Site Assessment Worksheet
A printable companion to Planning Your Site. Fill this in over at least one full season before you plant anything — the point of this worksheet is to slow you down long enough to actually see your site, not just to fill in blanks.
Site basics
- Location / property name: _________
- Approximate size of area being planned: _________
- Slope (flat / gentle / moderate / steep): _________
- Existing structures nearby: _________
- Existing trees or plantings already on site: _________
Sun path
(Check at three points in the day, ideally across more than one season.)
| Time of day | Full sun | Partial shade | Full shade | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Midday | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Afternoon | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Does this change noticeably by season? _________
Water
(Observe during and just after a heavy rain.)
- Where does water pool, and for how long? _________
- Where does the ground stay damp longest? _________
- Where does the ground dry out first? _________
- Any visible erosion already happening? Where? _________
- Existing catchment potential (roof runoff, natural swales): _________
Wind
- Prevailing direction: _________
- Anything already breaking it (fence, slope, existing trees)? _________
Zone sketch
Attach or draw a rough map here. Mark: - Where you already walk daily (this becomes Zone 1) - Existing trees, structures, slope - Sun/shade and water notes from above - Rough boundary of where the food forest will go
What this tells you
Before moving on to Design: The Layers & Guilds, you should be able to answer:
- Where does the highest-maintenance, most-visited planting belong? (Zone 1)
- Where is erosion control a prerequisite before anything else goes in?
- Does this site actually support what you're hoping to grow, or does the plan need to change to fit the site?