Only registered students can access all the units. TAP to Join The Class.In the previous unit you learned about the importance of having a proven food gardening system. If you missed it – please go back to the unit and study it again before you proceed with this unit.
What Makes the Go Food Gardening System Different?
#1: It’s A Whole Interrelated Food Gardening System
Having green fingers does not make one a successful food gardener. What makes one a successful food gardener is using a proven system and executing all the activities in that system consistently well.
The Go Food Gardening System features a sustainable collage of nine interrelated gardening activity cycles which all contribute to the success and sustainability of your food garden.
#2: It’s A Scale-able System
We don’t believe in one-shoe-fits-all food gardening systems. The Go Food Gardening System allows you to start with what you have (and know) and then to systematically grow and build your skill levels; and the size of your food garden.
Putting it another way – it shows you which are the essential activities that you need to start with and which ones you can add along the way. It also encourages you to start with the easiest and most valuable crops and to add the more difficult ones as your skills and experience grow.
#3: Pragmatic Approach
You’ll find hands-on step-by-step explanations wherever applicable and you’ll also find a sound horticultural underpinning for each activity. This enables you to immediately include the activity in your gardening or to adapt it to suit your own garden and personality.
Putting it another way – you’ll gain a realistic rather than a romantic understanding of what it means to live with and from nature.
#4: Good Return on Investment
I’m are sure you’ve heard stories about people who’ve started a food garden and ended up paying hundreds of dollars for one diseased lettuce and a few sad-looking carrots. Believe me, most of those stories are real. You’ll be happy to hear that I don’t believe that your food garden should oil the wheels of commerce, and therefore I show you how to set up and manage your garden for a fraction of the cost of supermarket produce.
Download a detailed PDF flowchart of The Go Food Gardening System
Use this flowchart to plan your own food gardening activities.
5 Key Benefits of The Go Food Gardening System
The results of using the Go Food Gardening System are phenomenal. No two gardens or gardeners are alike but compared to conventional horticulture and gardening practices you can expect the following:
1. From enrollment to harvest in 6 weeks. Simply follow the study program and you’ll have your first pesticide-free crops on the table in 6 weeks. Or even less.
2. Overcome the feast or famine syndrome. With our proven blueprint to overcome the feast or famine syndrome, you’ll consistently put food on the table, year-in and year-out.
3. Turn your kitchen garbage into black gold. Turn that idle compost heap into a vibrant tool to create new growing space… solve garden problems… host beneficial insects… and invigorate soil all year! In fact, you’ll build your soil 60 times faster and increase your soil fertility by up to 100% resulting in healthy, nutritious crops.
4. Beat pests and diseases at their own game – the Earth-Friendly way. With our proven ‘Pest Patrol Checklist’ (see Module 7) you’ll soon have pests looking for ‘greener pastures’ elsewhere.
5. It’s a huge cost-saving and it’s the ‘green thing’ to do. Reduce your garden water consumption by up to 70%. And reduce fertilizer purchased by up to 50% – this can be as high as 100%.
Small Scale Community Gardeners and Market Gardeners can also expect to:
- Reduce fossil fuel consumption by up to 95%. This can be as high as 100%.
- Increase caloric production per unit area by 200% – 400%.
- Increase income by up to 100%.
Take Action
1. Take a few minutes to reflect on the features and benefits stated above. Which appeals to you the most?
2. What else would you like from your “gardening system”?
3. Share your thoughts in a Reply below.
Having an integrated system, which focuses on the health of the soil, and thus the plants, and can be regenerative, will decrease need for fertilizers, pesticides (even organic ones), and water. I’m always interested in new ideas to solve problems, and increase the positive results.
1. It appeals to me that it’s a interrelated food gardening system and you can turn kitchen waste into compost.
2. Healthy food
Deffinitly very interesting.
3. Turn your kitchen garbage into black gold. Turn that idle compost heap into a vibrant tool to create new growing space… solve garden problems… host beneficial insects… and invigorate soil all year! In fact, you’ll build your soil 60 times faster and increase your soil fertility by up to 100% resulting in healthy, nutritious crops.
I am I’m the startup fase of an foodforest and (herbal) tea garden trying to use the permaculture ideas and use my chickens and compostheap to feed my plants. At this moment we grow green fertilizers for next year.
It’s the green thing to do.
I love tea and would like to make my own tea garden
Sounds like a great plan. We one of those thst have spent a fortune and have had very little return.
Turn your Kitchen garbage to black gold.
Beat Pests and diseases at their own game. The -Earth- friendly- way.
I’m very excited to start working on this project. I did agriculture in primary school. I have an idea
Beat pests and diseases at their own game – the Earth friendly way.
4. Beat pests and diseases at their own game – the Earth-Friendly way.
Herbs and food side by side like a pantry growing in the garden. So sweet!
Beat pests and diseases at their own game – the Earth-Friendly way.
4. Beat pests and diseases at their own game – the Earth-Friendly way. Just starting out and feeling my way. I guess absorbing as much know how as I can is what I am interested in.
All five and especially to turn my kitchen leftovers in black gold!
Sounds great
Can’t wait to start
I think this system is awesome. We have such a linear way of eating and looking at food here in the United States. People go to the store, buy food, throw it away. But growing your own food, remembering all of the other parts that go into nourishing the body and nourishing the earth, there is nothing healthier than that.
This is a fabulous way to garden. I also add feeding leftovers to my chickens who run a muck in my gardens at times there are no plants growing to fertilize for me before I till. 🙂
“Go-Green!” Yeay!
Pest is always a problem so I will be more attentive this time around to get red of the pest eating my leaves.
I love the “green ” idea of organic vegetables and making your own fertilizer and keeping pests away naturally.
I am excited that ,my harvest can take 6 weeks . Even more to learn about pest and disease as those are the things can kill your garden.
I love the fact that we can keep our vegie and herb gardens pest free by using natural ways to do it. I would like to share all that I have learnt so far with others, for going forward this is going to be important in the future to be able to grow your own food healthy and even make a profit if need be. We can start looking out for our selves and others by eating healthy and using natural remedies.
As a person who believe in natural and healthy living, I can see great potential to grow my own organic veggies. Planning your garden is important as you need to keep all kinds of things in mind, like companion planting and the correct seeds for the season. My current veggie patch is small and I need to expand to grow more veggies to be self sufficient.
I love the 6 week seed to harvest and the reusing kitchen scraps! I’m constantly experimenting with this. I’m a recovering black thumb, so i would hope to gain the skills to grow food for my family without killing it.
I would like to get rid of some pest
I’m a first time gardener and I’m loving the Go food gardening system. It outlines all important things for successful gardening.
The benefit the appeals to me the most is the fact that I will consistently put food on the table.
This looks very helpful, we are currently growing veggies and selling our produce as well as consuming it ourselves. I am keen to look and learn through this info and implement it be be more excellent and efficient at what we are doing
I grow a garden every year and I could use some new tips on pests and diseases. I would love to learn to grow compatible or companion plants and to grow plants all year round.
Beat pests and diseases.
I live for this way of life. If we don’t start to help our selves we are bun for. To have a garden filled with greens of every kind food and medicines. This is the way forward.
I think The Go Food Gardening System is fabulous and I am eager to implement it.
I want to be able to walk out into my garden and pick my whole salad fresh.
I have a small veggie garden, but love to expend. But I do not have enough space to grow a variety of veggies and herbs.
So excited! Possibilities are endless! Healthy eating at reduced cost, reduce fossil fuel, water consumption and fertilizer purchased and the ability to share knowledge gained is so motivating!! We all have to eat!! Loving this course, so far!!
I need someone to do the digging!!! I have big plans but no help.
The idea that I will be able to grow something to feed my family. I never considered myself a green thumb, yet after I started to take these courses I have learned that it’s all the the knowledge.
Pest control the natural way is very high on my list, as I have a lot of cats and do not like using pesticides. And saving water is also a high priority.
Hello all,
My garden is the planning and structure phase. It’s been a long time goal to make gardening wheelchair accessible. Building raised beds, and verticle gardens can be a financial speed bump. We have had lots of help with using repurposed fencing, pallets (those without chemical treatments), and containers of all sorts. we are almost ready to get our plant starts going for what we hope will be for fall harvest.
So far it looks like I have been doing things correctly. Will keep you updated on the progress,
My garden is quite chaotic at the moment as I feverishly try to plant ENOUGH plants IN TIME! It is starting to get structure now, and I am excited to learn more gardening techniques. Planning is important, I think, as you need to keep all kinds of things in mind when planting, like companion planting and which plants NOT to plant together. I am very interested in water-saving gardens and also gardens that gives a bigger yield. I tend to plant too many things in a small space and then I loose plants. (Wish I had a farm!).
Hi, I tend to jump in and start guns blazing with my gardening.. I recently relocated all my non edible plants to start a food forest.. and that also made my bunnies go hyper.. they ate allot of my plants.. now with the bunnies at bay.. I am pampering allot of “naturally pruned” plants.. I love having a graphic plan now.. a never ending start and a finish point.. super exited..
Tanya 🙂
Hi
I am excited to learn the foundations that will teach me how to garden correctly. This knowledge I will immediately put into action in assisting a gardener, at an Old Age Home (Lavender Hill Cape Town) in creating a sustainable vegetable and herb garden, providing nutritious produce for the residents. This small venture hopefully in time will expand so that it will become a hub for other folk to learn while volunteering in the garden and in time even expand the garden and area into a small community garden.
To the journey!
Mike
The best thing to me is that I can start with what I have and that I can learn how to make my own compost.
I already have rocket, chives, garlic chives, coriander and Itaian parsley in my garden that is ready to use.
As a person who believe in natural and healthy living, I’m starting to se great potential to grow a lot more veggies in my small garden.
This means that I can make sure we use healthy, organic food for a healthy body.
This lesson gives a good idea on how to grow vegetables. I am going to try and improve my vegetable garden. I have got time for myself now that I am retired. Thanks for the chance to learn more.
Hi there
Am really excited about doing this course not only to be able to have my own organic vegetables but also to be able to share this knowledge with our local Xhosa community and hopefully encourage them to ” grow their own”
Regards
Linda
It’s great having you here Linda and hearing that you intend paying what you learn forward.
Hi
My aim is to become a market gardener. At this moment im still in the process of growing the garden but as a new student hear im starting to see great potential on the small hold that im using. Part of my vision is to break free from the fast paces life that a lot of us find our self in and enjoy life day by day as it was ment to be done. As a persoin with asthma every day that im healthy and about is a great day and thats part of my inspiration to live a slow life.
lastly i dont understand the “feast or famine syndrome” phrase. 😕
Regards
Rainer.
Hi Rainer. Thanks for sharing. It’s great having you here. I’m all for the ‘slow life’ as well. 🙂
The feast or famine syndrome refers to gardeners who plant once and then forget to do follow-up plantings. This result in having a glut of veggies all at the same time (the feast) followed by a long period of no veggies at all (the famine).