6. SOMETHING FISHY
1. GROWING SMART
Owner Linah Moeketsi, 34, sucks to unblock one of the tubes that make water circulate through the plants in the In Season greenhouse. Farms located on Johannesburg’s rooftops mostly use the hydroponic method. It took her almost three years to find a place to farm.
2. IDEAL CLIMATE
A worker at the In Season rooftop farm, 30-year-old Lethabo Madela, waters rosemary plants with the Johannesburg city skyline in the background. In Season is in Doornfontein, central Johannesburg. With Johannesburg’s temperate climate, it is easy to produce herbs and vegetables in the city.
3. RICH PICKINGS
Madela holds a thyme plant. Not all varieties of herbs can be successfully grown with hydroponics, as some, like thyme, grow better in soil outdoors.
4. CLEANING UP
The co-owner of In Season rooftop farm, Violet Hlongoane, 32, trims a small lettuce. In Season’s hydroponics technology allows plants like basil, lettuces, spring onions and other crops to be grown in special water solutions without requiring soil or large open spaces.
5. TOTAL BALANCE
Workers from In Season check the pH levels of a water tank with a pH tester at the rooftop farm. Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture, which is the growing of plants in a soilless medium, such as an openroot system. Hydroponic growing uses mineral nutrient solutions to feed the plants in water.
As much as 80% of what is on offer at the Johannesburg fresh produce market, Africa’s largest, is imported from outside Gauteng. There’s a group of farmers who are trying to change this trend by farming in the Johannesburg city centre ... on rooftops.