The reset at Umu i te Mamaku / The Riverside Farm

Farmers Lydia, Roy, Fin, Hayley and Elise at Riverside Farm

Farmers Hayley & Kate at Riverside Farm

Riverside Farm during the reset

This winter has been an opportune time to do a reset on our main plot at our production farm. A reset is necessary due to intense weed pressure particularly couch grass and dock.

We removed the top layer of soil, then used broadforks to loosen the soil enough to pull out the couch grass roots. After the weeds were removed, we used a combination of soil conditioners and fertiliser such as blood & bone, gypsum and a special fish brew from Jules Matthews of Mangaroa Farms. We followed this with a cover crop of peas, oats, phacelia, mustard, lupin and buckwheat, then covered to allow it to germinate. We spray more of the fish brew every two weeks, as per the advice from Jules. In Spring we will cut the cover crops back and dig them into the soil, then we can start to assess how well this process has worked.

We have only been using about half of the plot due to the reset. In that half we are growing broccoli, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, garlic, spring onions, lettuce, mizuna, beetroot, radish, spinach, silverbeet, parsley and coriander.

This process may need to be repeated, as one season of cover crop may not be enough to get the weeds under control. We are looking at this plan as a long term solution to really get the main plot back into shape, which has pumped out over 5000kg of produce since 2020!

Jules Matthews has been guiding us through this reset process. She kindly volunteered her time and donated seed and a special brew to help us get started. She is a queen of soil science, we are incredibly grateful to have her support in this.