Outdoor spot that MAY be perfect...?

Over the last months I've been taking advantage of the God awful British weather to hike all over the local countryside and scout possible Guerrilla spots, whilst all the sane people are indoors, nice and warm and dry.
I came to a miniature valley that, as kids 30 years ago, we used to slide down the sides on sleds and go-carts.
But now it's virtually impassable.
Completely overgrown with thorny brambles and nettles and all the sharp, painful things that grow in the outdoors of Northern England.

I couldn't get in there and the dog point blank refused to even try - he just looked at me as though I'd lost my mind.
So I turned around and walked away.

Two days later I returned wearing my toughest pair of walking boots, two layers of card wrapped around my lower legs and long strips of canvas cloth (army puttee's) wrapped over the card and tied.
Jogging bottoms hid the make shift armour and I tucked the bottoms into long sports socks to completely hide it AND keep it all in place.
I could wade through the sharp, ankle to knee deep foliage by raising my feet as though I was walking through snow and being extra careful about tripping over.

The 'valley' is a perfect 'V' groove in the landscape. Each side has steep inclines (45*ish) about 50 to 80ft from top to bottom and back from bottom to top.
As you move along the size and gradient changes but it is all overgrown and impassable).
At the bottom is a narrow and slow moving stream (on maps it's a river but locals call it 'the dike').

The few feet at either side of the dike is marsh like, with some reeds.

It is my plan to head back down in early morning and later afternoon to try and see how much sun the area can expect.

By clearing a 4ft x 4ft patch and digging a barrel, with a screen bottom, 1ft deep and putting a few inches of gravel, followed by a mix of the native soil and by own additives (perlite, sand, compost...)
I hope to do all I can to prevent the damage that too much rain can cause BUT still have a water source close by, if we have one of our very infrequent droughts.



ANY SUGGESTIONS OR ADVISE ABOUT HOW TO PROCEED WOULD BE VERY WELCOME
THIS IS MY FIRST OUTDOOR GROW AND, DESPITE READING ANYTHING I CAN FIND, I STILL FEEL HOPELESSLY UNINFORMED.

Im assuming its winter in Britain now as well as in the U.S. not the best time to scout spots (at least in depth). sunlight hrs will drastically change during the grow season, not only because there will be much more overall daylight hrs. but as that foliage fills in you may find a once sunny spot covered in shade. That and its gonna be 10 times harder getting through that thick brush once it fills in. Also take into account that the sun also lowers its angle in the sky as the seasons progress. So what may be sunny early on could be covered in shade during budding , which isn’t good. After sacrificing sun hrs in some spots last year, let me say you really notice a stark difference, plants in well lit spots half the size of others in shadier spots, yet yield more weight in the sunny spots. also plants develop much better/faster in sunny spot<(stating the obvious).Id say not to devote all your efforts to this spot until your sure its adequate, you may find more people go through there than u think or its nearly impassable in the summer. Just keep looking around get a few areas in mind, and do more in depth scouting as the weather get a little nicer, I personally like to scout spots fall or spring.

I would definitely check it out in the spring, terrain and native plants change. And if you still feel comfortable, go for it. But beware the first successful outdoor grow can be habit forming

make sure the sun is shining on your spots enough before you invest time and resources. steep valleys and marsh areas may not be the best options. if it gets plenty of sun in winter chances are it will get more come warm seasons as the sun is further north.

i crawl through the animal trails on my belly if need be to keep from making a path in briars. making a path defeats the purpose of growing in briars.

It is winter in UK
Plants would not be planted until May, so I would start preparing the actual spots in April.
Seeds would start germination (indoors under T5/CFL's) start of March
Into greenhouse start of April.

The UK is a VERY densely populated country.
(There are exceptions - such as the Islands & Highlands of Scotland and remote areas of Yorkshire or Northumbria
but, generally speaking, it's difficult to escape the presence of other people).
Just speak to anyone who has ever tried to find privacy in the woods or forests, on the moors or dales....
There are (relatively) vast, open spaces, but they are heavily used by hikers and dog walkers.

The area I speak of is close to housing, farmland and heavily used walking trails
it's suitability is due, in total, to the impassable nature of low growing but widely spread brambles.

I must scout the area further.
work out the hours of sunlight my prospective spots receive*
and the pro's and cons of each potential spot.

I will start a thread devoted to this particular question.
*Sunlight hours - how to accurately estimate the amount of sunlight hours a grow spot can expect??
By knowing the exact location of a possible spot....
Its altitude and direction it faces....
the sharpness of any incline it may be planted on....
and any other objects that may block the sun....

By having all this detailed information, a farmers almanac, a compass and a calculator
it should be possible to calculate the amount of exposure hours a spot will have in April, May, June, July, August, September and October.

brimck325 said:

i crawl through the animal trails on my belly if need be to keep from making a path in briars. making a path defeats the purpose of growing in briars.

Click to expand...

I'm devising a variation on 'snow shoes' to allow me to walk over the brambles
without trampling them down and creating even the slightest hint of a path/trail.

If each grow spot has at least 125ft of impassable bramble growth around it
I have the room to dig in barrels, surround with slug pellets and stake supports.
By ensuring that others cannot accidentally 'bump into' the plants by simply 'sleepwalking' along a trail
I feel the battle against discovery is already 90% won.
But accessing each spot takes preparation, equipment, knowledge/information and hard work.
PLUS - I cannot have HUGE Sativa's that could be noticed from 125ft away.
I need 6ft maximum height and the pruning technique to create a 'bush;
rather than a recognizably 'marijuana shaped' apical plant.

Try find gorse thickets, they make great grow spots. There are always natural clearings and tunnels made by animals, not to mention being a natural spiky deterrent. Also, this whole barrel business sounds like a lot of effort, that might not be necessary.

Hey there. I would not go with a valley (visible from above) esp. if it was not east-west for the sake of light. I would look at median strips, keeping away from places cops like to lurk, and airports, or at least landing patterns. Find an area that will not be visible from the road, even if there is an accident. Make sure you can hike in quickly from a side road, so any highway based meddlers will have trouble finding you. Be sure to make the plants bushy, and put silk flowers on them. Be on the lookout for passive surveillance (cameras, esp. tree mounted). Look for signs someone has climbed a tree using tree rigging, i.e. spikes on the boots, moss scraped off the opposite side from the belt. Invest in night vision equipment and maybe wireless cameras of your own.

There were folks in my hometown who had 3 plots 20x20 getting irrigation water from the town water supply for years before they got caught when a neighbor refused to pay the water bill. They were using similar brambles as a barrier. It worked well, and nobody was ever caught as I recall. Good luck, remember site selection is the most important part of the process.