diff --git a/src/main/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonPlantDatabase.java b/src/main/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonPlantDatabase.java
index f4872ae..3f84f23 100644
--- a/src/main/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonPlantDatabase.java
+++ b/src/main/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonPlantDatabase.java
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.io;
 
-import ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.types.GrowthPhase;
 import ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.types.HardinessZone;
 import ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.types.Plant;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
@@ -32,6 +31,7 @@ public class JsonPlantDatabase implements PlantDatabase {
      * Creating constant objects required to deserialize the {@link MonthDay} classes
      */
     private final static JavaTimeModule timeModule = new JavaTimeModule();
+
     static {
         DateTimeFormatter dateFormat = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM-dd");
         MonthDayDeserializer dateDeserializer = new MonthDayDeserializer(dateFormat);
@@ -82,21 +82,16 @@ public class JsonPlantDatabase implements PlantDatabase {
             List<Plant> result;
             result = mapper.readerForListOf(Plant.class).readValue(dataSource);
 
-            for (Plant plant : result) {
-                // for discussion because of failing tests:
-                // for(GrowthPhase growthPhase: plant.lifecycle()) {
-                //    if(growthPhase.zone()==zone) {
-                //      keep in result, remove if no match
-                //    }
-                // }
-                plant.inZone(currentZone);
-            }
-
-            // Turn list into a HashMap with structure id => Plant
             plantMap = result.stream()
+                    // Remove plants not in the current zone
+                    .filter(plant -> {
+                        plant.inZone(currentZone);
+                        return !plant.lifecycle().isEmpty();
+                    })
+                    // Create Hashmap from results
                     .collect(HashMap::new,
                             (res, plant) -> res.put(plant.id(), plant),
-                            (existing, replacement) -> { });
+                            (existing, replacement) -> {});
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonGardenPlanTest.java b/src/test/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonGardenPlanTest.java
index d6e165b..ea22b3b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonGardenPlanTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/ch/zhaw/gartenverwaltung/io/JsonGardenPlanTest.java
@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
 package ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.io;
 
 import ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.types.Crop;
-import ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.types.HardinessZone;
-import ch.zhaw.gartenverwaltung.types.Plant;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.DisplayName;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.text.ParseException;
-import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;
 import java.time.LocalDate;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -18,15 +19,24 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 public class JsonGardenPlanTest {
-    GardenPlan testDatabase;
-    DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd.MM.yyyy");
+    private GardenPlan testDatabase;
+    private final DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd");
+    /**
+     * Files to isolate the test-units
+     */
+    private final URL dbDataSource = this.getClass().getResource("user-crops.json");
+    private final URL testFile = this.getClass().getResource("test-user-crops.json");
 
     @BeforeEach
-    void connectToDb() {
-        testDatabase = new JsonGardenPlan();
+    void connectToDb() throws URISyntaxException, IOException {
+        assertNotNull(testFile);
+        assertNotNull(dbDataSource);
+        Files.copy(Path.of(testFile.toURI()), Path.of(dbDataSource.toURI()), StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
+        testDatabase = new JsonGardenPlan(dbDataSource);
     }
 
 
@@ -42,19 +52,14 @@ public class JsonGardenPlanTest {
         Assertions.assertEquals(3, testList.size());
 
         List<Long> plantIds = testList.stream().map(Crop::getPlantId).collect(Collectors.toList());
-        List<Long> expected = Arrays.asList(1l, 1l, 0l);
+        List<Long> expected = Arrays.asList(1L, 1L, 0L);
         Assertions.assertEquals(expected, plantIds);
     }
 
     @Test
     @DisplayName("Check whether single access works.")
-    void getCropById() {
-        Optional<Crop> testCrop;
-        try {
-            testCrop = testDatabase.getCropById(1);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
-        }
+    void getCropById() throws IOException {
+        Optional<Crop> testCrop = testDatabase.getCropById(1);
         assertTrue(testCrop.isPresent());
         Assertions.assertEquals(1, testCrop.get().getPlantId());
     }
@@ -62,31 +67,22 @@ public class JsonGardenPlanTest {
 
     @Test
     @DisplayName("Check for a nonexisting crop.")
-    void getCropByIdMustFail() {
-        Optional<Crop> testCrop;
-        try {
-            testCrop = testDatabase.getCropById(99);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
-        }
+    void getCropByIdMustFail() throws IOException {
+        Optional<Crop> testCrop = testDatabase.getCropById(99);
         Assertions.assertFalse(testCrop.isPresent());
     }
 
     @Test
     @DisplayName("Add new Crop.")
     void addNewCrop() {
-        Crop crop = new Crop(2l, LocalDate.parse("22.02.2023", formatter));
+        Crop crop = new Crop(3L, LocalDate.parse("2023-02-22", formatter));
         try {
             testDatabase.saveCrop(crop);
             assertTrue(crop.getCropId().isPresent());
-            Optional<Crop> testCrop;
-            try {
-                testCrop = testDatabase.getCropById(crop.getCropId().get());
-            } catch (IOException e) {
-                throw new RuntimeException(e);
-            }
+            Optional<Crop> testCrop = testDatabase.getCropById(crop.getCropId().get());
+
             assertTrue(testCrop.isPresent());
-            Assertions.assertEquals(2l, testCrop.get().getPlantId());
+            Assertions.assertEquals(crop, testCrop.get());
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
@@ -96,10 +92,10 @@ public class JsonGardenPlanTest {
     @DisplayName("Remove crop")
     void removeCrop(){
         try {
-            Optional<Crop> crop = testDatabase.getCropById(2l);
+            Optional<Crop> crop = testDatabase.getCropById(2L);
             Assertions.assertTrue(crop.isPresent());
             testDatabase.removeCrop(crop.get());
-            crop = testDatabase.getCropById(2l);
+            crop = testDatabase.getCropById(2L);
             Assertions.assertFalse(crop.isPresent());
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);