Choosing a site
When we are looking for suitable sites for a Gardens of Love community, there are a few things to consider.
- The farm lies on a roughly south-facing hill, meaning we get a large amount of sunshine year-round.
- There are large fields. This makes it easy to divide them up into 1 ha garden plots, and most of those plots will have little shade, making it easier to work with when creating a garden design.
- There are forests. This is important, as it takes a long time for forests to get established, and they are very important for wildlife, for braking the wind-speed and for the local climate: moderating temperature and stimulating rainfall.
- The farm lies next to a village or town by a good, but not very busy road, and the access road mainly goes to this farm;
- The farm is quite large, this will make it possible to have a substantial number of Gardens, needed to make the community sustainable in the long run.
It is useful to choose a farm that covers land from the top of a ridge of a hill, all the way down to the bottom. This way we can be sure that water running down into our ponds and lakes isn’t contaminated by someone else’s activities.
Higher up there is usually more forest, lower down there are mainly fields, usually with a stream or a gully in the middle, leading water down to the valley. Down in the valley a river or stream will take the water away.