A good satellite garden site has reachable water, enough sun, workable soil and no frost pocket, and lies 200 m to 2 km from the base in a spot that people travelling by road, trail or stream do not pass. The sites that are easiest to farm tend to be the easiest to find, so trade each quality against the others and walk the site as a stranger would before planting.
Part of Defensive Agriculture
A satellite garden is a small plot placed away from the main garden and the base, each growing a different crop mix to spread risk.
Four Needs, One Constraint
The parent article asks for satellite gardens at distances of 200 m to 2 km from the base, each growing different crops, in locations difficult to find from trails and roads: forest clearings, south-facing slopes hidden by terrain, abandoned lot corners, behind dense vegetation screens. “South-facing” is right for the northern hemisphere and reversed in the southern.
A plot has to meet the ordinary needs of any garden first:
- Water. Streams, seeps and wells are also where people and animals gather; a plot beside a trail to the water is easy to find. A plot with no water needs carried water or crops that need little.
- Sun. Most food crops need most of the day in direct sun; a hidden hollow may be too shaded.
- Soil. Check depth and drainage; see Mulching for suppressing weeds and holding water on a plot you cannot irrigate.
- Frost. Cold air pools in hollows at night, so a sheltered hollow can lose crops to frost that the slope above escapes; see Cold Air Drainage & Frost Pockets.
The constraint is the one that cuts against the others: places that are sunny, watered and easy to reach are often places people already walk.
Method: Choose And Check A Site
Step 1: List candidate sites by terrain. Mark them within the 200 m to 2 km band. Prefer places with a natural screen (a ridge, dense growth, a hollow) between the plot and the nearest trail.
Step 2: Walk the approaches. Walk to each site from the road, the trail and the water as an outsider would, not from your own base. Look at the site from each; a plot hidden from your path may be plain from another.
Step 3: Look in the right season. Look again in the season you will plant and harvest. A deciduous screen that hides a summer plot is bare in winter; see Hidden Garden Placement.
Step 4: Estimate the walking time. At 4 to 5 km/h, 2 km takes 24 to 30 minutes each way, and 200 m takes under 3 minutes. A site you must visit daily should be near; one visited weekly can be far.
Step 5: Give each site a different job. Assign crops by what suits the ground and by what can be left alone (root crops that need little tending; see Camouflaged Crop Selection).
Common Mistakes
- Choosing the best ground first. It is also the most visited. Choose from places that are hard to find, then check they will grow food.
- Every site by the same stream. One trail to the water finds all of them.
- No frost check. The hidden hollow loses the crop.
- Forgetting ownership. Planting on land someone else uses invites a quarrel; see Wild Planting and Guerrilla Gardening.
- Visiting by the same route. A track appears; vary the approach.
Remote plots are lone-worker risks
A fall, a cut or an animal encounter far from the base is more serious than the same event near it. Go in pairs where possible, tell the base your route and return time, and carry water. Do not make the walk in the dark or in bad weather for a plot that can wait.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Hidden Garden Placement — screening the site from the trails
- Combine with: Forest Gardens and Food Forests — a low-maintenance site type