Things to consider:
- Permissions – who’s on your side and will easily give you permission to grow? It’s surprising how many landowners there are so choose a site with a friendly landowner in the first instance. Have a look at the Working with your local council for more information on finding out who you need to talk to.
- Space – Best to start small and work your way towards world domination! Pick a space that feels manageable and if that means taking half of what you would really like, be sensible because you can always take on the rest later. But be super honest about your time constraints and make sure the whole group agrees to the space and it’s size. You might like planters dotted through the town centre, but think about the logistics of carrying tools and watering cans between sites – it might be better to focus growing planters in one or two areas and then it’s more likely that they will all get tended and watered.
- Footfall – Ensure your garden is near where people will walk past so they can see what you are doing, maybe join in and more importantly be able to access the produce. It’s amazing the interest you’ll get from passers-by while you’re working on the site, especially if you’ve stopped for cuppa! See the Communicating in the real world section for ideas about signage at your site which is guaranteed to stop passers-by in their tracks.
- Water is the most challenging thing when growing in the public realm so before you enter into the world of site permissions work out where your water source is and how you can best go about ensuring that the site collects water for use.
- Storage – plan for where you are going to keep your tools – are you going to keep them on/near the site or will there always be a volunteer with a car who can bring tools to the site?
- Who’s nearby? Who do you want to engage with your plot? If you’re interested in encouraging children there’s no point in putting sites in the business district, but if you want to engage big business then this might be ideal.
- Natural partnering – think about who could support your sites and set up near them – for example a local business who will commit to watering your planter during the summer. If your long term plan is to set up a walking route, consider where local food businesses are and plant near them.
- What else might be planned for that site? If an option for the site is a children’s play area, you might want to move on and find somewhere else
