The First Year

Before altering the shape of your garden, spend a year of observation and recording. This doesn't mean that you can't touch anything; it means that, by the end of the year, you'll have collected a solid bank of information.

Once you begin cultivation, you'll need as much compost as you can get. By the time your second year begins, aim to have a pile of compost and a set of records to provide the combination of nature and wisdom that will give your natural garden the best possible start. Just as a carefully made compost heap gives quicker and surer results than a haphazard pile, so will carefully recorded data lead to faster and surer understanding than random impressions.

Mapping light and shade

Draw a map to show all the permanent features. To do this, measure everything from two fixed points (such as the corners of the house). When you come to draw your master plan, choose a sensible scale and draw an arc with a pair of compasses from each fixed point to the feature in question. The point where the arc intersects gives its exact location. Record this on your master plan, and make several copies.

Use some of these copies to chart the changing light and shade patterns through the year. The nearer you are to the equator, the less this is likely to vary from season to season, but in higher latitudes the differences between summer and winter can be dramatic. Knowing how the shadows move enables you to make major decisions, such as whether to fell or lop an existing tree, as well as helping you to decide what plants do best in which positions, and sites for furniture.

Temperature

Light and shade patterns are easy to see, but temperatures may not tally with what you might expect, so invest in a thermometer. A max–min thermometer can be left in situ, and will indicate the highest and lowest temperatures that occur at any particular spot within whatever time has elapsed since it was last read and reset. Recording these two values on a year-long graph shows the differences between day and night. summer and winter, and provides a guide as to the level of hardiness or heat resistance your plants will require.

You can do this empirically, by placing just one thermometer on a shaded wall, or in greater detail by using a number of thermometers strategically scattered about the site.

Soil temperature may differ from air temperature dramatically, even between one place and another. It's worth making the effort to record soil temperatures. using a thermometer designed for this purpose.

Rainfall

You can obtain annual or monthly rainfall figures from your local meteorological office, but they only indicate the general state of affairs. Depending on local geography, your own garden may receive more or less than its share. It's easy to measure rainfall by means of a simple rain gauge (see diagram ***) sunk into the soil in an exposed position. This gives the overall rainfall for your site; if you plant more rain gauges in a variety of places, such as under trees and next to walls or hedges, you will be able to see where (and whether) these features influence the amount of rain reaching the ground. Measure and record daily or weekly amounts.

Wind

It's not hard to see where the prevailing wind comes from, just by looking around. Any existing trees and shrubs will tend to lean away from the main air stream. It is, however, more difficult to be aware of local currents and eddies, and their relative strengths. Buildings and trees, and the contour of the land. may increase or decrease the power of air currents, and can change or even reverse the direction of flow.

The simplest way of finding out which way the wind is blowing is the wet finger technique: you go to the place in question and hold tip a wet finger; the side that feels cold first is the side the wind is blowing from. Additional information about relative wind speeds can be obtained from a few simple wind-speed gauges scattered around the site.

These won't tell you the absolute wind speed, but if well placed they can give a good overall picture of where the wind is amplified or blocked. Combining each wind-speed gauge with a simple weather vane will tell you how the direction of air flow varies front place to place.

Recording temperature and rainfall

It takes just two minutes a day to record maximum and minimum temperatures. When it occurs, rainfall can neatly be incorporated with temperature plots on a single graph.

Making a rain gauge

Cut around the neck end of a flat-bottomed plastic bottle and reverse this section to create a funnel. Sink the bottle in the soil. Use CHECK the funnel to measure the depth of the water with ruler.

Water table

Somewhere under the ground there's generally a layer of dense soil or rock where the seepage of rainfall is blocked. Water collects on top of this layer, and the surface of this water is the water table. It may be just beneath the topsoil or hundreds of feet down. It makes practical sense to explore this in easy stages.

Do this at the wettest time of year, and begin by simply digging a hole and covering it over to prevent rain falling in. If water collects in the hole, that's your water table. If no water collects, even after more digging, then you will have to use a more technical approach. One method is to drive a narrow vertical shaft with a rigid rod and a mallet, withdraw the rod and replace it with a perforated pipe.

If water collects in the pipe, you can use a plumb-line or dipstick, or devise a floating indicator, to measure its position.

The water table can be different in different places, so do this exercise in several locations. It may also change throughout the year, for reasons ranging from heavy seasonal rainfall to heavy water extraction by local farmers or water authorities. This information will be relevant when planning the different aspects of your garden, from digging ponds to planting trees.

For most practical purposes, there's not a great deal to be gained from going to the trouble of exploring deeper than 6 or 7 ft (2 m), unless you plan to sink a well or establish a naturally forming pond.

Land profile

Drawing a profile map is easier than it may seem (see diagram ***). Imagine a horizontal plate balanced on the highest point; then measure down from this notional plate to ground level.

Alternatively, you can mark out contour lines using a hose level.A hose level can be made with a length of garden hose, plus a short length of clear tubing at each end attached to a rigid graduated stick. The hose is filled with water until the level can be seen in both clear tubes.

Keeping the water at the same level in both tubes, enanbles the pegging out of contour lines around a slope. By creating a differential you can mark out a tall line for drainage or irrigation purposes.

Both methods can be scaled up or down to meet your needs. Record the results as a series of "slices" through your garden. If you can make a model in plasticine based on these measurements, it will be useful for predicting likely water flow and thus help to form an irrigation or drainage plan.
The profile of your site, especially when coupled with careful temperature records, can also help you to identify any frost pockets.

Frost pockets

Just as hot air rises, cold air sinks. It can flow down a slope to collect in a hollow at the bottom, and if it's cold enough, it creates a frost pocket. A true frost pocket (not a totally frozen garden) can be modified by simply erecting a barrier—a wall or hedge—to prevent the air running down, almost as if it were water.

With a wall, it's advisable to provide some perforations to allow some leakage, thus preventing a new frost pocket forming above the wall, or . a "flood" of cold air suddenly pouring over the top of it.

Combining temperature measurements with profile details can be helpful in indicating where frost is likely to he a problem, and where this remedy is most likely to be successful.

Soil texture

In general, soil particles range from clay (small) to the large (gravel), with sand in between. Most soils consist of a mixture of different-sized particles, together with variable amounts of organic matter, or humus. A simple and accurate test for soil consistency is to shake a sample of soil in a jar of water and allow it to settle. Gravel and stones will instantly fall to the bottom; the smaller grades will settle out on top of them in order of size; humus will tend to float on the surface.

Out in the garden, there is another simple spot test. If you can squeeze a damp pinch of soil into a coherent lump, then you have a clay soil: the more it resembles modelling clay, the larger the proportion of clay. Sandy soil won't stick together at all; in between sand and clay, you will find a range of cohesiveness. Again, test the soil in different places and at different depths; the results are almost certain to vary.

These investigations will tell you how good at holding water your soil is and help to indicate which plants will be most comfortable there.

Soils with a high proportion of clay hold water well, but they are apt to become waterlogged. When clay soil dries out it can become a hard, compacted pan with deep fissures that drain away rain before it can penetrate properly.

Clay can also be slow to wake up in spring, and contains less air than lighter soils. The air content is important, because roots need to respire.

Very sandy soils, on the other hand, are well aerated, but can be so freedraining that they tend to be dry most of the time. They also provide little purchase for roots, so that trees on sandy soil are more easily blown over.

Another important consideration is the crumb structure of the soil. Cohesive crumbs help air to penetrate: they are constructed by the activity of worms and other soil fauna, and help to perpetuate the life that created them. A test for crumb structure is to riddle a soil sample in a sieve, then sprinkle the crumbs into ajar of water and gently swirl around. If the crumbs don't dissolve, this is a good sign.

Both clay and sandy soils are improved by the addition of humus. In clay, humus opens up the structure and helps to improve drainage and aeration. In sand, humus improves water retention. By encouraging worms, adding organic material also improves crumb structure.

Acid-alkali balance

The level of acidity of the soil is critical to plant growth. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 14, known as the pH scale. The lower the pH, the more acid the soil, with 7 indicating neutral. Cheap pH-testing kits for gardeners are widely available and easy to use.

The best pH for the garden at large is just slightly acid, between 6 and 7. As soil becomes more acid, plant roots find it more difficult to extract nutrients, which is one reason some plants of acid boglands have resorted to feeding on insects to get the nitrogen and other nutrients they need. Many other plants are very particular as to pH, and some thrive on the comparatively extreme fringes. Heather needs acid conditions, for example, while beech trees prefer quite alkaline soils.

Test your soil in as many different locations as you can and record the results on a map. Once the natural variations are known, you can plan around them, accommodating those plants which are suited to the prevailing conditions.

Colour

Dark soil tends to be warmer than pale soil, chiefly because dark surfaces absorb more light energy than they reflect. Conversely, a light-coloured surface reflects more light. Heat energy is absorbed and reflected in the same way, so we can use soil colour as an indicator of its ability to absorb heat. Adding humus can darken the soil, and this is especially valuable in higher latitudes, where the speed of warm-up in the spring influences seed germination.
Colour can also suggest the presence of certain minerals, but this subject is best approached with the aid of a local geology book or enthusiast, preferably both.

Acid rain

You could use the pH-test kit to find out whether the rainfall in your region is significantly acid. The best indicators of pollution, however, are the living, breathing inhabitants of the garden. Some plants and animals arc remarkably tolerant of quite nasty air and water, while others curl up and die at the slightest whiff of one thing or another.

Lichens

These extraordinary alga–fungus organisms are among the best indicator of polluted air. A few types, such as the yellow or grey crusty ones, can tolerate relatively dirty air, but the larger, leafy shaped ones are much more sensitive. Find out about local varieties, and apply that knowledge in your own garden.

Wild flora

As you walk about your garden, it will become apparent that there are some dominant local weeds. Obviously, in a broad sense, cacti indicate a desert and reeds indicate a marsh, but you'll probably be well aware of such extreme conditions already! In in-between situations, however, some types of dominant weeds can give quite precise information. especially if you can record how they vary from place to place.

The first job is to get a good book for identification of local species. The next step is to find out which species arc fussy, and discover what their known preferences are. Their pollination and seed-dispersal patterns may give even more clues. A wind-pollinated or wind-dispersed plant will tend to spread downwind, for example. A burr-dispersed plant may indicate the presence of furry mammals, and berry bushes can show where birds perch or nest.

Wild fauna

The health of your garden plants is inseparable from the health of the creatures there—both large and small, but especially the small ones. No single creature is more crucial to the gardener than the earthworm.

Counting worms

Counting your earthworm population tells you more about the health of your soil than anything else you can do, and it's almost the easiest test of all. You could do it the hard way by digging up a cubic yard of soil and sifting through it by hand, but it's a lot simpler to sprinkle very slightly soapy water (1 part washing-up liquid in 200 parts water) on to a measured area and count the worms as they pop out.

This process won't harm the worms, but if you feel bad about it you can rinse them in clean water and sluice the soil well before releasing them again. Healthy soil can yield over 100 worms per square yard! If you find fewer than a dozen per square yard, there's a serious shortage of organic material in your soil, something very wrong with the pH, or you've inherited a garden which has been poisoned by toxic chemicals.

Other invertebrates

The variety of invertebrate life, both in the soil and in the air, can tell you more about your garden. Air can he sampled by day, using a tent-shaped trap with a collecting bottle strategically placed as in the diagram (see ***). At night, a light bulb can be used to lure insects into a similar system.

Two other methods can be used on the ground and among vegetation. The pooter is a well tried and elegant method for picking up any creature too small and fast to be captured by hand. To discover nocturnal wanderer, the simple pitfall trap can be set for capturing large or small creatures. Even the smallest creatures of all, deep in the darkness of the soil, can be lured out unharmed using a Tullgren funnel, which relies on the principle that these animals move away from bright light.

You will need a few good books to identify your catch. Many such books use the key system; this is a step-by-step elimination process that's easy to follow—but don't take short-cuts.

Your investigations can give valuable information about potential pests, such as the night-flying moths you'd otherwise be unaware of until they attack your fruit trees.

Experimental plots

If, despite having so much to observe and record, you're still keen to pitch into digging and planting something. there is a valuable exercise you can carry out in the first year. This is intended to give a rough idea of how well your garden will respond to different methods of cultivation. The value of the data you derive from it will be directly related to the care and effort you put into it, however, and it is going to demand a regular input of time and trouble for nearly a whole year.

First, select a suitable site where you can clear two narrow beds 4 ft (1.2 m) wide and four times as long. They ought to be as uniform, to begin with, as possible. Cut the vegetation on both beds by mowing, strimming, or slashing.

One plot is now single-dug, and the other is not dug at all. Half of each plot should then be top-dressed with identical quantities of identical compost or manure and watered well (unless they're already very wet).

Cover the no-dig plot with a sheet mulch of cardboard (or weighted newspaper), carpet, or black plastic, and then divide each plot into four 3 ft (l m) squares. Each square is to be planted up in identical fashion.

Using a variety of vegetables will show up any difference between their preferences, thus giving a great deal more information (and a more varied diet) in return for a comparatively small extra effort. The mulched plots will have to be planted by cutting slits in the mulch.

The no-dig plot won't be weeded, but will be tested for watering needs. The dug plot will be tested for different weeding regimes, while being watered ad lib. Follow the weeding and watering patterns shown below, and record the results. As well as showing which sections received which treatment, your log should record the following:

• How long digging, mulching, planting, watering, and weeding each section took.
• How well the various plants in each section grew and/or cropped.
• The state of the soil, and its worm population, in each section at the end of the growing season.
• Any other factors (e.g., slug damage) that seem to vary.

Study the log during the off-season to see what conclusions might be drawn from your findings. For example:

• Is digging worth the effort?
• Is weeding worth the effort?
• Did you need to water the mulched beds?
• Did the compost make a difference?
• Which plants responded best to which conditions?
• What was the soil like at the end of the season?

Finally, consider what further experiments might be necessary to either confirm your conclusions or extend your study.