Having a garden brings so many benefits, one of them is enjoying fresh food. You get to have freedom and at the same time to become connected with nature. Start by planting seeds and watching them turn into healthy plants. This is when your heart starts to change. You gain patience by seeing how it takes time for a plant to grow. It is also amazing how one can give a plant life while taking care of the plant. A garden can quickly become a personal retreat after spending time in a busy outer world. The garden can be a quiet and peaceful place to relax and unwind. Everything that grows in your garden comes from the ground which you have worked and the harvest that you make you choose. Eating better is one of the main benefits of growing your own produce, so simply go to the garden and pick the vegetables and herbs you need, instead of buying ready packaged produce from the store. Making a garden can also be an expression of one's creativity. It is through gardening that your wild side is brought to surface as you become more creative. You are also supporting the wildlife and the local wildlife if you put in place planting of the kind of plants that they can feed on. It is not only you who can benefit from the garden. For instance, if you are picking tomatoes just for yourself and then you give one tomato to a neighbor, that is when you form a community. Relationships are deepened as you go from one harvest to another. Gardening is more than a simple mix of soil and crops. First, the plants are growing while But, the gardener is growing both physically and spiritually in many ways. In gardens, both body, the body, and the spirit find the nourishment needed to function and grow.
Permaculturist | IT Specialist | Soil Systems Architect
Applying system engineering to organic soil biology at Evergreen Hideout Agricultural Services.
March 26, 2026 • 10 min read • Soshanguve, Pretoria"The soil is not dirt. It is a living system. Treat it like a server — run diagnostics, find the root cause, and fix it at the source. That is how you build something that lasts."
Why Start a Garden? More Than Just Food — It's Freedom
Hey there, wonderful people. My name is Kutlwano Mokoena. Welcome to Evergreen Hideout.
Before we talk about soil, compost, or planting — I want to talk about why. Why grow your own food when you can buy vegetables at the market? Why put in the sweat and the hours when modern convenience is just a shop away?
I learned the difficult answer to that question in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the world stopped, the systems we rely on cracked. For many families in Soshanguve, the worry wasn't just about health; it was about the plate. Restrictions on movement, job losses, and the sudden fragility of the supermarket created a sense of urgency.
I was born on 23 February 1997. I studied Information Technology at Richfield Graduate Institute of Technology from 2016 to 2018 and graduated early in 2019. From 2019 to 2020, I had nothing. No job. No income. No plan.
In 2021, I turned to the soil. Not because I had a romantic dream of being a farmer, but because I needed to eat. I needed to survive. I started farming on a small scale, growing vegetables in a backyard space. I didn't know anything about farming. No one taught me. Everything I learned came from personal research, trial, and error.
I farmed from 2021 to 2023. During that time, I sold spinach door-to-door for R10 a bunch. That money helped me survive. That food helped feed people in my community. But it wasn't easy. I lost crops to thieves who stole from my field. I lost crops to cows that broke through fences. Birds destroyed my vegetables. Pests ruined harvest after harvest. Every loss taught me something new.
After that, I didn't stop growing — I just moved spaces. From 2023 to 2024, I kept my hands in the soil through backyard gardening at my mother's house. In 2025, I ran a gardening project at St Francis Primary School, which wrapped up in December of that year. Now, in 2026, I'm on a new piece of land at Raikana Primary School Garden. This is where the real journey begins — and I'm bringing every lesson from those years with me.
In February 2023, I started a YouTube channel teaching small-space vegetable gardening and monetized it. I registered Evergreen Hideout as a non-profit organization under the name Evergreen Hideout Agricultural Services (NPO Registration: 2024/380375/07).
System Overview: The Land and the Vision
Before we get into the diagnostic steps, let us establish the baseline of this project:
- Location: Soshanguve, Pretoria, South Africa
- Climate: Highveld summer rainfall, dry winters, frost risk in July–August
- Soil type: Heavy clay (typical of Gauteng) — holds water but lacks oxygen
- Land status: Overgrown with wild grass, weeds, and some woody vegetation
- Water source: Municipal tap water (chlorinated)
- Primary goal: Build a self-sustaining, low-budget organic food production system
- Farming philosophy: System engineering applied to soil biology
Key constraints identified on Day 1:
- Overgrowth (biomass) — tall, dry grass and weeds
- Security — fence gaps that allow cattle and thieves to enter
- Soil — heavy clay that cracks in summer and turns to concrete in winter
- Water — municipal supply (chlorinated) with no rainwater harvesting infrastructure yet
How My IT Background Makes Me a Better Gardener
You might be wondering, what does an Information Technology graduate know about farming? But over time, I realized that the skills I learned at Richfield are the exact same skills that make me a better gardener and teacher.
1. Research & Information Gathering
Technology is broad when it comes to finding information. When I didn't know why my tomatoes were dying, I used the research skills I learned in IT to find answers. I learned how to separate good information from bad and how to apply what I read to my own situation.
2. Systems Thinking
In IT, you learn to see the whole system. A garden is the same. You have to look at the soil, the water, the sun, the pests, and the roots. My IT training taught me to run diagnostics and to look for root causes instead of treating symptoms.
3. Documentation & Data
In the tech world, everything is documented. I'm bringing that same approach to this land project. Every day I work, I'll document what I did, what I observed, what worked, and what failed. That's how we learn.
4. Building Digital Platforms
My IT diploma gave me the skills to build this website and create content that reaches people. All of it comes from what I learned at Richfield.
5. Problem Solving Under Constraints
In IT, you learn to solve problems with limited resources. Farming in Soshanguve is no different. I don't have expensive irrigation systems, but I have a mindset that says there is always a solution.
But something was missing. I realized that my old content didn't fully reflect the truth of what it takes to grow food. So I made a decision. I deleted everything. I'm starting over. From zero. Today, I have a new piece of land. No fancy equipment. Just soil, sunlight, and a commitment to show you everything.
Phase 1: The Site Diagnostic
Before you ever swing a slasher, you have to read the land. As an IT professional, I was trained to run diagnostics before fixing a server. Permaculture is no different.
Evergreen Field Notes: The Site Assessment
- Biological Indicators: Lush trees nearby mean the water table is accessible.
- Wind & Shelter: Observing the lean of the fence helps map the prevailing winds.
- Security Assessment: Fixing gaps in the fence is the priority to protect from thieves and roaming livestock.
Technical Diagnostic Checklist
Don't guess — analyze. Use these three indicators to check your land's system health before you plant.
Weeds are nature's error logs. Deep-rooted "pioneer" weeds mean your soil is compacted and needs aeration. Broadleaf weeds often indicate high nitrogen, while clover might mean your soil is nitrogen-deficient.
Take a handful of soil, moisten it, and squeeze. If it stays in a hard ball, you have high clay (common in Gauteng), which holds water but lacks oxygen. If it falls apart, you have sand, which drains too fast. We want a "loam" that crumbles but holds some shape.
Look at the height and color of the wild grass. This is your future "Thermophilic Engine" fuel. Tall, dry grass is Carbon; fresh green grass is Nitrogen. If your land is covered in dry grass, you already have 50% of the materials needed for high-quality compost.
Facing the Overgrowth: Why Conduct a Walkthrough?
In the tech world, you don't write code until you understand the environment it will run in. In permaculture, the "walkthrough" is your environment audit.
Diagnostic Walkthrough: What I'm Looking For
- Biomass Check: The thickness of the dry grass indicates a high organic matter potential.
- Obstacle Mapping: Identifying hidden debris near the tree line that requires manual clearing.
- Canopy Analysis: The healthy canopy above confirms soil depth is sufficient for large root systems.
Integration with the Series
- Post #1 (This post — Starting from Zero): The site diagnostic and walkthrough — establishing the baseline.
- Post #2 (Upcoming — The Big Clean): Clearing the overgrowth to prepare for our first organic beds.
This is the beginning of a complete system: diagnosis → clearing → soil building → planting → harvesting → regeneration. No external inputs. No synthetic chemicals. Just local resources and smart engineering.
What's Next?
Now that we have completed our site diagnostic and understand the baseline of our land, the next phase begins. We have assessed the soil, mapped the overgrowth, and identified our constraints — security, water, and soil structure.
The upcoming post will be about clearing the overgrowth.
In Post #2, we will move from diagnosis to action. We will show you "The Big Clean" — how to clear this overgrowth to prepare for our first organic beds. We will cover:
- Manual clearing techniques: Using basic tools (slasher, machete, hands) to remove tall grass and weeds without disturbing the soil structure.
- Biomass management: What to do with the cleared material — setting aside for compost (Post #11), solarization (Post #1), and mulch (Post #5).
- Fence repair: Securing the perimeter to protect against cattle and thieves.
- Safety considerations: Watching for snakes, sharp objects, and hidden debris during clearing.
- First signs of progress: What the land looks like after the first round of clearing.
Clearing is not just about removing plants — it is about preparing the canvas for everything that follows. We want to do it in a way that minimizes soil disturbance and maximizes the reuse of organic material.
Stay tuned for the next update from Soshanguve. Keep your hands in the soil and your logs updated.
— Kutlwano
📍 Soshanguve, Pretoria, South Africa
🌱 Building food security through biological engineering.