montrose Avenue.

History: This land was originally a portion of the farm Ariston, hence the name.
The name comes from the Greek meaning –“ the best of the best”
Houses used to be here. Some 35 years ago the Council expropriated the land for the widening of Lansdowne Road. Council demolished the houses and the ground has lain fallow since. The widening of the road happened in 2000. Late in 2000 Neil Jackson approached the council to lease the land for gardening purposes. A 10-year lease was granted in 2005.

Vision: The extent of the land is 7140m2. As the land has been fallow for 35 years, there will be little or no residuals in the soil left from insecticides, herbicides and fertilizer. This presents a real opportunity to grow vegetables, herbs, fruit, medicinal plants and flowers using natural gardening methods. Using this approach all the plants will be entirely “ ELEMENTAL ORGANIC”

By recycling household fruit and vegetable peelings, and turning it into compost, we reduce our footprint on global warming; at the same time restoring, nurturing and feeding “ MOTHER EARTH”.

Recycling plastic pots and seedling trays.

We also create a GREEN LUNG in the heart of a forever expanding Claremont. We need to increase our plants and forests instead of cutting them down.

This Green Lung will also nurture our children. A portion has been set aside for a Children’s garden and play area.

This Green Lung also nurtures our environment by creating habitats for birds, Chameleons, butterfly’s, bees etc. Thus bringing NATURE back into our gardens

A Lavender Labyrinth is also planned for the area. A good place to de-stress.

PROPOSED EVENTS

Hosting talks on a regular basis relating to gardening, cooking and the environment.

Teaching all interested gardeners the “Art of Elemental Organic Gardening”.

Training for employees.

Walk the Labyrinth

Children’s Garden

Garden club

Inter active WebPages

Compost, Potting Soil, Stone Chip, Lawn Dressing, Bark, Rose and Shrub mix delivered to your door.

Recycling drop off

Home produced pickles and preserves.

Donations of any sort welcome

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE EMAIL aristonorganic@gmail.com

Newspaper article - Cape Argus 27 February 2007

2007-08-28T23:54:00.001+02:00

Cape Argus February 28 2007 - Home and Life section

Propagating plants sees Brigid get to root of organic gardening

Photo: INLSA

February 28, 2007 Edition 1
What do you do when your garden gets too small for your burgeoning collection of plants and your itchy green fingers?
You look for more land, and if you're Brigid Jackson you wait patiently, very patiently, for permission to use it.
In 1997 Jackson asked the council for the use of vacant ground opposite her house. Almost 10 years later, permission was granted to rent the portion, which had been expropriated for the widening of Lansdowne Road in Claremont. Jackson has been given a 10-year lease to use it for "gardening purposes", and the first thing she did was to fence it, an extensive financial outlay as the area is very large.
Although limited at this stage by no water source or electrical outlet, in just 10 months she's converted the first section of the stony ground into a lush garden with healthy plants, many of them herbs.
Jackson only gardens organically. Her home garden hasn't seen a pesticide, artificial fertiliser or insecticide since she moved there in 1987. She also runs an organic consultancy, and landscapes gardens.
"I won't do a garden unless it's organic, and people have to have a herb garden … for holistic purposes, to make people aware of the plants."
She's not interested in growing her business, she says, as she wants to maintain the personal approach, working one to one. "And there are a host of old ladies I do favours for…"
In the ways of the universe, these favours are often returned - she gets all the plants people get tired of and no longer want or need when they clear their gardens.
When she moved into her house, it had been a commune for 15 years and apart from a lot of trees - figs, loquat, mulberry, guavas - there was not much in the way of a garden.
"The garden has evolved since then. When I get tired of things, I change them. I rip them out but never throw them away - everything is reused."
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She's a whiz at propagating plants. "They just grow for me. I'm in touch with the earth. And it's in my genes, my family are gardeners."
Jackson's been doing landscaping since 1992, and propagating her own plants means she doesn't have to buy them in. "I know that I use about 500 lavender plants a year, for example, so I propagate them and the more used plants."
Her philosophy is that "what grows, grows" - what doesn't is replaced.
On her newly built wooden deck upstairs she's started a collection of succulents and cacti - a new fascination. In boxes she's growing statice and lavender "for peaceful vibes up here". Viewing the main garden from the deck offers a whole new perspective on it, with its little paths and areas of interest. There's a meditation corner tucked away and an area she's still developing.
Her new "garden" is a huge challenge, not only because of its size but also because the soil is very poor. "I'm experimenting here - the soil is not good, and I need a water and power point," she says.
Jackson is assisted by full-time gardener Christopher Nyewula.
She plans to start an organic garden club, with limited membership, to teach people the principles of organic gardening using this garden as a hands-on project. In the area that banks from the road, she'd like to plant aloes, proteas and ericas. A vineyard and a lavender labyrinth are also planned.
Already small sections of this land are thriving under her care - lavender, basil, rosemary and a few vegetables are growing well. She's also experimenting with medicinal plants, like wild rosemary, and along one edge she's established a strong bed that's growing well. When that gets too full, she'll move plants to new areas, once she has a water source. One section she'd like to set aside as a play park for children in the area.
"I spend all my time in the garden, this is my daily life," she says. "My pleasure comes from greening the place - I'm passionate about it."

Organic - why?

2007-08-28T16:35:00.002+02:00

ARISTON ELEMENTAL ORGANIC GARDEN PROJECT

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Brigid Jackson. I have been working in the gardening industry since 1993 in the Western Cape. I currently landscape and a partner in an private organic gardening project called Ariston Organic Garden Project.

You may ask: WHY ELEMENTAL ORGANIC?

Gardening as a pastime has been for centuries enjoyed by Princes and paupers alike. Even Nelson Mandela enjoys gardening. It was one of the few privileges allowed to him during his later years of imprisonment. In his autobiography, Mr. Mandela states –

to plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and then harvest it, offered a
simple but enduring satisfaction.

To garden naturally you have to be organic. Tending an organic garden is an enjoyable and practical way of caring for the environment naturally. During the last century, many traditional gardening methods were displaced by the “chemical approach”. All creatures great and small and all plants other than crops were regarded as parasitic, if not pestilential. We were led to believe that pesticides and weed killers were essential elements in gardening. This has resulted in a vast industry, based on petrochemicals, that has been detrimental to the environment and has had the effect of polluting our water, destroying wildlife and wildflowers, and contaminating the air we breathe. It has also resulted in food being produced lacking in essential nutrients and contaminated with residues. These practices have undoubtedly wreaked havoc on the ecosystems of our gardens. You may have wondered why there are fewer birds, butterflies, insects and other wildlife. As destructive as human are, they still surprisingly desire to have some wildlife in their gardens, but usually only those creatures they favor – such as some birds and butterflies. Many gardeners have not realised that nature does not operate this way. Every single plant or creature relies on some other for support. Elimination in one section of the environment, even a small area such as your garden, will have a detrimental effect on others. A war against nature is inevitably a war against us.

Indigenous trees such as Stinkwood (Ocotea bullata), Yellowwoods (Podocarpus), White Milkwood (Sideroxylon inerme), which have been hundreds of years old have been felled to make furniture, boat and bridge building, floors, doors and ceilings. The protea nitida (Wagon Tree) for making wagon parts and tanning. Today, in the whole of South Africa, only 0.25% (yes a quarter per cent) of the country’s surface is covered with indigenous forest. Our grasslands and fynbos are also under threat and many of our endangered plant and bird species only occur in such habitats. Recently the newspapers printed a story on how the farmers are spraying their proteas crops to stop the sugarbirds from feeding on them. Internationally there has been a huge uproar. In addition grass and fynbos form an important part of the catchment areas, which ultimately supply the water to our taps. Some three quarters of all the plants in the South African Red data book occur in the Cape floral kingdom. Tragically, the highest concentration of the Red Data Book species in the world is in the greater Cape Town metropolitan area. It is an alarming fact that the last remnants of South Africa’s indigenous flora are disappearing at an alarming rate. Unfortunately many gardeners do not realise that their well-kept gardens with exotic plants where every insect has been eliminated, have become wastelands with very little life. – Green Deserts.

The benefits to be derived from cultivating our gardens organically range from the obvious ones of producing fresh, tasty produce and beautiful flowers free from contamination, to enjoying a healthier and more interesting lifestyle. Organic gardeners enjoy the satisfaction of saving effort, time and money by using their wit and cunning instead of chemical treatments. Needless to say, it cannot be wise to keep poisons in a home, especially those with children and animals.

Merely by recycling our household waste for compost and re-use, and thereby minimizing our use of resources, we can significantly reduce the amount of pesticides and fertilizers polluting our water.

Elemental Organic gardening principles enable us to rescue, aid and encourage a multitude of wildflowers and wildlife, big and small, at a micro or local level.("so above - so below") Most importantly of all, each small contribution we make results in a significant part of our Earth becoming enriched with plants and teeming with more life than it was when we found it.

Principles of Elemental Organic Gardening
Protecting and increasing life in the soil.
Practicing good husbandry i.e. managing resources and growing plants well.
Adopting natural methods of controlling pests and diseases
Minimizing ecological damage and making best use of resources, time and money.
Embracing an elemetal organic lifestyle practiced and promoted within the household
Recycling garden and household waste for compost.
Discontinuing use of all soluble fertilizers and herbicides, most fungicides and insecticides
Encouraging a diversity of wild life forms - creatures great and small - for all the benefits they bring us.
Understanding and working with the yearly cycle.
Working with, and not against, Nature.