October month brings the best of blooming, fresh, fragrant and boisterous abundance. It’s gifts from Nature, freely given and also often the result of lots of hard work and gardening dedication.

It’s simply wondrous to see the green shoots from our tiny dry seeds we have planted, pushing positively through the soil of our seedling trays and garden beds. We see brave, bright green baby leaves that have formed and sometimes curly delicate tendrils. This is the best time for children to be introduced to the wonders of the natural world and the embryonic emergence of living plants, and to be involved with the realisation that within a few months these small tremulous plants will be the producers of the precious food that we will eat to make our bodies and minds strong. Involving children in the process of growing food is absolutely essential, as the world of processed food proves to be more and more dangerous for our health.

As awareness grows, and we welcome the landmark USA court decision to award millions of dollars to a sufferer of illness, from the results of using garden poison, the more grateful we are, that we are able, in this beautiful country filled with sunshine, to grow our own food organically. When we do this we control all the inputs, starting with the basic soil that we enhance with organic fertiliser, organic compost, plant Franchi Sementi heirloom vegetable seeds, and Victory Ticket organically grown seedlings, all available from your favourite GardenShop, feed with organic worm tea and worm castings, seaweed feeders, spray unwanted insects with only organic insect repellants or better still make our own organic pest sprays, and so we secure our health, with the assurance that we only feed our bodies and minds, clean, healthy, organic food. Come on an Organic Vegetable growing course, attend a talk, all by Linda Galvad, watch her on DSTV gardening 101 and learn to grow your own food sustainably and successfully, and visit the garden at Bryanston GardenShop.