[Hippocrates_Garden]

Access is first. If you cant get there, or around the property, how are you going to do anything else?
P.A. Yoeman had something he called “Scales of Permanence”, which basically said that some things are more difficult to change than others (more permanent), so start with the most permanent, and move to the less (things easier to change).

One version was: Climate, Land shapes, Water, Roads, Trees, Structures, Fences and subdivisions, and lastly soil.

An example is someone who gets on the land, and immediately puts up fences, and starts amending the soil. A few months or maybe a year later, they realize, they need to drill a well and do some earthworks to slow down and spread out water (to stop erosion).

Now they have to remove the fences to get the road to where the well needs dug, and all that soil they’ve been working on has to be scraped off to create the swales or other earthworks.

Yes, you need water to live or grow anything, and putting fruit trees, or shelter belt trees are great things, but, unless you are sure they won’t have to be moved or pulled out later because a road really needed to go there to be optimal, or terraces need built for the market garden or such, you may be re-doing stuff, which costs money, time, effort and mental/emotional currency.

Just something to think about.