No, it’s not about the sun (we don’t have any here). It’s about laying out the field for the coming year’s production. Now that we’ve sealed the deal on the land, we have to figure out how we’re going to fit everything onto it. This involved scanning aerial photographs, downloading satellite imagery, copying FEMA floodmaps, and compositing it all in my CAD software with some site survey data I had from another project. It ended up looking sortof like this. Then, I drew the beds and trees we were planing on putting in, and held my breath. It turns out I needn’t have worried… we have about four times the space we need.
This morning, I went out and used the GPS in my phone to plot the locations of the trees. This is important; there aren’t many trees on the site, but the ones that are there are HUGE… about 200 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter at the base. They aren’t going anywhere. Again, luck prevailed, and they are standing respectfully to the side, much like guardian sentries, and their considerable shadows will be free of the prime planting areas for most of the day.
So how do I know where the prime planting areas are? The blackberries told me. They are growing quite nicely in about half the plot, enjoying the perfect combination of light, water, and good drainage. They will be my NEXT challenge.
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