Kazagashira Niwa

Our neighbours are so friendly to put nicely sorted branches at the garbage. Perfect for making woodchips. I bought a wood chipper so I can make my own wood mulch. The mulch I think will be necessary to keep the soil from drying out in Summer, and also to improve drainage after the heavy rains in this country. My plan is to put many fruit trees on this small plot of land. They require a more wood, and therefore mycelium based soil support.  

The south side vegetable beds slowly got extended a little, and are now filled with lettuce, onion, kabu (turnips) and komatsuna. Komatsuna seems to grow really well here in December. The others are a bit sleepy and don't seem to grow very fast. Since half December the weather went below 15 degrees Celsius most of the time. New grow bed on the slope with the help of some bamboo.  

So with the first outlines of my permaculture design becoming clearer, I could start with the implementation of the food forest. Most of the fruit trees and bushes are in the ground now. On less than 200 M2 we have now: peach, almond, lemons, pawpaws, apricot, ume plums, figs, feijoas, mandarin, juneberry, gumyberries, natsumes, kiwis, chocolate vines, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, gojiberries and raspberries. The climate is rather strong here. Lots of sun, rain and wind. Most trees in the neighbourhood are dwarf varieties. I expect my trees to stay relatively small therefore. And if they'll grow too fast and too big I still have my wood chipper :-) I am really curious how it will work out. But still have to wait like 3 years to know. Wish I could speed up the process.