Big Demand For Small Leaves

Urban Legend Hydroponics on the West Coast is barely a year old. Yet its microgreens and baby salad leaves are so popular that the business cannot keep up with demand.

- Keri Harvey

Lydia Leicester and Letitia Swart moved from Pretoria to a 5ha property near Vredenburg on the West Coast two years ago.

“The ‘seed’ to do microgreens and baby leaves was actually planted years ago, so we decided to try it out when we moved here,” says Leicester. “We haven’t got any background in farming, but we do have a passion and always loved gardening. We did courses and read as widely as possible. One also gets to know one’s plants, and there’s a lot of common sense involved.”

Urban Legend Hydroponics was officially launched on 1 May 2018.

“We started from scratch,” explains Swart. “Apart from erecting the tunnel, the two of us did everything. We imported the hydroponic systems and put them together ourselves. We’d tested this system beforehand so we knew it would work.”

SYSTEM SET-UP AND CAPACITY

Hydroponics is a system of growing plants in a water-based, nutrient-rich solution. Leicester and Swart use the nutrient film technique, where a very shallow stream of nutrientrich water is recirculated past the bare roots of plants in watertight gullies, or channels.

They use two different structures: an A-frame hydroponic structure for smaller, leafy vegetables, and nutrient film tables for bigger plants, such as broccoli.

On the tables, water circulates under the gravel layer and is fed back into the central storage tank to be used again.

The A-frame structure makes working easier as there is no need to bend down to check or harvest plants; the crop is at a comfortable working height. Moreover, many plants can be fitted into the available space.

Leicester and Swart started the operation during the drought in the Western Cape, when strict water restrictions were in place. Fortunately, their closed, recirculating design is particularly waterwise and efficient.