Setoka in

First mikans to arrive were the setoka. Luckily the day they arrived was a nice and sunny day, with rain being forecasted 2 days later.

They came with the usual instructions

Also these tags with serial number and warnings

I tried to take a screen shot of the instructions but was not very successful to begin with.

Herro Engrish Googre

This is the least unsuccessful one

Anyway... I took with me cow manure, pig manure and some chemical fertilizer that I mixed together into the soil where I planted the saplings, and watered a lot after I was done.

Here is the result

Same thing viewed from the other end

After a couple days, just as promised, we had a whole day of pretty heavy to normal rain. I was quite worried how the newbies would fare... so in the weekend when the weather was sunny again I went and had a look. Oh, and I also brought with me 20 more tatami mats that I managed to get from the local tatami shop for free.

With these I will make the 3rd row

Not sure if they are hurt or not, but knowing that I made their beds soft and fluffy and that the water should run through it easily without stopping, I assume they should have a chance.

The green cover in the beds is coming along nicely

Seaberry in

Seaberry saplings arrived and after a couple of rainy days I headed to the plot to put them in as well.

Hmm... can almost not see any difference from last picture

I was also happy to see that my cover crops are all germinating and the rows are slowly turning green...

All sorts of grass and nitrogen fixers

thousands and thousands of tiny babies

However, my cover crops are not the only things starting to wake up from their slumber...

Oh no you don`t! I kick you to hell

Back home, I ordered 2 types of mikan. One is Harumi which is supposed to be a relatively rare type with very sweet and tender fruit, a cross between kiyomi and ponkan. The other one is Setoka. Its taste is "highly" sweet and the fruit size is bigger than others. It was also more expensive.

Later I will also order Miyagawa Wase which is more like normal mandarin I guess.

For now, these 3 types should be enough for my 2 rows. Next year when I have more rows ready I shall think about what to go with.

I also used my translator app on the tags that came with the Seaberry.

nitrogen fixer

And all I got was this hilarious engrish:

Apparently a good bush to ride

It is full of hearsay and boasts of amazing things which no other thing in the world can compare with. 

 

Goumi in

I have put in 6 Goumi saplings. 3 in each row. And now I am waiting for Seaberries to arrive so I can put those in too. Yep, Seaberries is what I finally decided for my other nitrogen fixer bushes. 

I also decided to not plant comfreys cause the natural ones (couldn't find russian ones) sound a bit too invasive for my taste. Instead I will just plant some lupines here and there.

You have to look real hard to see them...

Close up of one of the goumi

2 rows done

Finally the second row is also done, and I went ahead and put in the rest of the seeds and a little bit of fertilizer (About 10 kg that I mixed with lots of soil and spread on top of the seeds)

Later I also removed the net...

The day after I put in the seeds it rained all day, and the day after that was sunny and nice. I guess it is a good start. It didn't seem like birds are interested in the seeds so I took away the netting too. We'll see how it goes.

Next step is to order my nitrogen fixer flowers and bushes and put in there, and after that, finally I can plant fruit saplings.

Based on my calculations, I should be able to fit in 6 trees in each row.

The master painter strikes again

The green pea icons are supposed to indicate nitrogen fixers. Goumi, something else, Comfrey and Lupines. I'm thinking 3 Goumi, 2 something else (I was gonna get Buffaloberries but cannot find them in Japan. Only one place sold them but it is sold out), and then fill in with Comfrey and Lupines in between.

Oh, and today I saw the year`s first bamboos (6 of them) coming out of the ground to the north of my north wall, which I happily kicked to oblivion. 

Sowing the seeds

 Almost finished the second row now... also broadcasted seeds in the first row and covered with a very thin layer of soil mixed with fertilizer. And just to be safe, put a net over the whole thing to keep safe from birds and stuff.

30 meters of net was not enough though

The seeds are cover nitrogen fixers and some grass to act as mulch. Hairy vetch, white clover, italian rye grass and some barley grass.

All this digging in the sun has given my cap a very beautiful design in form of misty majestic mountains made of sweat.

Design by nature

Once I finish the second row, I will put in seeds there, and then get the saplings in place. After that, I will go and hunt down 20 more tatami mats and start digging my way through the 3rd row... 

Halfway.... waiting for the weather

Line 2 is ongoing. I have come halfway, and it is pretty easy stuff. Checking the weather report it seems to get real cold again in a week, so I decided to wait just in case there is going to be more frost. After that I will plant the cover crop seeds in the first row.

It is starting to look neat

Moving on...

 So after cutting the leaning tree my pile of branches and stuff grew and I have more material to put under the tatamis. Also Mr. K came by and asked if I needed more tatami and gave me a dozen. They are pretty crappy compared to the ones I got from the tatami store for free but it's not like I'm gonna use them to sit on anyway.

Ex-leaning tree

Remember the first row had a real narrow section which bothered me? 

Not good

Well it bothered me so much that I got a 10 meter root barrier and put alongside it, and backfilled with soil. so now it is no longer so narrow. Yeay, I can plant trees all the way in the first row.

Widened

I am now filling in with soil in the second row.... slowly. And adding tatamis as I progress.

Almost 25% in

The nights are still cold and frosty. As soon as the weather starts getting a bit warmer, I will sow the ground cover seeds and order tree saplings to plant in the first row. And hopefully not long after that I will be finished with the second row too so I will do the same there.

My ground covers are vetch, ryegrass, wheatgrass and clover.