Food gardens
The canal system is reminiscent of the lei water canals of the Dutch
upon purchasing the farm in 2007. The flourishing garden of
Babylonstoren is often described as the heart of this 200 ha
farm, which also produces wine and olives, as well as citrus and
plums for export.
Canals
Water is celebrated in this garden, says Liesl. Water is integrated
into the design, visibly.
Structure
Along the one side of the garden
runs a natural stream. Water is
fed via gravity into the garden
and into ponds with edible lotus,
lilies and waterblommetjies. There
are pretty cobbled canals, with
a lei water system, reminiscent
of the early VOC Company’s
vegetable gardens.
Taravella, notably, designed the
garden of Prieuré Notre Dame
d’ Orsan in France. This French
garden is a reconstruction of
a medieval cloistered garden
on the site of a 12th Century
restored monastery.
Roos was attracted to Taravella’s
designs for their inherent discipline
and
understanding
of
the
movement of people in a garden.
The Babylonstoren garden has
very good “bones” or structure. It
has “geometric bones”. It has 15
clusters of various crops.
Traditional flood irrigation is used
and moreover, a variety of other
irrigation
methodologies
are
applied in the garden. Van der
Walt says: “With the great variety
of plants, we consider each crop’s
Liesl van der Walt, head gardener
needs and then utilise the irrigation
Image courtesy Babylonstoren
technology and methodology most
suited to the crop. For instance, we
The original plans and drawings for of the Cape’s first Dutch
use drip irrigation for the lavender, pop-ups for the clivias and
Garden were, in fact, referred to in the design stages of the
stand-up sprinklers for veggies. We constantly re-evaluate our
Babylonstoren garden.
irrigation needs.”
Following the design and preparation stages, the gardeners started
planting in 2009, by 2010 the garden opened to the public.
The head gardener of Babylonstoren Liesl van der Walt says: “The
garden is structured and formal, it was very well planned and
is also inspired by the original VOC or Company’s Gardens of
the Cape. It is a sizeable garden of great diversity and is built
on agricultural principles. It is a joy to work in the garden. The
garden’s immense diversity reflects the design ethos of the genre
of food gardens which were designed to meet all needs – from
food to fruit, medicinal to meditative.”
Traditional Cape Dutch farmhouse architecture
“Children love splashing here and playing - the lay-out of the
water system and features are naturally irresistible for our
young visitors.”
Van der Walt says they are much attuned to water conservation,
and practise mulching and other methodologies to encourage
water use efficiency. The use of mulching, indigenous ground
covers and also enhancing soils with frequent applications of cow
manure and compost, ensure good soil health.
Hanging gardens at Babylonstoren...a verdant green
calabash tunnel
Excavated porcelain from the East found during
construction
SABI | JUNE/JULY 2016
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