Make the best of what you have!
Question: I need help.. Any good knowledgeable gardener that would give me some ideas on where to plant and put everything. Here's a quick chicken scratch drawing of where things are located. Objectives are a chicken coop, any other animals(rabbits, quail), water figured out, compost pile,bath tub worm beds, and as much food as possible growing on one acre. The red line on the paper is going to be a fence. The well is old, pump holding tank all of it is no good. I'm not sure the water would even be drinkable at this point. The Creek is really not a good option either. So I'm thinking,rain catchment and filter it. My plan was to sell and buy more acreage somewhere but life doesn't go as we plan, So I've got to make the best of this one acre. I am trying to figure out where to put everything. I have one pine tree on the left that some things can't be grown by but a lot of things can. Things that need a lot of water, probably need to be planted by the creek because it freaking floods. If anyone has any good ideas on how to set up, that would be great.Any help is appreciated.
The questioner added lines to show slope…. I've flipped the photo over so North is at the top.
Answer: You have plenty of room to grow tons of food. We do in Michigan and ours is only 3/4 of an acre.
You will have different seasons though a few cool seasons and HOT. Make sure you are following garden groups for YOUR area for best success. In the FB search bar type "Arkansas garden" to see what's available. Then read like crazy...
North is at the bottom of the page and your septic tank is at the south side of the house. How far out does your leach field go on that side of the house? Don't plant on that south side: leech field and critters coming and going at the water.
Since you're in Arkansas, I recommend planting on the north side - out away from the house at least 6 feet. This will give you a small bit of shade but your garden will get plenty of heat and sunshine. Fruit trees to the west of the garden is good. Food forest plan with permaculture techniques will help save a lot of time and labor.
🌞Full sun (especially in Arkansas) isn't really sunrise to sunset. It's 6-8 hours. Plants don't do as well with zero shade all day. Also be sure to plant varieties that thrive in YOUR area.
Here's how I would plan it out - not likely to scale but to give you an idea
Small square is coop and circle as run
Large squares are all available to in ground gardening.
Green lines are all valid spot for fruit trees - keep them SHORT to reach the fruit.
Square to the north of the oak could easily be an herb area.
Gardens out in your daily line of vision - much easier to maintain by looking from inside to remind you of what needs to be done "next". More human traffic and noises can discourage critters and its a ton easier to unload garden supplies right from the driveway.
Gardens surround chickens - easy to toss weeds and scraps to them and to scoop their used bedding into the garden area.
Coop as close to the house as possible to discourage critters from eating chickens and make caring for them easier as you'll be out there at least 2x every day. Winds usually come from the west and south so you won't smell them very often.
Consider putting in a fire pit and relax area over the leech field and never drive over it. Small raised beds/containers can be used in that area but don't get big and heavy. Flowers and other non edibles could be grow in-ground over the leech field but nothing edible or with deep roots.
