Scarecrows on Joburg Pavements Point the Way to Free Fresh Veggies

Jenny Crwys-Williams, the well-known talk show host, was driving home in Johannesburg this week when she saw something that took her totally by surprise…

“How fabulous is this?” Crwys-Williams wrote on Facebook. “Driving through Craighall Park I thought I saw a scarecrow. So I turned round, parked & walked down the road and sure enough, it WAS a scarecrow. Then u saw another, both in the midst of a pavement vegetable garden. Take a look:”…

Crwys-Williams noted on her post that there are also several pavement gardens in Parktown North.

As far back as 2010, it was reported that a resident in the northern suburbs around Rosebank, Denise Callaghan, had started planting vegetables on the pavement outside her house, tomatoes, spinach, butternut and beans.

She said at the time that she had met so many people as a result of the garden. “It’s about building bridges, I’ve learnt so much from it,” she was quoted as saying earlier this year.

Pam Klette, a resident in Craighall Park (and going from the photographs, this is her property), also started a garden after the pavement outside her house had been dug up for cables. Klette, who runs the Amanzi Guest House, told a newspaper in 2013 that some of the foreign visitors who have stayed with her have been really interested in the concept.

“They said they would try implement it in their home countries. Some of my friends said it has also inspired them. … I love how this has inspired people,” she said.

The only rule, as the scarecrow’s sign says, “Take what you can pick, but leave some for your brothers and sisters.”