Lesson Structure:  Commercial Organic Vegetable Growing VHT241

There are 12 lessons:

1  Introduction

• Organic Growing and it’s definitions
• Influential people in the organic movement
• Different ways to grow -permaculture, biodynamics, etc.
• Organic certification
• Transition to organic production
• Management Plan
• Industry awareness
• Resources and Networking
• Understanding Plant Names

2  Cultivation and Planting

• Cultivation methods
• Crop rotation
• Green manures
• No dig growing
• Planting
• Sowing vegetable seed outside
• Germinating indoors
• Transplanting seedlings
• Crowns, offsets, tubers
• Crop scheduling
• Tillage, Ripping, Harrowing, Dis ploughing, etc
• Tractors

3  Soils and Nutrition

• Physical soil properties -profile, texture, etc
• Chemical properties -pH, cation exchange capacity, buffering etc.
• Soil water, air, temperature
• Humus and Organic matter
• Nutrient elements
• Organic Fertilizers
• Animal manure
• Liquid feeds in an organic system
• Rock dusts
• Diagnosing nutritional problems

4  Soil Management

• Importance of soil
• Cultivation techniques
• Cover crops
• Green manures
• Nitrogen fixation
• Rhizobium bacteria
• Mycorrhizae
• Composting
• Hot heaps vs cold

5  Review of Major Vegetable Varieties

• Getting the best from an organic vegetable plot
• Vegetable Directory -Beans, Beetroot, Broccoli, Sprouts, Cabbacge, Capsicum, Carrot, Cauliflower, Corn, Celery, Eggplant. Lettuce, Onion, Pak Choi, Parsnip, Pea, Potato, Pumpkin, Marrow, Squash, Radish, Spinich Turnip
• Transplanting Guide

6  Pests and Disease

• Integrated Pest Management
• Allowable Inputs
• Understanding Pest and Disease
• Understanding Other Plant Problems
• Lifecycles
• Review of common problems
• Companion Planting

7  Seed

• Organic seed
• Seed production -preventing cross pollination
• Choosing seed plants for vegetable crops
• Collecting seeds
• Cleaning and storing seed
• Seed germination

8  Greenhouse Growing

• Types of greenhouses
• Framing and covering materials
• What greenhouse is appropriate
• Siting a greenhouse
• Benching
• Greenhouse hygiene
• Problems with greenhouses
• Other structures -cold frames, shade houses
• Environmental controls
• Heating, Cooling
• Controlling light
• Growing media
• Fertigation in organic systems
• Carbon dioxide enrichment
• Irrigation Methods
• Crops Directory -Tomatoes, Cucumber, Melons, Zucchini

9  Lesser Grown Varieties and Herbs

• Growing herbs
• Review of many culinary herbs-Alliums, Corriander, Mints, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Pasley, Savory, Thyme, etc.
• Review of lesser grown vegetables -Amaranth, Artichoke, Asparagus, Cassava, Chicory, Dandelion, Garlic, Endive, Ginger, Horseradish, Chicory, Mint, Leek, Okra, Pigface, Rhubarb, Sweet Potato, Warrigul Greens, Taro, Yams, etc

10  Irrigation

• Irrigation objectives and feasibility
• Soil and water
• Understanding classes of soil moisture
• Soil and transpiration
• Field capacity
• Permenant Wilting point
• Tensiometers
• When to irrigate
• Scheduling irrigation
• When to irrigate
• Cyclic watering
• Pulse watering
• Plant root depth
• Irrigation type -flood, sprinkler, ytickle etc.
• Portable, permenant or travelling sprinklers
• Sprinklet spacings

11 Mulching and Weeds

• Understanding mulch
• Types of mulch materials
• Rules for using mulch
• Living mulch
• Weed Management
• Preventing weeds

12 Harvesting and Marketing

• Harvesting techniques
• PostHarvest quality considerations
• Harvesting hints
• Post harvest treatment of vegetables -field processing
• Cooling
• Quality standards
• Monitoring and reviewing
• Marketing
• Business capabilities
• Market research
• Target marketing
• Understanging economics

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Learning Goals:   Commercial Organic Vegetable Growing VHT241

• Discuss general horticulture and plant taxonomy principles
• Describe a range of cultivation and planting techniques
• Explain soil properties, and their relationship to organic plant production
• Diagnose basic soil nutrient deficiencies
• Discus major and minor commercial vegetable varieties
• Describe a variety of pest and disease management principles
• Explain the use of seed in commercial organic agriculture, including storage, viability, germination, genetic purity, and hybridisation
• Discuss the principles of greenhouse growing
• Describe a variety of irrigation methods suitable for organic vegetable production
• Explain organic weed control methods
• Explain issues relating to harvesting and marketing of vegetables

What You Will Do:

• Compile reference lists of vegetable varieties, industry contacts, organic fertilisers and pest control products, etc.
• Evaluate the merits and deficiencies of agricultural equipment and products
• Build a no-dig garden and monitor its progress
• Classify soils
• Evaluate the role of soil organisms
• Identify nutrient deficiencies such as nitrogen deficiency
• Build composts
• Evaluate seed sources and plant varieties
• Perform sowing and germination trials
• Evaluate the merits and deficiencies of greenhouse growing
• Evaluate the principles of irrigation
• Perform mulching trials
• Evaluate pricing, packaging and presentation of retail vegetables

Your tutor for this course is:

Susan Stephenson
BSc in Applied Plant Biology (Botany) Univ. London 1983.
City and guilds: Garden Centre Management, Management and Interior Decor (1984)
Management qualifications in training with retail store. Diploma in Hort level 2 (RHS General) Distinction. 

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