Brackenfell’s celebrated JiA community garden will join communities across South Africa in celebrating Garden Day on Sunday 18 October. On this day people are asked to put down their tools, open the gate and simply enjoy the green spaces they have helped to grow.

But for Ettienne Pio and the team at JiA, a garden is about far more than what springs from the soil. Alongside rows of spinach, spring onions, kale, cabbage, broccoli, beetroot, cauliflower, celery, mathembele, lenga lenga, carrots and potatoes, Pio says the garden also cultivates “patience, practical love, unity and leading with commitment”.

What began as a humble street ministry under a tree, the JiA garden project has blossomed into a thriving and sustainable food garden at the Brackenfell Train Station.

The project is transforming both local soil and lives. Operating from a restored railway goods shed now known as The Lazarus Shed, this community-driven initiative produces a rich harvest of organic spinach, cabbage, beetroot, and tomatoes.

More than just a green space, the garden runs an innovative “Earn-Your-Keep” program, allowing vulnerable community members to work the land in exchange for fresh food boxes. Through partnerships with local networks and market days, JiA continues to foster self-reliance, proving that community upliftment can start from the ground up.

This year’s Garden Day theme, From garden to table – Grow, gather, celebrate, feels particularly relevant to JiA and the many community food gardens around the country that are growing fresh produce while creating opportunities for people to learn, and contribute to their communities.

For Pio, one of the biggest misconceptions about growing food is that you need a large amount of space to get started. “There is space everywhere for your garden,” he says.

That could mean a small backyard, a field, a park, a church or a school. The important thing, he says, is to start with what is manageable. “Prepare small, plant small, water small,” says Pio. “But whatever you do, do it with excellence and it will grow before you, and in you.”

Growing food, growing opportunity

Being part of Shoprite’s Act For Change Community Garden project, which supports 320 food gardens across South Africa, has also given Pio and the JiA team opportunities to take what they grow beyond the garden itself.

One of these is Shoprite’s annual Market Day, where community food gardens can showcase and sell some of their produce.

For the gardeners, the experience provides another kind of learning. It introduces them to the value of what they grow while giving them practical experience in presenting their produce, selling it and interacting with customers.

It is a reminder that community gardens can grow much more than food. They can build knowledge, confidence, practical skills and new opportunities for the people who tend them. And for anyone thinking about starting their own food garden, Pio keeps his advice simple. “Just begin. Today.”

ALSO READ: How Cape Town communities are growing their own futures

Growing and celebrating

In South Africa, food gardens play an important role in communities across the country. From backyard vegetable patches to school gardens and larger community growing spaces, they can provide fresh produce, teach practical skills, create places for people to spend time together and give communities greater ownership of what they eat.

The story of food growing in Cape Town has changed considerably since the first vegetables were planted in the Company’s Garden, but the value of growing food remains just as relevant.

At its heart, Garden Day is not about having the perfect garden. It is about celebrating the one you have. Whether you are harvesting vegetables from a community plot, growing herbs in a pot or planting your first few seedlings, there is always somewhere to start.

This year, for the first time, the Garden Day team has also created a Grow Guide – a practical online resource designed to help gardeners get their gardens Garden Day-ready. Available on the Garden Day website, it offers month-by-month guidance on what to plant and sow throughout the year, tailored to South Africa’s different rainfall regions.

10 things you can do with vegetables this Garden Day

From your garden’s bounty, you might fashion a flower crown woven with herbs, edible flowers, vegetables and leafy greens, then put together a simple garden-to-table meal using whatever is freshly picked from your veggie patch.

Colourful vegetable centrepieces can bring charm to your table or picnic spread, while a communal salad where friends each contribute vegetables and herbs from their own gardens turns sharing into a celebration in itself.

ALSO READ: Local gardeners to ‘reap the fruits’ at Market Day

Sliced vegetables double as nature’s stamps for decorating napkins, wrapping paper or place cards, and fresh herbs from the garden lend their fragrance to infused water, iced tea or lemonade. Seedlings shared or swapped with friends, neighbours or your community make thoughtful gifts on Garden Day, and edible flowers, microgreens or baby vegetables frozen into ice blocks add a whimsical touch to decorative drinks.

Vegetables and herbs need no formal arrangement to make lovely natural table décor, from bunches of carrots to sprigs of rosemary repurposed as napkin rings. Finally, your harvest can be turned into playful garden games or tasting challenges, bringing family and friends together in the spirit of the day.

You can also visit www.gardenday.co.za for celebration ideas, invitation templates, flower crown guides, recipes and so much more.