Site Report - Personal Analysis

This section looks at your personal and team goals.

Use the book Whole Farm Management that is available in the library to write a mission statement, goals and reality check your dreams with a SWOT analysis.

You can use the worksheets provided free online to help you with this work. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/landing-page/storey-farm-plan-worksheets/ 

What are your SMART goals? Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. 

• Transform the WITT fenced garden by weeding, forking, woodchipping, fertilising and adding new compost to create new beds ready to plant by the first week of October

• Create a crop plan to update each time a crop has been planted and harvested

• Attend at least 2 farmers markets over the summer growing period from December 2023 - February 2024

• Increase the insect population and biodiversity of my growing site by creating a pollinator garden in the perimeter garden by planting an abundance of flowers seen blooming over the summer period

• Plant atleast 1 -2  new fruit trees in the WITT garden with a guild around each tree

• Have the market garden planted up with summer crops (tomatoes, eggplants, courgettes, cucumbers) by the second week of November at the latest (12th November)

• Harvest one large box of crops each week over the summer period December 2023 - February 2024

• Start a new tray of seedlings every 2 -3 weeks with succesions of lettuce, beetroot, spinach to plant out. As well as direct sow radishes, carrots

• To improve the soil quality of the market garden comparitive to the tests done before transforming the garden (in October spring 2023) and creating new beds via increasing organic matter and plant exudates. This will be measured and compared in January 2024 and again in June 2024.

What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

Strengths: 

My strengths in regards to creating a market garden and transforming my site would be: 

• I have previous experience in the growing space and gardening. I have completed a level 3 certificate in Horticulture and have has great success in my home vegetable garden over the last year by putting this learning into practice. 

• I have an understanding and skills on how to create good soil and healthy plants. I can apply this knowledge I have gained and am still learning this year to my advantage to create a thriving market garden. 

• I am very creative minded and often like to think outside the box, this will help to come up with creative and divergent ways of growing. 

• I'm not afraid of trying new things and am happy to experiment with new crop layouts and polycultures. This is my first time market gardening, strength being I am not set in my ways, so am keen to try out lots of things, but also take on the advice of experts and my tutor and classmates.

• I am in good health and physical fitness, allowing me to put a lot of hard physical work in and willing to achieve this by setting side time each week to dedicate to manual labour and seedling/plant care

• I live close to my site only a 15 - 20  minute walk and 5 - 10  minute bicycle ride

• Horticulture and growing food is a big passion of mine so it is something I am dedicated to and interested in, I have a lot of drive to put in maximum effort and involve our community via Farmers Markets and sharing/teaching what I learn

• I have great connections and community who enjoy gardening and horticulture and food to reach out to for help

 
Weaknesses:

• I am still very much new to the market gardening arena, so have a lot to learn and mistakes to make along the way

• My creative brain can struggle with linear and mathematical processes sometimes, so I can require extra time and assistances to help understand these and see them physically in action for them to set in stone in my head. 

• I can bite off more than I can chew sometimes also with my eagerness and wanting to do everything or too much at once, I will need to have a clear plan set in place to help make the process of market gardening and transforming the site more manageable

• I don't have my restricted license yet, so this limits my ability to transport heavier items myself, so I have to rely on others for vehicle transport, meaning I will rely on good weather to walk/bike down to the site without appropriate weather gear

• I am one person running the crop plan, planting, labour, marketing etc for the most part when friends, family, classmates and volunteers are unavailable. A lot of this work I have to rely on myself for which can make me feel the pressure at points.

• I can procrastinate at occasion which can be fueled by overwhelm, so it important to keep track of my progress with updating my portfolio, setting side time to work physically and mentally towards my plan and visions

Opportunities:

• Create a thriving mini market garden in a designated flat fenced area, that will be producing organic food crops for the wider community

• Sell/raise money at the local farmers market over summer by selling crops, getting to experience this type of business model

• Recording my efforts to keep and lay a foundation to help teach others in the future

• Increase the biodiversity and create new habitats to protect and improve the ecosystems on site

• Learn how to run a market garden and maintain a crop plan over 3 seasons

• Involve friends, family, community, class mates to be involved with the market garden and introducing people to this area of work

• Make new connections and expand my network for future career opportunities and to connect with other farmers, growers and horticulture workers, meet like minded people 

Threats:

• There is the possibility that the weather could negatively impact the growth of crops or impact the site via damage , ruining crops and beds and impacting the harvest and productivity of the garden

• Pest, disease and weed pressure. All pose a threat if not maintained and controlled. If I am unable to attend the garden for a week or so over summer, these variables can get out of control or possibly take over and impact harvest outcomes and destroy crops

• Going away in the summer period on holiday, I will have to rely on friends, family or classmates to help monitor my site whilst away, meaning I will not be able to go on holiday for long periods

• Since I have started sowing seeds a lot later, there will be a delay in the planting of big summer crop, this may impact harvest outcomes and will impact maturity timelines and crop plans