Chapter 3 Selecting a site

If you are creating a serious vegetable garden designed to feed a family, you will be spending many hours a week there. Some of that will be hard work, some will be light work and some will be pottering around in a lovely dream. There will also be times when you're running from the kitchen to the garden to harvest the next meal. As such, these were the first points I considered:

• I wanted the site close to the home for convenience.
• I wanted a nice outlook and an unobstructed view to see visitors to our house. 

Access was an important consideration.

• I made sure the site could be accessed by the builder and building equipment, such as cars, trailers, trucks and tractors.
• Once a structure was built I still wanted good access for any deliveries of manure, compost and other materials.
• I wanted enough room around the built structure for my own equipment, particularly wheelbarrows and garden tools, but maybe a small vehicle. 
• Access to water was vital. For my property, this meant laying pipes underground from our dam and setting up a water tank. I'll provide more details about irrigation in another chapter.

Other factors to consider:

• Living in the southern hemisphere, maximum north light was important so the site I chose couldn't be blocked by walls or evergreen trees, especially in winter. 
• We needed to check the ground for any subsurface rocks that would make digging difficult or even impossible.
• Did we need a barrier from strong winds?  
• Flat land was more convenient but a slight slope was still manageable.  
• There were very large trees nearby, on the south side. Would these become a nuisance? 
• What plants were on the site and would these need to be removed?

The site I chose was close to the house and had good north light. I could see visitors approaching and it had a nice view of the forest so that ticked the first boxes. However, the ground sloped down, which meant a more complicated build. It was also located quite close to gum trees and over time, I started to find their strong roots growing thickly in the garden beds. Branches also fell off the trees but fortunately there was no damage. It was something to be aware of though.

Strong winds and storms were frequent in the area and the site I chose was protected from sea breezes but not battering storms. Creating a good wind block was something I'd need to work on.

My region received a lot of rain, about 1300mm a year, mostly in autumn and winter, but the ground had good drainage so flooding was never an issue. During summer there was little rain so the land dried out quickly - it was essential to have irrigation. The site I chose was close to the farm dam so it could provide the water for the garden via a few new pipes.

The topsoil was basically grey sand. Under that was clay. It was almost bare in summer and covered in weed in winter, mainly useless capeweed. I would have to prepare and purchase all the soil for he garden if it was going to be productive.

Many farms in Australia are covered in kikuyu grass. In our area, kike as it was called, was everywhere and was basically like the Terminator - you could kill it but it kept coming back to life. Mulching did not work, no matter how thick. Fortunately there was only a small patch of kike on my chosen site but it still had to be removed. We waited till summer when the grass was dry and weak. Then, using a tractor, we dug out the layer of kike and most of its roots. Talk about beginning with a clean slate! Even then, I knew I had to keep an eye out for any new runners.

The photo above shows the site of my garden with the first pegs in place. As you can see, the ground looks pretty barren. The tank in view was water only for household use. We were not connected to mains so relied on this tank for all our drinking and cleaning.

Setting out the first pegs was exciting. But firstly I had to design the garden and whatever structures I wanted. Check out the next chapter on 'Design' to find out more. (Coming soon - subscribe to be notified of new chapters)