Designing a Food Forest in a Temperate Environment: A Step-by-Step Guide (Part 2) - SITE SELECTION

Designing a Food Forest in a Temperate Environment: A Step-by-Step Guide (Part 2)

An in depth look at site selection

Have you read Part 1- OVERVIEW? Read it now.

Site selection can make or break a garden! There are a lot of things to consider, but it’s doable with a little planning.

There is only one spot on my ¼ acre block suitable for a food forest so site selection is not difficult. However I can study the site for a whole year first to really understand it under all seasons and conditions. This will help me design a better food forest. I have made several observations so far, I will cover them in detail here.

Sunlight 

In Australia we get a lot of sun! And that sun is very harsh due to our thin ozone layer and lack of pollution. We have one of the highest UV ratings in the world. SOOOOOO when you hear a UK gardener say “full sun” or “summer crop” they do not mean Australian sun!! Technically full sun is 6 to 8 hours per day. In Canberra on the summer solstice we get nearly 15 hours of sunlight!!! That is that's two days of “full sun” and even in winter we get 10 hours or so. If you live in the sub-tropics, tropics or dessert you will get more than that!

I have found sun mapping to be very useful to understand how much sun my garden site will get through the different seasons and where the shadows will fall. I have used this app/website (https://www.suncalc.org) to do the sun mapping as well as taking photos of the site at different dates/times throughout the day and year and also making notes.

From these observations I have learnt that I will need sun loving plants for the most part and it would be good to create more shade with more trees/shrubs.

Soil 

Assessing soil quality is another crucial factor in garden site selection. Conduct a soil test first to rule out the presence of any contaminates.

It’s free to get your soil tested for harmful things in Australia - https://www.360dustanalysis.com/pages/vegesafe-about

Nutrients: Then if you are good to grow, test to determine its pH level and nutrient content. I did a free at home test (The Pantry Soil pH Test) but you could buy a kit from the garden center for more accurate results. This is a whole topic on it’s own and there is a lot of good info out there (and some bad info it is the internet guys). My soil is a little acidic so I am going to add a little bit of bone meal (Blood&Bone) over time and lot’s of compost.

Texture: Then test for soil texture. I used the Peanut Butter Jar Test and found my soil a bit clay heavy. So I am adding a lot of organic matter and compost as well as sowing a cover crop. 

Water

Efficient drainage is vital to prevent water logging, which can lead to root rot, nutrient leaching, and overall plant stress. And on the other extreme, water is a precious resource, and efficient water retention is crucial for the health and vitality of your garden. So you need to evaluate your areas rainfall and your garden's soil type and structure and the garden slope to determine its water potential.

Rainfall: Here in Canberra we get quite a lot of rain in winter and not much in summer but we tend to get light all day drizzle in winter and only a few heavy downpours in summer. Although this year has been a very wet and cold summer so you never know! You can get exact rainfall numbers from the BOM but I found that general patterns are more useful. How much rain do you get at one time (big storm or drizzle)? How long between rain events? How many rain events each month or season? Are these patterns predictable?

Slope: This food Forrest area slops by about 30% towards the east/the road. So this is quite a bit for a suburban backyard.

Soil Type: From before I know I have clay-ish soil which tends to store water and get boggy.

So adding all these factors up and using observation, I see that when it drizzles all day in winter the soil here takes up and retains a lot of that water creating several boggy patches in the future food forest. In summer when we get big downpours the soil is hard and dry and this rain tends to run off very quickly down the steep slope and not soak in very much at all. I want to change this to try to even this out throughout the year so I don’t have to irrigate the food forest. SO I am going to dig some on contour ditches (also known as swales). This is a big deal and a big topic. I’m going to follow the tutorials and guidance from Geoff Lawton because he is a permaculture practitioner with has years of experience with the Australian landscape.

Water Access/Irrigation: If you are going to water or irrigate the garden in addition to rainfall you need to consider the practical 'hows'. How far are you from a tap/spigot? How much will the water cost you if buying from the grid? Can you store rainwater in a tank? Is your water hard or soft? How will you get it to your plants - watering can? Drip lines? Soaker hose?. This can quickly become an expense adventure in both time and money, which is why I am trying to do this passively with swales.

Mulching: Mulching plays a crucial role in water conservation. Apply a layer of organic mulch around your plants to retain soil moisture, reduce evaporation, and control weed growth. This helps to maintain a more consistent soil moisture level and minimize the need for frequent watering. It also keeps weeds down so I am all for mulching! But there is a sweet spot for mulching, not enough and you get weeds, too much and the water might run off. I try to mulch about 3cm thick with a native chip bark which seems to do the trick here in Canberra.

Micro-climates

Consider the conditions in each small area of your garden. Heat retention from buildings, sun traps, frost traps, leaf litter and invasive roots from trees will all effect the growth of your plants. Even the location of weeds can tell you things. I have done this by walking around the garden over the year and taking photos and making notes. For example, in Jan (summer) I noticed that in the afternoon the area near the brick house is very hot from the retained heat of the day, almost too hot to touch! But in winter the bricks are pleasantly warm. The same can be observed for frost, we get a bit of frost here in Canberra, although no snow and it tends to get trapped in low lying areas, so the parts of my yard that are boggy in winter are also frost traps.

Other natural Factors

Pests: Garden pests can wreak havoc on your plants, very quickly undoing months/years of hard work. You need to identify your main pests in order to deter them. Observe the damage patterns, inspect leaves and stems, and seek guidance from gardening resources or local experts to accurately identify the pests and devise appropriate control measures. Here in Canberra our main pests are slugs, Cockatoo's, Magpies and rabbits. Each of these need different deterrents, but I am hoping the chickens (part of the Integrated Pest Management System, more on that in a later blog post) will help with the slugs. The fence should stop the rabbits, but I think I just have to co-exit with the Cockatoo's and Magpies.

Wind: Observe the prevailing wind direction in your area and how it interacts with your garden. Strong or constant winds can damage plants, especially tall or delicate varieties. Consider creating windbreaks using structures like fences, hedges, or trellises to shield plants from excessive wind exposure, or strategically position wind-tolerant plants in wind-prone areas. I live in suburbia and it is very still here so this is not an issue for me.

Extreme Weather: Some places get big storms, high winds, bushfires/Forrest fires, flood and so on that can quickly destroy a garden. This is a specialized topic that you need to consider if you have these kind of natural factors to consider. We get bad bushfires here and bushfires planning is a serious business.

Wildlife: If you want to encourage native wildlife into your food Forrest, incorporating native plants and habitat is a must. If you don't want specific wildlife see "Pests" above. By planting native species, you can create a more sustainable and resilient garden ecosystem. Maybe you can have the best of both worlds and choose plants that do double duty and feed both humans and native wildlife. Here in Canberra that could be Finger Lime (Citrus australasica) or Lilly Pilly (Syzygium spp.), but we will do in-depth plant selection at a later step of the process.

Other Factors

There are other factors you should consider when selecting a site for your garden. Proximity to your daily life is very important, see my other post of zones! Also foot traffic from people and pets will effect the practicality of your garden. Aesthetics are important especially if your neighbors will see the garden too. Do you have a HOA or council regulations that limit what you can do? Here in Canberra we have rules about verge plantings that I must follow. Do you have future plans for the garden? Will the kids outgrow the trampoline soon and you can have that real estate back? I would like to keep expanding the food forest every year so that is part of my plan. These are all important things to consider in the site selection.

In summary my site is already decided, but there are a few things I am going to do to make it more ideal:

• I need to create swales first.

• Then add a lot of organic matter to the growing soil and sow a chicken friendly cover crop.

• Then plan some long term trees for shade, without creating frost traps.

Then I can more onto the next step which is Space Planning. I will dedicate the next blog to a deep dive into this topic.

Was this helpful? Are you planning a garden or Food Forrest? Please let me know in the comments below.