Cape Town will showcase Company’s Garden as a food producing garden in the screening of an episode of MasterChef SA on Tuesday. At 19:30 on Tuesday 30 July 2013, M-Net will screen the episode of MasterChef SA which was filmed in the Company’s Garden.
The Garden was seen as an ideal site for the filming of this episode as the production of food was the reason the first garden in South Africa was developed over 360 years ago. The garden supplied produce to the ships and sailors who travelled the spice trade route from the East Indies.
“The City is committed to showcasing the historical origins of the Company’s Garden as a food producing garden. The Company’s Garden is a defining feature of Cape Town and we want to develop its potential as a cultural and historical destination, as well as a beautiful green space,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Special Projects, Alderman Belinda Walker.
The Company’s Garden Management and Heritage Resources Department has developed a landscape plan to establish a Dutch-period vegetable and herb garden at the current parking area of the Company’s Garden maintenance yard. The intention of this garden is to:
• Become an educational resource for local communities interested in food gardens and urban agriculture as a means of explaining appropriate methodology.
• Create a working garden with the produce used as a means for entrepreneurial enterprise, e.g. use of herbs and scented products as a raw material for value-added products like candles.
• Educate school groups and others on the medicinal properties and value of herbs and vegetables.
• Provide a platform to encourage environmental awareness and green projects in an urban environment.
• Encourage corporate business to develop roof and vertical garden projects.
• Encourage tourists to invest in greening projects as a means of carbon footprint offsetting.
• Provide a base of support especially for identified community groups in the Bo-Kaap who are interested in urban agriculture. These communties have a rich cultural heritage linked to the origins of Cape Town as well as the Company’s Garden
“There are a number of other key developments planned for the Company’s Garden which will add tremendous value to this facility including a new restaurant, free Wi-Fi, a children’s play park and the availability of digital information about the trees in the park.
“We are working towards developing our district parks as event destinations. As part of our efforts to build a truly Inclusive City, we want to encourage the exchange of ideas and culture in these public spaces, as well as provide a space for local entrepreneurs. The Company’s Garden is leading the way and has hosted many events in the past year including a Summer Market, story-telling sessions and aerobics in the Garden,” said Alderman Walker.
