Duo turns bungalow’s grounds into permaculture ‘classroom’

A composting system that uses worms is done at Eats, Shoots and Roots, resulting in plenty of compost to go around each week thanks to the quick working red wriggler worms that are also known as tiger worms.

SAY the word garden and the image that comes to mind is one of nicely trimmed green lawns and brightly-coloured blooming bushes. However, at a bungalow lot in Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya, a different kind of garden grows beautifully under the watchful eyes of its proud owners.

For the most part, this 2,000sq ft garden is left to its own devices, except for a weekly gardening session that sometimes include courses conducted through social enterprise Eats, Shoots & Roots (ESR).

Currently, ESR is run by Low Shao-Lyn and Beatrice Yong, both of whom do not have any agricultural background but a passion for permaculture.

“I had never done gardening before in my life prior to my return from working in the UK a couple of years back. I visited Sabina Arokiam’s place one day where I was shown how one can live off the land, generate electricity through solar panels and such. It was very inspiring,” Low said.

“Some time after that visit, I started ESR with Arokiam and Juergen Soecknick. That was about two years ago. Back then, it was teaching permaculture at other people’s land or gardens. About half a year later, we found this bungalow lot to start a permanent garden of our own,” Low Shao-Lyn said.

Yong (centre) teaching participants the right way to cut shoots and regrow them.

 

Permaculture is described as a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Yong, on the other hand, had always been gardening all her life thanks to a green-thumbed neighbour who gave her seeds to grow all the time.

“I started helping at ESR at the end of last year. I love gardening and the sense of achievement it can give,” she said.

Low said that ESR’s aim was to teach various permaculture techniques through a range of workshops and courses focusing on edible and kitchen gardens.

“Our activities are varied from half a day to two-day programmes priced at RM150 to RM300 per person. Usually we bring in experts to teach the participants. We also welcome volunteers at the garden who will be roped in to do more of the hard labour in maintaining the garden,” she said.

A Datura tree bears fruit in the garden.

They are embarking on a new project this month with local lecturer chef Darren Teoh called Sayurday.

“He will be harvesting from our garden and using our produce in his lunch menu prepared live on the same day. It is quite basic and participants will get a hands-on introduction on how to grow their own organic veggies at home as well as take home a mini planter starter kit,” Low said.

Past participants of ESR programmes include individuals with a wish to start their own garden or farm, corporations fulfilling their CSR duties, NGOs as well as people with some knowledge of permaculture and want to learn new techniques.

Low said one of the key concepts they teach is setting up and maintaining a garden through sustainable methods such as using what already exists around us.

“This includes composting waste, recycling items to be used in the garden and even collecting things like dried leaves for mulch to cover the soil, which helps suppress weeds,” she said, adding that the techniques are adaptable to any other garden types.

At ESR’s garden, they have planted hardy and easy to grow plants including kangkung, sweet potato leaves, mint, torch ginger, corn, groundnuts and round brinjals.

Currently, they have several plans in the pipeline, including a section dedicated to plants found only in Malaysia and companion planting whereby specific plants are introduced to attract or repel pests away from crops.

Low said that one of the challenges of carrying out permaculture here is the lack of information.

“You can read a lot online but at the end of the day, the information may not be suitable for our climate so we have to slowly test them out to see what works and what does not,” she said.

Yong said that permaculture requires an adjustment in thinking to be implemented.

“It is about working for food, not for money. I have seen balcony gardens that are filled with plants so it really is up to the individual on how much time and effort they want to put in. Of course, they also have to consider how much they can handle because when plants want to grow, they can really grow,” she said, adding that the urban challenge in gardening is to keep things contained.