Kutlwano Mokoena
"Everyone deserves healthy food sources."
Last Updated: July 2026
Full Biography
Kutlwano Mokoena is a vegetable gardening writer and grower who specializes in diagnosing common plant problems and translating them into clear, practical solutions for home gardeners. Based in Soshanguve, Pretoria, his work is deeply rooted in the real struggles of community food growing.
Growing up in Soshanguve, Kutlwano did not come from a farming family. His grandmother grew a few vegetables in the backyard — mostly spinach and pumpkins — but gardening was never seen as a career. He was good with computers, so he pursued an Information Technology diploma from Richfield Graduate Institute of Technology, graduating in early 2019. The plan was to find a stable IT job, buy a house, and live a quiet life.
Then reality hit. For nearly two years, he could not find work. He sent out hundreds of applications. A few interviews. No offers. Money ran out. Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and with it, lockdowns, rising food prices, and the terrifying realization that a city without income is a dangerous place to be hungry.
With no job and few options, he turned to the only resource he had left: his mother's small backyard. In 2021, he started growing vegetables — not as a business, but for survival. He had no formal training. Everything he learned came from YouTube videos, trial and error, and asking older neighbors who still remembered how to grow food.
🌾 The Farming Journey (2021–2023)
In 2021, I co-founded Alkemetic Vegetation Farm with a friend. We grew vegetables on a small scale, selling spinach door-to-door for R10 a bunch. It was not glamorous work, but it kept us going.
We faced constant challenges: thieves who stole our crops at night, cows that broke through the fence and destroyed entire rows, birds that pecked at our vegetables before we could harvest, and pests that seemed to multiply overnight.
Every loss taught me something new. By 2023, I had learned more from failure than from success — and I knew I wanted to help others avoid the same mistakes.
🏡 The Gardening Journey (2023–2026)
After Alkemetic, 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. I tested new techniques, experimented with homemade fertilizers, and documented everything.
In 2025, I ran a gardening project at St Francis Primary School, which wrapped up in December of that year. Working with children and teachers showed me that food security starts in the classroom.
In 2026, I started the Real Grow series at Raikana Primary School — documenting every step of building a food-producing garden from scratch. That series has grown to over 21 posts and counting.
🏫 The Schools Journey (2025–Present)
I believe food security starts in the classroom. In 2025, I partnered with St Francis Primary School to establish a vegetable garden that taught children where food comes from and how to grow it themselves.
In 2026, I expanded to Raikana Primary School, where the Real Grow series is now documenting a full season of food production — from land clearing to harvest.
My goal: Help schools turn empty land into productive, educational gardens that feed children and their communities.
The Gardening Manifesto
The Problem-First Philosophy
Rather than generic crop guides, Kutlwano structures his work around identifying symptoms — such as poor fruiting, leaf discoloration, or stunted growth — and guiding readers toward sustainable, long-term corrections. This method helps gardeners avoid repeated mistakes and build independent growing success.
"COVID showed me how quickly jobs can disappear," he explains. "If I help my community learn to produce their own food now, they'll have something to eat when the next crisis comes."
Core Beliefs
- No synthetic chemicals. Not because organic is trendy, but because chemicals are expensive and break the cycle.
- Food security is a human right. No one should go hungry in a country where the sun shines 300 days a year.
- Fail publicly. Teach from the failure. That is where the real learning happens.
- Free information saves lives. He gives away most of his knowledge for free.
- Start where you are. Use what you have. You need seeds, water, sunlight, and the willingness to try.
- Soil comes first. Plants come second. Fix the soil, and the plant will fix itself.
A Typical Day in the Garden
Kutlwano starts most mornings before sunrise, when the air is cool and the birds are loudest. He walks through the beds with a bucket and a trowel, checking for new pest damage, moisture levels under the mulch, and which vegetables are ready to harvest. He spends the first hour of daylight observing — not doing. Observation before action is his rule.
After his walk, he pulls weeds, checks the compost pile temperature, and waters any beds that need it. By 9am, most of the physical work is done. The rest of the day is for filming, writing, answering messages, and mixing fertilizer.
Why He Keeps Going
Kutlwano could have given up a dozen times — when the thieves came, when the cow destroyed the beetroot, when the YouTube algorithm buried his videos. But every week, someone sends him a message: a photo of their first harvest, a question that shows they are thinking differently, a thank-you note from a family who saved money on vegetables because they grew their own. That is the fuel. Not money. Not fame. That message.
Notable Achievements
Milestones
- First YouTube monetization (February 2023): The day he realized gardening content could become a sustainable way to help people.
- First sell-out harvest (2022): Grew enough spinach to sell 50 bunches in one week — all door-to-door, all sold by Saturday morning. R500 from a 5m² bed.
- NPO registration (2024): Evergreen Hideout became an official non-profit organization.
- The cow incident (2021): A neighbor's cow broke through the fence and ate an entire row of beetroot two days before harvest. He replanted. He learned that setbacks are not the end — they are data.
- Launch of homemade fertilizers (2025): After years of experimenting, he began selling his liquid fertilizers to the local community.
- Real Grow series (2026): Launched a 21+ post documentary of building a food-producing garden from scratch at Raikana Primary School.
Community Impact (Estimated)
- Individual gardeners reached: Over 50,000 across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
- Direct messages answered: More than 3,000 individual gardening questions answered for free.
- Seedlings distributed: Over 500 vegetable seedlings given away through community outreach.
- Gardens started using his methods: At least 30 documented home gardens in Soshanguve and surrounding areas.
Expertise & Strategic Focus
Primary Skillsets
- Vegetable Diagnostics & Triage
- High-Heat Soil Biology
- Homemade Fertilizers & Composting
- Pest & Bird Management
- Container & Small-Space Growing
Content Ethics
- Observation before action
- Fix the cause, not the symptom
- From-the-trenches experience
- Empowering independent growers