January 25, 2002
By Lucille Davie
RICHARD YELL has lugged dozens of bags of compost and plant containers up to the 19th floor of his building in an effort to green his rooftop, in a project he calls Skycrop.
"I started by wanting to produce fresh produce for myself," he says. It has taken up to six months of experimentation to find the right container for the rooftop, which is very subject to the weather, particularly wind and hail. "I wanted a container that didn't cost too much and didn't have holes that would create a seepage problem on the roof," he adds.
Yell has had great success with butter lettuce, but his carrot seedlings were eaten by the pigeons. "I thought of using orange sacks to cover the plants, but of course they cannot withstand the fierceness of the wind up here."
He lives on the 19th floor of Anchor Towers, in the north-west corner of the city. At the moment he has cabbages, mielies, onions, Chinese cabbage, baby marrow, Cape gooseberry, spanspek and cherry tomatoes. He has planted several herbs as well: parsley and peppermint.
Yell is planning to spread his message to the rooftop community of the inner city now that he has worked out the best and cheapest method of planting on rooftops. He wants fellow rooftop dwellers to use their rooftops productively like he is.
He has transformed his bare, dangerous ("I had to put up railings") rooftop into a wonderful place from which to view Johannesburg, with one half of the area an entertaining area with a number of potted trees - wild olive, ficus, acacia, camphor, fig. He has built flower boxes and a fountain and painted the rooftop in matt silver in keeping with the industrial look presented by the pipes and taps that all rooftops have.
He has plans to extend the idea of putting potted plants into alleyways around Braamfontein, the neighbouring suburb.
Yell would like to open up his rooftop to his fellow tenants in the block by asking them to join him on the 19th floor, where he hopes to build a pizza oven, and have a spaza shop where he will sell vegetables, pizza, and cigarettes, in a sociable environment.
