Carry out an evaluation of the crops grown to this date. In your report, look at successes and failures, crop variety choice, volumes grown, suitability to the system, pest and disease issues, crop rotations. Also look at harvesting and distribution. Provide recommendations based on you observations to improve crop production across the site for the future. Reference should be made to organic compliance across all actions/processes undertaken. Give evidence for any claims you make.

 Propagation

Initial propagation for my market garden growing system began on the 26th of September, a few weeks into spring time. I began by planning out crops I wanted to grow particularly for the summer growing season as set up of the growing space was not completed until Wednesday 4th of October. In hindsight, seed sowing would have taken place mid to late august to be ready to plant out now at the end of October and beginning of November.

Please refer to the crop timetable document here to see record of all crops, varieties grown and planted. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b18k5_kUGiyzBKitSql7dS1OL1fgZYIxg8_fojPye6o/edit?usp=sharing

In compliance with Biogro standards certified organic seed raising mix was used https://tuigarden.co.nz/product/tui-organic-seed-raising-mix-biogro-certified/  with reasonable success and 99% germination results.  Certified organic worm castings https://revital.co.nz/growwell-revital-worm-castings/ were also added to this mix to help with fertility. A large mix of seeds were used with companies listed below:

• Kings Seeds, both non organic and certified organic

• Koanga, organically grown, chemical free heritage seeds

• Yates non organic seeds

• Egmont non organic seeds

• Kiwi garden non organic seeds

• World kitchen non organic seeds.

I choose to use what seeds I had on hand to help keep costs low and use the resources that I already had access to. If I had more time and money and were undergoing Biogro certification I would have purchased and chosen to use only certified organic, open pollinated seeds to comply with these principles and criteria. I would have also strived to have sourced locally grown, organic seeds that are bred to adapt well to the Taranaki climate. Under compliance of Biogro, as long as no prohibited materials were used in the creation of these seeds including:
All seeds used are non genetically modified.

All seeds were very quick to germinate and were pricked out 3 weeks later before their true leaves appear into their own separate seed cells. This occurred on the 18th of October. Cucurbits has a fast growing rate and are ready to be planted out two weeks later. However, tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant are still in their juvenile stage and too small to plant out.

Crop management  

Crop management has begun with the monitoring and care of seedlings at home and direct sown rows in the market garden. At home seedlings are kept in a small 4 tier poly green house and watered each day with weekly liquid feeds. Observation at night to identify which pests are eating the seedlings and ensuring they are getting the conditions they need to thrive with plenty of sunlight. Directly sown seeds were covered with a fine knit bug net to protect them from wind, heavy rain run off and pests such as birds, snails and invertebrates (earwigs, beetles) from destroying them during germination and initial growth. Rain has been efficient enough to maintain moisture, but now as it reaches November weekly watering's will take place and will increase over summer as the heat rises.

Pest and disease management 

Pest management has only just begun with the creation of the market garden site along with existing operations in place with the conservation students at WITT who have provided their results and methods on pest management of vertebrate species: 

Health of seedlings will be paramount in managing pest and disease formation and populations so ensuring their needs are met through regular care as mentioned above will help be the preventative baseline to ensure the plants remain strong and healthy and less susceptible to pests and disease. Beneficial microbes and organic seaweed seaweed watering's will also be used as a preventative and fixative measure to improve the health of the seedlings and plants and to maintain a healthy soil and plant microbiome. Physical removal of pests will also be preformed with populations monitored via an IPM approach.
In organic compliance, NO sprays, will be used and only consideration of Bio gro certified pesticides such as organic Neem will be considered only if all other IPM, physical removal via water hosing or hand removal of pests, companion plantings, introduction of predatory species via egg tags, physical traps used. My priority is to ensure the health of the crops with biodiverse polycrops will support plant health via exudates that feel soil and inturn soil food web worms, microbes, protozoa, fungi and more feed and maintain crop health and there will be minimal if at all need for more intensive intervention to control pests via organic sprays.

Weed management 

Weed management began with an initial large working bee with three volunteers who assisted me in broad forking the entire market garden space (5x6m) and transplanting a large existing rosemary. Broad forking and manual removal by hand was used as the dominant form of perennial and annual weed management. Refer to the weed management section in Crop production to see which weeds were managed and how they were managed. This was completed in a day to which placement of woodchip and compost was laid in the creation of pathways and growing beds. These thick layers of wood chip and compost help to suppress any new germination of annual weeds. However due to this not being 100% effective, a  butane flame weeder has been used up and down the perimeters of the beds to kill off any freshly germinated weeds before they establish strong rooting systems and become more labourous to remove. A light hand weed each week will also help to keep on top of these weeds.

In Organics compliance,

Harvesting

As of this evaluation report 1, harvesting has not yet occurred and will be recorded in the following reports. I plan to create a harvest calendar and making a plan on how and what to harvest by gathering this information and keeping it in my crop timetable document and researching into the best practices. 

Marketing 

Marketing has began on my social media account where I have a following of locals and gardeners around New Zealand, where I have began updated my progress and documenting the market gardening journey to create interest in the products. I have also verbally marketed to the Taranaki farmers market that I will be attending some summer markets by the end of December and over the new year.

I plan to continue to market my progress online on social media and create a small marketing campaign as I am in charge of the farmers market social media to gain exposure for my crops over summer and beyond. I plan to advertise on Instagram and Facebook and market myself through my stall at the farmers market also.

Distribution

Distribution of crops has not yet begun due to there being no harvests as crops are yet to grow and be planted out. I have, like marketing started to plan out who my audience is and who and where I will distribute crops to following harvests. This includes customers of Taranaki farmers markets, friends, families and local food banks and possibly even WITT students and residents of the Te Henui lodge.

Carry out an evaluation of the crops grown to this date. In your report, look at successes and failures, crop variety choice, volumes grown, suitability to the system, pest and disease issues, crop rotations. Also look at harvesting and distribution. Provide recommendations based on you observations to improve crop production across the site for the future. Reference should be made to organic compliance across all actions/processes undertaken. Give evidence for any claims you make.

Crops grown:

Back bed (Bed 5):

Tomatoes - 1 plant of each of the following were grown

Varieties: 
Sunrise bumble bee ( kings seeds)
- Subject to the curling and elongating disease
- Ripened the quickest out of all varieties, didn't ripen (till late feb, early march  2024)
- Good fruit set
- Great flavour and aesthetic quality, good market value
- Heirloom, open pollinated seed, organic, great for saving seed if controlled.
- Certified organic (Organic compliant)
- Would grow again
Yellow Pear (purchased plant from clarty farm)
- Subject to the curling and elongating disease
-  Did not ripen, (minimal ripening in march)
- Fruit set, but very small
- Supposed to be a good cropper with great flavour
- Healthy seedling that was altered by the strange disorder
- Unfortunately was unable to sample
Rupunzel (Purchased plant from mitre 10, grown by zelandia)
-  I have history with growing this tomato in home garden, creates long trusses of bright red tomatoes
- amazing flavour, my favourite mid size cherry tomato
- easy to harvest truss
- This season, did not grow well at all due to being subject to the leaf curl and elongated disease/disorder
- Heavily deformed fruit, very small
- Minimal ripening, very late in the season march/april
- Nothing to sample
- F1 hybrid variety, non organic seed and seedlings (Not compliant)
Beefsteak (yates seeds)
- Very healthy plant, bright green foliage, was not affected by the diformities and leaf curl
- Lots of a large  fruit set all over plant
- Unfortunately did not ripen well, no edible tomatoes
- Was very heavy on string and  a frame structure
-  Yates seeds, open pollinated, can be found organically for compliance
Roma varieties?
- Healthy plants, grew well with green foliage and lots of fruit set
- Ripened  the second best out of all varieties grown, (ripened late feb)
-  Mild, flavour, large juicy tomatoes
- Heavy cropper
- Unsure of variety?

Overall:
Next summer season, I would start tomatoes seedlings in August/early September to ensure these seedlings are well established before planting out. I had good growth on these seedlings before planting, however they were smaller that I had hoped at the point in the season in which were planted out from the 11 - 15th November. I would be planting out the tomato seedlings a few weeks earlier, hopefully in the end of October to get more growth and to ensure optimal ripening periods and maturity in late December through the February if conditions are right.

This season I struggled with ripening due to the cold snaps at the end of the season and this was mainly due to late planting of the tomato seedlings. This meant I had a very minimal harvest of tomatoes this season due to the lack of heat when the crop was finally mature to ripen. I had plenty of fruit set, so pollination levels were great. It was unfortunate timing which will be corrected by earlier seed sowing and planting out periods.

Overall plant health was good levels with minimal signs of disease, good growth, fruit set and bright green leaves. I had no incidents of blight or other fungal diseases. I made sure to remove any browning leaves and pruned and trained up wards on a frame trellising for optimal airflow. There was a strange leave curl disorder which appeared on the left side of the bed. Very strange growth habits occurred within the left side tomatoes, elongating stems and fruits into odd oval shapes compared to growth of the same varieties at home in the past. Odd leave curling occurred also. We are unsure of the origins of this disease, we suspect possible heavy metal prevalence as there has been a history of crops/tomatoes not growing well in this section of the market garden site. I have sent of soil samples to soil safe Aotearoa to see if any evidence of metals show. Despite this disorder, fruit still set in plenty, however growth and ripening was stunted. Next season I will look into using all organic varieties, to ensure compliance.

Beans

Varieties:
Scarlet runner bean
- Grew fast and really well from direct seeding
- flowered lots and provided pollinator value
- climbed well amongst tomatoes, although got too intertwined and tangled, turned out hard to harvest
- no disease or pest issues
Blue lake green bean
-  Grew well from seed
- didn't put on as much growth as scarlet runner
- Only got a small hand full to harvest
- no disease or pest issues

If I were to do this polyculture mix again, I would give beans their own stake to climb on instead of free growing. A  wooden or bambo stake would be installed so they could climb on these instead and allow easier growth and harvest for both beans and tomatoes. I would grow blue lake again as scarlet runner, whilst they were great for pollinators and prolific, they're not the nicest eating bean.  Find organic climbing bean  to use, look into koanga as they have a lot of heritage varieties - for compliance.

Basil
-  Sweet green variety, grown by zelandia (not compliant)
- Grew really well, strong healthy plants with an abundance of leaves
- Fantastic companion plant that helped with soil coverage, fragance to deter pests and flowers at the end of the season for pollinators
- Easy to grow and harvest
- Good market potential with multiple harvests and decent market value as a fresh herb bunch
-  Would definitely grow again with tomatoes
- no disease or pest issues

Next Year I will grow an organic variety from seed to ensure compliance.

(Marigolds - these were fantastic companion plants which were a big asset to the tomatoes bed for pollinator value and pest deterrent properties. They grew fantastically,  with  abundant flowers and good soil coverage) Plants purchased from  mitre 10 and the warehouse, but can be easily obtained through organic seeds  for compliance. Nematode . pumps  ozone

Bed 1:
Beetroot
- Grew from direct sowing, kings seeds kestrel F1 variety straight into  the bed and filling in gaps with plug seedlings grown from the same seeds.
- All great germination and growth, very minimal disease, minor leaf spot on some plants, which is common with beetroot.
- All plants reached a large size, great quality and flavour and sold well at the farmers market. 
- Would definitely grow these seeds again or look for a organic alternative for organic compliance.
- Beetroots worked really well next to carrot row in this polyculture bed, will definitely use this combination again
- Will need to improve a little bit on seed spacing and thining out, but this was only a minor issue
- Grew really fast over summer season
- no disease or pest issues

Carrot
-  Grew all from direct sowing, kings seeds Scarlet Nantes Variety. 
- Awesome carrot, sweet, long and cruchy with  fantastic germination rate and  harvest results
- Sold well at the farmers market
-  Easy to harvest
- No disease or pest issues
- I again need to work on thinning out earlier to ensure uniformity in sizes for carrots to avoid large variation
- Will look into sourcing organic seeds to ensure compliance
- worked well beside beetroots, space efficient, will definitely use this combo again in a polyculture bed

Dwarf beans
- Another success, grew from a mix of direct sowing and planting out seedlings.
- Mix of varieties, all seemed to perform really well. Dwarf bean mix from yates seeds, green and purple varieties were fantastic.  Eco seeds (Organic farms nz certified organic) performed really well too.
- No pest of disease issues
- Prolific plants, sold well at the farmers market
- delicious tender beans
- I would ensure to plant successions to have a continous supply next season and have a mix of the purple and green beans
- Easy to harvest
- Worked well with the carrots and beetroots
- Unfortunately got smothered by the courgette folliage in the neighbouring bed later in the season
- Would definitely grow again in this system, and ensuring to use organic seeds for compliance
- Showed visible nitrogen nodules with nitrogen fixing bacteria appearing in soil
- Nice long roots
                                         
Radishes
-  These unfortunately were sown a little too late and didnt germinate too well due to lack of sunshine from being covered in bean and carrot foliage
-  They were squeeze in between rows
- Got small harvest
- Variety was nice,  french breakfast radish by eco seeds, would grow again
- Needs to have more space and it's own designated row instead of being squeezed in between rows
- Good market potenial - aesthetic bunches
- Fast cropper
- Would grow again but need to tweak and would replace onion row with radishes instead
- Continue to source organic seeds for compliance

Spring onions/chives
- Chives  (world kitchen seeds) were direct sown, with little to no germination
- Spring onions were planted by seelding (bunnings) not compliant. Unfortunatley didn't grow too well, seeldings were veery small and lacked enouch moisture during early summer to get a good start so a lot of them dried up
-  Awesome space saving plant once established
- Easy to harvest and sell
-  Did not work the best in this polyculture bed, needs tweaking, could work well if it was replacing the beans, but not with the beans in the same bed
- Need to ensure higher moisture levels in the soil upon planting, lots more watering to ensure establishment when young
- Use organic seedlings and seeds to ensure compliance.

(Alyssum)
Great companion plant at the ends of the beds to invite pollinators , bees, hover flies and more, will defintiely keep this as a companion plant, but ensure to monitor seed spread as this is likely to become a weed. Find organic seeds for compliance. They worked really well at the ends of the beds to increase biodiversity and habitat for beneficial insects.

Bed 2:
Courgettes
-  I planted two varieties of courgette, 1. Cocozelle heirloom courgette from Setha's seeds and 2. Yellow zuchini seedling from Natural Lea spray free seedling.
- The yellow courgette performed the best, fruitng early, okay pollination rates and good fruit set
- Yellow variety was a much smaller plant and a lot more space efficient than the cocozelle.
- I would grow the yellow variety again due to these factors, but see if I can either source these seeds organically or get them reviewed as they are likely to be a hybrid variety, but their space saving qualities are important in a small market garden
- Yellow variety did show signs of powdery mildew slightly earlier than the cocozelle, although they were smothered alot by the other cocozelle foliage
- Cocozelle was a difficult variety
- It produced beautiful striped large and tasty courgettes
- Unfortunately fruit set was low and often would go to marrow very quickly, as the plant flowered profusely but didn't fruit as much, more male flowers than female.
- The cocozelle foliage and growth habbit was extremely prolific, it was a very fast growing plant, with a lot of vining and loads of foliage that soon took over the whole bed and began to encroach on other beds and smother neighbouring plants.
- It is a great variety for its uniqueness, but requires a lot more space. So I will not being growing this variety again in a small market garden space.
- I will be looking into smaller growing varieties of courgette instead and see if I can source an organic seed or work with organic farm nz to work with possibly conventional smaller hybrids I need if I can;t source them organically.
- No pest issues, there was only powdery mildew later on in the season. I was actually surprised at the health of these plants for so long considering we had a lot of rain over the season, so the plants bared well and only succumbed to the mildew disease very late in the season and still were able to put on good growth.
- Cold snaps early autumn destroyed the plants
- Overall, if I were to do courgettes in a market garden bed again I would look soley for smaller growing varieties, include a lot more flowers interplanted like borage and look into different training techniques to find ways to save more space, like verticle growing.

(borage, snapdragons, alyssum, calendula, cosmos)
- These were all fantastic companion plants within the courgette bed
- The main aim was to help increase pollination and fruit set for the courgettes, as well as invite the polycropping in with flowers and biodiversity
- Borage, cosmos were fantastic for bees, as well as other varieties
- Next season I would plant more and ensure all seeds sourced were organic wherever possible
- Look into planting more calendula and borage as these are great edible flowers with great market potential to sell (had interest from market customers)

Bed 3:
Lettuce
- I direct sowed the row of lettuces,  including my tutors home saved seeds which performed really well, they were a prolific cos-like lettuce with good bolt resistance, fantastic growth, creating large hearty long heads of lettuce and great flavour. I also sowed the summer 'frisby' variety from kings seeds which did well also, bolted a little sooner than the cos, but still had great flavour, good growth. Both had great germination and growth results.
- The greens bed is were I had the most trouble with being a beginner market gardener.  With the lettuces, I did not thin out the seedling enough, so they ended up growing very closely and eventually too close beocming overcrowded which eventually resulted in a lot of the lettuces getting a rot, which is a fungal issues common here in the wet Taranaki climate. I would defintiuely next time space out the lettuces  a lot more to ensure more room to grow and allow more air flow
- The fungal rot was the only disease issues
- Unfortunately due to the closeness of the lettuces, and lack of air flow, this invited a bout of aphids which occupied the lettuces for a short period. This small infestation eventually dissapated (without any action) as the season went on
- Next season I would want to focus on planting out seedlings of lettuce and have a good succession plan to ensure continual harvest. I would focus on smaller heading varieties which are easier to havrest, where you canharvest the entire lettuce at once istead of individual leaves which is what I did  this time which was incredibly time consuming. Or varieties that are a cut and come again type to get multiple harvests and sell these as bagged lettuce.
- Ensure good succesions to avoid plants going to seed like I did this season. I need to get into a better rythym of succesion sowing
- They sold well at the farmers market in medium size bags
- I will source organic seeds and research better varieties for market gardening

Rocket
- Rocket was direct sown, I used Mr fothergills organic (not certified) seeds. Germination rates were fantastic, with a full row of  rocket
- Great flavour and big lush green leaves
- Easy enough to harvest, but I let the plants get a little too big and had to hand harvest individual leafs. If you leave the plant smaller, they can easily be cut off at the base and use as a cut and come again crop
- No diease or pest pressure
- Sold really well at the farmers market
- Would definitely grow again and look into sourcing certified organic seeds for compliance
- Letting a few of the rocket plants go seed, produced lots of small white flowers that were very favourable of bees, so I will definitely let a couple plants do this again later on in the season to support pollinator species.

Spinach
-  I grew summer surpreme spinach variety from yates seeds. This variety was awesome. I grew seedlings that were planted out, as well as direct sowing.
- Amazing flavour, tender green leaves, large and non bitter spinach
- Great market value
- Minimal pest pressure, there was a small bout of aphids as with the lettuce, I think this was due to lack of watering and the effect on the plant health. But the plants bounced back well
- Prolific plant, easy to grow and fast grower
- Laborious to pick, needed to pick each individual leaf by hand which was the main downside of this  variety. Need to work out if this can be harvested with a greens harvester or to grab and cut.
- I would grow this again, but need to improve harvesting methods

Capsicum
- Chocolate capsicum, seedling from Murray Lowe in Urenui.
- Grew really well, flowered profusely, fruited and ripened quickly early summer.
- Unique colouring and flavour. 
- Will grow again, seeds available from Koanga.
- Unfortunately later in the season, the plant was smothered by the trombochino squash
- Orange Snack Capsicum
- Purchased seedling from mitre 10
- Grew well, loaded with fruit
- Unfortunately didn't ripen, too late in the season
- Would grow again, seeds available from egmont seed - organic variety somewhere?
- From previous growing at home garden, great flavour, novelty size, sweet, good market value, prolific plant for size
- Did get smothered by  lettuces and  squash  so stunted growth
- Sweet Conical Red Capsicum
- Amazing long fruit at maturity
- Planted too late to ripen
- Prolific plant
- Slower to grow and fruit than others planted
- Nice long thin walled fruit with great flavour when planted in the past.
- I might not grow this variety next year and instead use the heirloom Jimmy Nardello sweet capsicums for compliance instead

Overall capsicum summary:
Capsicums were planted out a little late, 11 November which meant they took ages to fruit and had minimal ripening. Mainly due to lack of sunshine from smothering of neighboring greens and the tromboncino squash. Next time I would choose the smaller lunchbox and chocolate and try different heirloom and organic quick ripening varieties, try them with a poly tunnel over top to get them established. Allow them a lot more space to grow and ensure they were not being smothered by other plants to ensure they received adequate amount of sunshine. Or even go for growing jalapenos and shishito peppers that do not need to be ripened before harvesting to maximise profitability in the polyculture. None of these capsicum varieties I planted showed any signs of pest pressure. There was a curling leaf disorder on some of them but I think this may have been from lack of sunlight early in their life or changes in temperatures, which seemed to have self corrected later in the season when they had more access to light. No plants show signs of yellowing or nutrient deficiency.

Eggplants
I grew Baby Brinjal, Black Beauty and Ping Tung Long varieties by seed, all germinated very well and grew into strong seedlings. Unfortunately, this crop was a complete disaster and none of these varieties reached maturity simply due to the being smothered by the neighboring rows of lettuces and spinach, so they did not receive enough sunlight in order to grow. I would want to plant these out a lot earlier, start the seeds earlier in August and think about including polytunnel system or reserving them for greenhouse growing in the future and instead maximizing on profitable crops that perform well and provide a sizable harvest.

(Poppies)
Were a honourary plant that popped up at the end of this bed, which I left to grow for biodiversity and pollinator species support. They were beautiful flowers that were favoured by bumble bees. They can be invasive, so I made sure to remove all seed heads before they dried. I would grow again, but monitoring would be important.

Bed 4:
Cucumbers
Mini me cucumber from Egmont seeds, was the variety I grew
- these were very prolific cucumbers I grew from seed
- were quick to mature and set fruit
- self pollinating
- produced uniform, sweet, crunchy, thin skinned cucumbers, delcious flavour
- prolific
- good market value and sold well at farmers market
-  Was subject to a bout of aphids mid summer, to which I blasted of physically with a highpowered hose to and the plant bounced back.
- Unfortunately it got smothered  by the trombocino squash and  the plant died off early in the season
- I would definitely grow this variety again, however giving it enough space, sunlight and ensuring to pick them young would be the main improvements needed to takeplace.
- I would want to look into different varieties, organic for compliance and more telegraph, thin skinned, great eating varieties that grow well all season
- Also looking into different growing and  training methods as the cucumbers did struggle to grow on the zig zag structure I built. I believe spacing was to far and too many gaps for tendrils

Apple cucumber, yates seeds
- Grew well, prolific
- Minimal disease and pests, no signs of powdery mildew
-  Classic variety popular at markets
- Small - large uniform fruits
- Unfortunately was smothered early on by trombocino squash

Tromboncino squash
Yates heirloom variety seeds grew fantstic  from seed and responded well as soon as it was planted
- EXTREMELY PROLIFIC, this was both this plants positive and negative combined.
- Produced an insanely large vine with giant foliage and strong rooting  apendages that very quickly got out of hand and  took over the entire right hand side of the garden, beds 4, 3 and 2.
- Fruited and flowered profusely, however due to the sheer size of the plant became quickly unmanageable and hard to harvest the fruit.
- Fruit harvested was abundant, young fruit was very fleshy with a mild nutty flavours and unique curly shape and vibrant light green colour
- I thought this would have provided a great point of difference and interest at the market, however, it was rather a talking point and inquisitive interest rarther than a purchase to eat. So it would  be a great talking point and attraction for the eye at a market, just not the best on saleability and profit
- I would not grow this again in the market garden space and would instead give it its own area to grow like a pumpkin would or in a controlled area with heavy pruning.
- This crop proved to be detrimental in many ways to surrounding crops via smothering . It proved to not be a suitable crop for a market garden bed system.

(sunflowers, zinnia, salvia)

These flowers were fantastic companion plants on the very end of the bed. Grew profusely copvered in blooms all summer long and well into Autumn into april, feeding lots of bees and butterflies. I will defintiely grow these again, they worked well on the end of the bed next to cucumbers and just over from the tomato bed to help improve pollination and provide habitat for pollinating and beneficial species. Added beautiful colours and have cut flower potential as another stream of income in the garden

Over the growing season, I used and recored data in a spreadsheet for crop timetabling. This was a very basic set up that labeled all the crops grown, what time, variety, bed placement, dates sown and planted and notes. I would like to improve this method and add another bed specific spread sheet which shows what's in what bed at a certain time and how long they are in there till harvest. There is a lot to fine tune for this data capturing method, but it has been a good foundation

Due to the experimental nature of polycropping, I simply applied the knowledge I had on the topic to the garden and had many successes and also failures to learn from. I have an extensive list above on what works well together and what doesn't and an individual analysis on each crop and if they thrived or failed. I will defintely be revisting this list to plan out the next summer season and research more polycropping systems.

There were gaps in the system I want to avoid and need to ensure I have a robust crop timetable and planting plan, that is easy to follow. Becoming more in tune with crop timings and that have quick succesions and keeping up with the timings of these. I will use my network of market gardners and online to obtain this knowledge, along with my tutor.

IPM & IWM were successfull during this season. I will need to maintain these practices and keep observent of any pest, disease and weed issues that arise and refer back to these methods for effecient management. I would also like to capitilse on all the biodiversity end caps for pollinators and beneficials I have been using. I could be plating varieties that feed and support these beneficials while also being able to sell them for cut flowers and edible flowers to turn them also into a cash crop.

Harvesting, which is mentioned above in each seperate crop, was a big experience in itself. Main distributions of crops took place as pick and eat or take home for friends and family, as well as farmers markets.

FARMERS MARKETS;

I attended two farmers markets over the summer season 1. Jan 14th 2. February 18th. These were at the height of the growing season and I had a good harvest for each of these markets. Both harvests were carried out the night before the farmers market, after sundown for ease to have things ready the night before. I had my partner and his parents help for the first market and then my partner and my mum help for the second. It worked well and we spent 1.30-2hrs for each harvest at night when temperatures had eased. We used chilly bins with icepacks and teatowels to prevent ice burn and to keep produce fresh.

Root crops were easy to harvest, gently pulling, we had a bounty of these which allowed for 2 rows to provide a good supply of carrots and beets for two markets. Courgettes and zuchetta and cucumbers we easy snip harvest and sold very well, along with the root crops. Caveat being the zuchetta were hard to sell as I believe customers thought these looked a bit strange and intimidating to cook. So there is strong possibility I will not grow these again, also being that they took over majority of the garden at full growth.  Mini cucumbers and courgettes sold relitively well. Organic beans bunches sold well, as well as pumpkins and bagged rocket, lettuce and spinaches. Radishes also. Same with tea kits and edible flowers. As well as herbs.

The hardest to harvest and process was the greens. This was very time consuming being handpicked, often one leaf at a time, and then washed, spun and bagged. I will be looking at harvesting whole heads of lettuce or looking into a more efficient greens harvesting method to save time. I used sealable plasitc bags and a hand spinner, however this didn't removed as much moisture as I'd hoped and left the bags with condensation. I chose to leave greens on top of carrots and beets and leave them unwashed for an authentic just dug look. I think some customers appreciated this and some didn't. Some of the tops of these crops did wilt by the morning, mainly because I left them outside of the sealed chiller bag, so they lost a bit of their freshness.

I kept my set up very simple, it was easy to bring prepacked chillers down and display all crops on the table. I had hand written signs which kept with the student, homegrown theme and was pretty happy with the set up. Next time I would invest time into designing my labels and infusing more colour and even more personality into my stall. 

My first market had a good response, with selling out majority of crops. I made $144 all up that day. I had forgotten to recount my float for the next market. 

Overall: The farmers markets were definitely worth it for the experience of selling and marketing crops to the community. I would definitely do them again. Next time I would be more prepared with having a log of what I wanted to sell and how much I could provide, how many crops were in each bunch, the number of bunches, number of fruits and weight and number of bags of greens, their pricing and how many I sold on the day. I wish I had kept better track of these details and this will be my main change moving forward. I would also invest more time into marketing and designing more signage. Possibly having samples of crops too. This all comes back to having a better crop plan and succession sowing to ensure you have enough crops each week or bi weekly etc for the farmers market. These two markets were wonderful tasters to see what customers wanted and what they didn't like.

I now have a good foundation of understanding what it takes to attend the farmers market and what you need to do and have to be successful. Its about consistency and this is what I will focus on with crop plans in the following seasons. 

Possibly looking into other sales avenues such as veggie boxes or set orders will be the way to go for this small scale. This means I will be able to produce the 'exact' amount of crops require for familys, couples or chefs each week and will allow me to plan for this and work backs wards to ensure consistent supply. I think a garden on this small scale isn't completely fit for the visual bulk and supply required for the farmers market and it might be a case of only attending these on certain occasions during the height of the growing seasons.

Carry out an  evaluation of the crops grown to this date. In your report, look at successes and failures, crop variety choice, volumes grown, suitability to the system, pest and disease issues, crop rotations. Also look at harvesting and distribution. Provide recommendations based on you observations to improve crop production across the site for the future. Reference should be made to organic compliance across all actions/processes undertaken. Give evidence for any claims you make.

At this point in the year, it is time to transition crops into autumn and winter annuals that will survive and thrive in cooler temperatures. 

To begin this transition, I had amazing help from level 3 horticulture students who helped me to remove majority of old crops and residues from each bed. It was a very efficient and successful couple hour working bee. We left the back bed 5 with the tomato polycrop as small fruits were finally ripening. As well as capsicums in and endcaps of flowers to maintain biodiversity, particularly for pollinators when pollen and nectar in flowers becomes more scarse as we enter winter.

Bean crops were still fruiting, along with beets and we had loads of zuchetta and greens for the students to take home also.

All zuchini plants had died back due to the cold snaps and powdermildew had swept in. I will definitely be choosing smaller growing and quicker growing courgettes in the next season.

Lettuces were left to go to see along with rocket due to poor timing and crop rotation, something that will defintiely be imporved on with sticking to crop plans and having good routines in place for sowing and planting. Flowers from these green crops provided pollen and nectar for pollinators and contributed to roots in the soil and biodiversity above ground, so althought this wasn't ideal from a profitable and production based view, which is crucial, however atleast it was supporting the ecosystem.

While we were gently pulling out crops, we had a lot of positive reinforcement of nitrogen nodules being formed on legumous crops which is a great sign that the soil is doing well and we have a good level of nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil. 

All the summer season crops were defintiely feeling the effects of the cooler temperatures so this was the right time in March to take these out and start planting autumn and winter crops, which we will see planned below.

I have decided I wanted to be more efficient with planting out and crop rotation during the autumn and winter months after learning from my mistakes over summer. I dedicated 1-2 hours a week for going consistently to the garden and planting our 1-3 rows in each polycropping bed and rotating species throughout. This turned out really successful and has allowed me to plant out the entire autumn and winter garden by May.

To our suprise, the tomatoes ended up doing really well and were finally ripened over march-april. This was a really late season crop that I had hoped to be harvesting from late jan, through to february and after. These tomatoes did struggle and ended up being very small. We are still speculating this has something to do with soil health which will hopefully be revealed in an extensive chemcial soil test. However we did get a somewhat reasonable very late crop out of these tomatoes. This polycrop of tomatoes, basil, beans, marigolds and cosmos worked really well and stood strong until late april. I will definitely use this polcrop system again, making minor adjustments to when they are all planted out earlier and growing the beans up their own poles or using dwarf bush beans instead.

I made sure to start planting out straight away after we removed majority of the summer crops to ensure the soil wasn't left bare for long periods, as I did at the beginning of the year. 

Crop production was organic compliant and in alignment to Organic Farm NZ (Bio gro) standards over the summer season, using minimal organic fertilisers, zero chemical sprays or inputs, emphasis on soil health and having as many roots in the soil as possible, conserving water use and relying on mostly rain water during the wet summer season, using IPM and IWM principles and we experienced minimal weed and pest pressure over the summer season. The main tweaks that need to be made to be soley compliant would be ensuring all seed used was certified organic or specially signed off by biogro if there was no alternative, same applying to seedlings used. Soil and fertiliser imputs also need to be coverted and changed to all organic certified, including compost, blood and bone, lime and sheep pellets. These can be easily swapped over and organic certified imputs used in place.

AUTUMN/WINTER PLANNED POLYCROPS:

BED 1: (carrot, beetroot, spring onion, dwarf beans, radish)

Row 1: Bloomsdale winter spinach (yates and kings seeds*) *Organic, Need to be organic
Row 2: Carls lettuce (homegrown organic seedlings)
Row 3: Pakchoi (kiwgarden and egmont seeds) Need to be organic
Row 4: Spring onion (bunnings seedlings) Need to be organic
(Row 5): Parsley (bunnings seedlings) Need to be organic

BED 2: (courgette, flowers polycrop)

Row 1: Pakchoi and radish mix (kiwi garden and egmont seeds)Need to be organic
Row 2: Beetroot (kestral kings seeds)Need to be organic
Row 3: Carrots (scarlet nantes kings)Need to be organic
Row 4: Radish mix (kiwgarden) Need to be organic
Row 5: Carls lettuce (homegrown organic seedlings)

BED 3: (spinach, lettuce, rocket, capsicum and eggplant polycrop)

Woven mixed rows: Silver beet rainbow lights, mustard greens, organic cauliflower and brocoli seedlings, corn salad seeded, spinach left over from previous season

BED 4: (Cucumber, zuchetta crop)

Row 1: Peas ( Snow pea mr fothergills and kings seeds) Need to be organic
Row 2: Broad beans (purchased seedlings and egmont seeds) Need to be organic
Kale planted at the left hand endcap

BED 5: (Tomato polycrop)

COVER CROP: Peas, broad beans, radish, red clover, coriander

All of these planned polycrops will be planted out over a intermitted weekly basis, which allows for good rotation and continuous harvest over autumn and winter. A focus on quick growing crops such as radishes and lettuces will be used to keep soil covered while slower crops mature around spring such as the carrots, beets, brassicas, beans and peas.

My crop focus over the autumn and winter period is to have quick growing and easy to harvest speicies, in polycrops that main focus is to keep soil covered, protected and contributing to it's health over winter so it is best prepped and primed for spring and summer growing seasons. Polycropping and cover cropping is in aliance with organic principles and this allows us to still reap a harvest over the cool seasons which can be profitable with quick growing greens and radishes etc, topped up with potential microgreens. It means maintaining a consistency while improving soil health for the cash crop seasons of spring and summer. 

WEED PRESSURE:
I have struggled a bit with new weed pressure arising this time of year. Some being self seeded crops particularly calendula, lettuces, which are okay to deal with. However these are a lot of herbaceous weeds popping up this time of year which are requiring a lot more weeding that usual in between rows which can be time consuming and weren't an issue to deal with over summer.

What I'd do differently next season is ensuring all my season is planned out through a crop plan, have a consistent sowing, planting and harvesting schedule where I can record on a spread sheet and this wil allow me to maintain profitability, improving soil health and biodiversity while I'm growing crops for cash. I would want to include pea shoot microgreens and quick growing greens over winter, along with radishes and turnips, beans and peas and herbs to maintain a cash flow over the cooler seasons.

HARVESTS: Harvests and distribution of these autumn and winter crops is yet to take place, however these will now be occuring in the early morning before the sun hits the site to ensure crispness and freshness of crops. I could plan another farmers market, gifting to friends, family and students, as well as food banks.

All crops grown will be easy pull, pluck and cut to keep harvests easy. Having the help of friends and family keeps harvest time to a minimum.

Cover cropping resources:
Increasing Diversity in Market Gardens with Winter Cover Crops - Understanding Ag
Armoring Your Soil for the Winter - Understanding Ag
Regenerative Gardening, No-Till Winter Cover Crop Strategies - Understanding Ag  
No-till Vegetable Cover Crops | EcoFarming Daily 

Seeds, varieties, transplants and crop management 3.3

Plan to trial alternatives

A documented plan and data capturing of what crop varieties work best on the site will be created. Keeping track of what varieties are used in what season, their performance, weed pressure and pest pressure tolerance will all be recorded. This will give a foundation of knowledge and data log of what works best in the site. A plan then to trial alternatives to species that have not performed well will be undertaken. I plan to create a heavily diverse market garden and will be regularly trialing a variety of different species and will be recording them to see what has performed best.

Seeds, seedlings and vegetative propagative materials

Certified organic seed where possible has been used and will continue to be used. Seed companies such as Kings organic range, Koanga and Setha's seeds provide compliant varieties of crops. This season, I have used seeds from my small seedbank that I had on hand to use up these recourses and to test what works best in the site for this season in particular to polycropping. In the following seasons make the full switch to certified organic seeds and seedlings and where this is not possible for certain varieties such as hybrids, I will seek written consent to continue with these crops that cannot be found organic. I will endeavor to grow all my crops from seed and look for organic compliant retailers when short. Please refer to organic compliance list for companies here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BF2cMTn1GEdk6QmhKamrco-lHGn1vJ7JDRiCXTwMB4s/edit?usp=sharing  Open pollinated, organically grown seeds and seedlings will remain top priority with minor exceptions in seeds that can only be sources non certified. However these seeds will never been GM and not contain prohibited materials.

Seedlings
Seedlings will be grown in BioGro certified potting mixes. This season I have used Tui's organic performance seed raising mix with reasonable success. I will continue to research the best organic compliant seed raising media. See alternatives here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BF2cMTn1GEdk6QmhKamrco-lHGn1vJ7JDRiCXTwMB4s/edit?usp=sharing I aim to innoculate my seedraising media with beneficial fungi and microorganisms with homemade composts and vermicast. This will be sent off for written approval before use for compliance.

Thermal Sterilsation

Not yet required.

Pollination
No intention of bringing in beehives, especially those that contain prohibited treatments. My main goal for pollination is instead to infuse the garden site with diverse pollinator friendly flowering crops and created habitats for these natural pollinators to thrive.

Seed and Plant material
If I am to sell or collect seeds, these crops will be grown under organic management for one generation for annuals, two growing periods or 12 months for perennials. This will ensure they can be sold or advertised as certified organic seed and plant material for use in my garden or to be sold for revenue.

Treated  timber
Treated timber will not be used on site.

Weed Management 3.4

Weed management plan
See weed management plan here:
Weeds will be controlled via integrative weed management plan, with zero use of chemical herbicides. An integration of physical, biological, cultural and mechanical practices will be used.

Biological control
Biological control of weeds will be looked into in the future. This is still a new weed control management option in New Zealand and extensive research is being undertaken. For example the red spider mite (Tetranychus linteariu) to control gorse and the Honshu white admiral butterfly (Limenitis glorifica) to control Japanese honeysuckle. You can see an extensive list here: https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our-research/biodiversity-biosecurity/weed-biocontrol/projects-agents/biocontrol-agents/  My aim first is to create an ecosystem that naturally invites a diverse range of insects, fungi and microrganisms that will attribute to biologial control. Biological weed control agents such as this extensive list in the above link will also be researched and looked into in the future.

Mechanical and thermal weed control
Flame weeding has been used in the site and will continue to be used as an effective form of thermal weed control. Initial mechanical removal of soil was done via broadforking and hand removal to eliminate as much perennial weeds as possible. Hand and handtool weeding will be continued to be used, aswell as gentle broad forking. Hand hoe weeder along the paths will be used also.

Plastic and reflective mulches
Tarping use will be considered for future use and re-used and disposed of correctly.

Mulches
An on site wood mulch was used for pathways. This was a mix of tree varieties on WITT grounds. Future use of mulches will need written approval for future.

Herbicides

Chemical synthetic herbicides Will NEVER be used.

Solarisation

Will be considered for use if difficult perennial weeds arise in the future. Consent will be needed.


Pest and Disease Management 3.5

Pest management plan
See pest and disease management plan here:
Pests and disease will be controlled via integrative pest and disease management plan, with zero use of chemical pesticides and fungicides. An integration of physical, biological, cultural and mechanical practices will be used.  Pest and disease management on my site will be dedicated to ensure plant and soil health are optimised and maintained.  A robust, healthy soil will create robust and healthy plants, so ensuring plant and soil health through practices mentioned above and in the plan, as well as crop production standard. Encouragement of a natural balance via not completely eradicating pest and disease populations will be mean that their natural predators can thrive and control their populations naturally. My goal will to create a supportive environment for these beneficial predatory species to thrive.

Resistant varieties
Pest and disease resistant varieties will be regularly trialed. All species of crop varieties used on site's data will be recorded to keep track of their success or demise and their resistance to pest and disease.  Identifying strong crop varieties will be paramount  and  incorporating these into polycropping guilds that support each other will be undertaken to improve pest and disease resistance.

Preventative management

Crop management  systems will be managed to ensure crop and soil health is maintained and regenerated to reduce likely hood of pests and disease. Having diverse polycropping systems with roots in the soil, a strong water management plan, crop rotation and nutrient management practices will be adhered to to ensure optimal health of soil and plants to reduce pest and disease pressure.

Habitats

Piles of sticks, leaves and natural mulched areas will be installed and created around the site to create natural habitats for beneficial predatory species. 'Bug hotels' will be created. *Biological control of pests will be an integral part of my IPM system, whether intentionally releasing specific predator species via BioForce species or naturally encouraging these species with leaving some pests for them to consume and creating a habitat with flower species, plants and brown areas of leaves, mulches etc.

Mechanical controls

Physical traps such as traps, sticky traps, pheromone traps, lures and barriers will be used when necessary. Physical control via high pressure hose spraying, hand removal or squishing of pests will also be used for pest instances.

Permitted materials

Refer Appendix B

Restricted materials

Refer Appendix B

Prohibited materials
Synthetic  pesticides and herbicides will never be used.

Thermal sterilisation

Not yet required.

Harvesting , Packing, storage and transport 3.6

Harvesting of crops has not yet commenced, this will be evaluated in later reports.

System Operations have been evaluated via a system plan found here on the Site Analysis page. 

• Requirements of the Standards

  • Harvesting
    Containers, gloves, harvesting equipment, and machinery used for harvesting certified crops should be dedicated to organic use only. If machinery is also used for harvesting conventional crops then it must be cleaned according to a BioGro approved procedure prior to entering the certified area. The cleaning must ensure that:

    1. certified produce can not be contaminated; and

    2. plant material and soil from a conventional property are not brought onto the certified
       Property.

Currently only hand plucking and small secateurs, as well as buckets and chiller bags have been used for harvest. All tools and gloves thoroughly cleaned before use. All greens gentle washed and no cross over with produce outside of my organic compliance site will occur. I must be mindful that I am close to neighbouring gardens that could cause contamination.

• Staff awareness
  All harvesting staff must be aware of the need to maintain the integrity of certified organic produce and following agreed procedures to ensure this.

All those members helping me harvest have been made aware that this is an organic site and no contamination can occur. They are given tools and gloves to use to ensure this.

• Burning of crop residues
  Burning of crop residues can only be done with prior written approval from BioGro. Approval will only be granted in extreme cases, such as for disease control.

Won’t be burning crop residues.

• Cleaning
  Any washing, packing, and processing of crops must be in:

  1. equipment dedicated to organic crops; or

  2. equipment that has been cleaned according to BioGro approved procedures and cleaning materials since the last use for uncertified crops or crops of different certification status.
     Crops currently being washed at home in kitchen sink where cross contamination could occur. Need dedicated wash and pack room to avoid any contamination.

12

If cleaning by hand is insufficient, then air-blasting, water-blasting, steam cleaning, or flushing with potable water, will be required. Where necessary flushing with a sacrificed portion of the crop may also be required

• Washing water
  Water used for washing produce must be of potable quality.
  
  

Using home mains filtered water of high quality

• Grain drying
  If grain requires drying to bring the moisture content below acceptable levels then this should be done immediately after harvest, with indirect heat.
  The moisture content must be kept below these levels during storage to ensure food safety requirements are met.

Nil.

g. Storage

Produce in storage must be protected from contact with all prohibited and restricted materials Where uncertified produce or produce of different certification status is also stored there then:

1. containers must be clearly marked as organic with the certification status of the produce; and

2. segregation from uncertified produce or produce of a different certification status must be
   guaranteed; and

3. staff must be aware of the organic status and the certification status of the produce and
   following agreed procedures to ensure the above.
   
   All produce was collected in clean buckets and chiller bins that were dedicated for organic produce only. No cross over from conventional produce occurred.
   
   

• Permitted pest control materials
  The following pest control methods are permitted for packing and storage facilities:

  1. high pressure water;

  2. controlled atmosphere, e.g. airtight silo with carbon dioxide or nitrogen;

  3. quick-freezing;

  4. heat treatment; and

  5. forced air circulation.

• Restricted pest control materials
  The use of pyrethrum is restricted and must have prior written approval by BioGro. The use of permitted pest controls above must be fully explored before the use of pyrethrum can be considered. Pyrethrum products used can not contain the synergist piperonyl butoxide.

• Rodent control
  Prior approval must be obtained from BioGro for use of chemical/synthetic materials. This must be by the use of bait stations, and the bait stations must be outside food handling areas.
  
  IPM has been used for pest control, with the use of hand removal and high pressure water hose blasting.

k. Transportation

During any transport of produce away from the certified area its integrity must be protected:

1. Where there is a risk of airborne contamination then containers must be sealed or covered
   or transported in enclosed or curtain-sider vehicles.

No risk of contamination as I am sole trader and transporter so no other produce will be in the same vehicle at the same time as my organically produced produce is.

2. Containers must be clearly marked as organic, and labelled with the grower’s name and BioGro
   number, and the name and organic status of the produce.

Need to label containers. Not yet achieved status

3. Segregation from uncertified produce and produce of a different status must be guaranteed.

Awareness of other produce will paramount at all times, keeping organically produced produce from my site separate at all times.

4. Drivers and staff involved in loading and unloading must be aware of the importance of the
   organic integrity of the produce.

Drivers have been informed of the importance of our organically produced produce, ensuring that there is to be no damage or cross contamination.

l. Parallel production

Where parallel harvesting, storage and transport occurs special attention must be directed to:

1. The identification of certified produce to distinguish it from produce that is uncertified or of
   different certification status using such things as different colour bin cards.

2. The separation distances between certified (including between produce of different status)
   and uncertified produce.

3. The keeping of records to enable traceability.

4. Staff awareness of the need to maintain the integrity of the certified produce.

Not in use just yet. 

m. Packaging

Packaging must:

1. be materials that will prevent contamination of the product;

2. use compliant labelling;

3. protect the contents from damage; and

4. optimise the ongoing quality of the produce.

Currently using new sealable zip lock bags for washed greens, twine ties for bundles of root crops. Compliant labeling, not yet certified organic so not included in label. Bags and chilly bins protect from damage and optimise the ongoing quality and freshness of the produce.

Packaging must comply with the requirements of Module 14 Distribution Standard Section 4.5.1.

n. Distribution and retail

Licensees responsible for distribution and/or retailing of their own produce must ensure that the produce is correctly labelled in compliance with Module 3 Certification System sections 4.3.1, 4.4.1, 4.5, 7.8, and Module 14 Distribution Standard section 4.8.2.