earthBuddies

Urban gardening for the whole family

Where little hands grow big ideas

Water-wise gardens, khali pots, compost and worm farms, enzymatic cleaning — and classes that put children's hands in the soil.

  • Gardens
  • Khali pots
  • Compost
  • Cleaning
  • Classes
Start a garden See what we make
The Earth Buddies logo: a smiling watercolour earth hugging a red heart.
khali pot, buried to the neck roots drink at their own pace

Who we are

Earth Buddies grew the way a garden does

More than a decade of building gardens with water-wise and composting methods — worm farms, khali pots, enzymatic cleaning products. What started as an online store became a hands-on service, and then became this: urban gardening and environmentally conscious city living, for the whole family.

We install the thing, and then we stay in touch about it. That second part is the actual job.

  • An online store
  • A service at your door
  • Earth Buddies

What we make and install

Six things we're good at

Sourced and priced so a family, a coffee shop or a children's home can actually say yes.

Illustration of a garden bed with underground irrigation feeding plant roots.

Gardens

Water-wise gardens & underground irrigation

Beds designed around how water actually moves through soil, with irrigation that feeds the root zone instead of the air above it.

Illustration of a terracotta khali pot buried in soil, seeping water outwards to nearby roots.

Khali pots

Ollas, buried to the neck

Unglazed clay, sunk into the bed and topped up by hand. The soil pulls water out only as fast as the plants need it. No timer, no power.

Illustration of a compost bin with kitchen scraps and worms.

Compost

Compost, bokashi & worm farms

Kitchen scraps in, living soil out. Sized for a city yard, a courtyard or a balcony, and set up with you so it keeps running.

Illustration of a spray bottle of enzymatic cleaner surrounded by bubbles.

Cleaning

Enzymatic, non-toxic cleaning

Cleaners and degreasers that work by enzyme. Safe around children, pets, drains, greywater systems and the beds outside the door.

Illustration of a planter box with three different herbs and vegetables growing together.

Kitchens

Herb & veggie beds

Beds that supplement a restaurant kitchen or a family table, planted in mixed company so the plants look after each other.

Illustration of two hands cupping a pot with a seedling growing in it.

Classes

Gardening classes for kids

Hands-on lessons for children and young adults. Fun first, soil under the fingernails second, everything else follows.

Who we plant with

The same soil, five different reasons

  • RestaurantsA herb garden and veggie patch that supplements the kitchen it stands beside.
  • Children's homesWater-wise irrigation that keeps growing things alive without a big monthly bill.
  • Coffee shopsSmall, good-looking beds and planting that earns its space out front.
  • Cleaning companiesEnzymatic cleaning products supplied at a price that works at volume.
  • FamiliesA garden the whole household can keep — and classes for the smallest members of it.

What makes us different

We don't leave when the truck does

Anyone can put a garden in the ground. The hard part is the year after — knowing when to top up the khali pots, what to do when the worm farm smells wrong, why one bed is thriving and the one beside it isn't.

Earth Buddies stays for that part. Decades in the trade means the answer is usually a phone call, not a callout. We teach the people who'll be doing the watering, and we keep the relationship going long after the installation team has packed up.

Illustration of the same plant at three stages of growth, from seedling to fruiting.

A garden you can't look after isn't a garden. It's a delivery.

For kids and young adults

Where little hands grow big ideas

Our classes are built to be a blast. Children plant things, water things, dig for worms, and find out what happens next week when they come back and look.

The aim is simple: to inspire children to care for plants and for the environment — starting with themselves. A child who can keep a seedling alive has learned something that transfers.

Ask about classes
Illustration of a watering can watering three potted seedlings at different stages of growth.

How we work

Not a theory. A practice, informed by research.

Earth Buddies isn't built on a manifesto. It's built on decades of doing this work, tested against what the research says and against what has actually survived a real summer. These are the methods we keep coming back to.

  • PermacultureDesigning a garden as a system that feeds itself, rather than a set of plants that need feeding.
  • Companion planting & polycultureMixed beds, planted in good company. Different roots, different heights, different jobs, one patch of ground.
  • Water-wise designKhali pots, mulch and underground irrigation, so water reaches roots instead of evaporating off the surface.
  • Enzymatic cleaningBreaking down fats, oils and organic waste biologically — in drains, grease traps and greywater systems.

Why Earth Buddies exists

Business is the point. Love is the reason.

Earth Buddies is a business, and it needs to work like one. But it wasn't started to fill a gap in the market.

It was started because after ten-plus years of building gardens, teaching people to compost and hauling khali pots around the city, this is the work that gives Brad meaning and a purpose. That's not a marketing line — it's the honest answer to why the phone gets answered on a Saturday.

It shows up in how we work. We'd rather build a relationship with a client than close a sale, rather explain something twice than come back and fix it, and rather send a smaller invoice for a garden that lasts than a bigger one for a garden that doesn't.

What we stand for

Kind to people. Kind to animals. Kind to plants.

Everyone is welcome in an Earth Buddies garden, in an Earth Buddies class, and on an Earth Buddies job.

This is who we are

The people who'll be in your garden

Not a call centre and not a franchise. The same faces arrive, install, and come back to check.

Portrait of Brad Cassell, smiling.
Brad CassellFounder
Portrait of Rodney Gangata.
Rodney GangataEarth Buddy
Portrait of Eric Gandini.
Eric GandiniEarth Buddy

Get in touch

Tell us about your patch of ground

A courtyard, a balcony, a restaurant yard, a school field. Pick what you're after, fill in the bits you know, and Brad will come back to you.

Emailbrad@earthbuddies.pro Phone+27 83 789 4715
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