What to do with the bottom part of my property?

My property is located in Hungary (hardiness zone 7b) on a South-southeast facing hill that gets full sun exposure all day long.

The bottom part of the property is a very steep strip of roughly 35m x 7.5m (115 ft x 25 ft). Most of the day, it is shaded by the neighbor's house and is currently planted with a random mixture of trees and bushes (mainly to keep the area green and to prevent soil erosion).

We call it "the jungle", because it's thick, difficult to access and gets very little (if any) attention. We prune it heavily once every few years to make it appear more civilized and to encourage more growth.

Here's a rough sketch of our property to give you an idea of the property profile and the location of the strip:



I'm looking for ideas on what to do with the strip in order to make it more useful/productive. It gets limited sun, due to the location of the neighbor's house and it's not super-easy to access due to its steepness. Also, I don't want to plant too high trees as not to shade other parts of the property.

Here's a 3D rendering from Google Maps that also shows the location of the neighbor's house (the photo appears to be taken in summer, early in the morning):



What do you think I should/could do with it? All ideas welcome!

Hi Miroslav;  Welcome to Permies!

I would take a portion of your slope that gets a little more sun and till it up and plant shade tolerant vegetables.
Carrots, lettuces, garlic, kale, potatoes, peas and many more, do well in a shaded area. A chicken coop (no rooster) could be there as well.  

Thanks for your suggestions, Thomas!

thomas rubino wrote:...till it up and plant shade tolerant vegetables... A chicken coop (no rooster) could be there as well.  

I might plant some veggies at the top end of the strip, but I am concerned that if the soil is disturbed on the slope itself, it will just get washed down with the next heavier rain. Terracing would require retaining walls, which is not a project I'm willing to get into atm. I like the chicken coop idea, though! Btw, why no rooster?

Well in consideration of your neighbor.
And you don't need one to get eggs.

Update: a friend of mine suggested a mini food forest. I like the idea because, if set up well, it should require minimum maintenance and basically take care of itself (all that's needed is chopping-n-dropping and picking/harvesting).

How many fruit trees should I plant on a strip that size (35x7 m; 115x25 ft), especially, considering the light/shade conditions? I'm thinking apples, pears, plums and peaches... all dwarf. Of course, leaving space for berry bushes and other-layer plants...

With normal sized trees… 7m minimum – at least here. Some are closer and will eventually be removed…
So you could fit 5 normal trees.
That way you get partial shade on the part between the house and the "jungle", which I prefer here to full sun anyway. Plenty of sun to grow stuff.

Sebastian Köln wrote:you could fit 5 normal trees.

How about dwarf-size trees (not taller than 3-4 m, 10-13 ft)? How many of those do you recon I could comfortably fit there?

Or, is there a reason I should NOT be considering dwarf-size trees? I don't want to plant trees that are too tall, because they would shade the other parts of the land, too much.

Miroslav, dwarf trees don't live as long as full-sized trees, and they take several years to produce, so they are limited compared to full-size trees, preferably on their own roots.  You can always trim a full-size tree to whatever height you want.   Just don't plant them too closely together so there is no stress, which will help protect them from disease.  And you probably know that not all fruit trees are self-pollinating, some need another tree (not two of the same tree) that blooms at exactly the same time to pollinate them.

Blackberries do well in shade/sun areas, and upright berries are easier to control, as opposed to trailing berries, but both are very satisfying to grow, they make great jam, encourage kids to snack on them, they rarely have diseases, unless they are too much in the shade.  

Some herbs do well in part shade, like rosemary, brings in pollinators.  

A winding, level path snaking its way down the slope would let you put a couple of raised beds in the sunnier parts, giving an appealing and easy way to be on that slope.   The path should have a couple of entrances so it's quick and easy to access to go into and take things out of, does not require walking the full width of the property to get to.

In the darkest part near the neighbor's house you could put a good-sized double-compartment compost bin, that has a cover to keep rain out, that is close to the tree and plant cuttings.  

A shed to hold tools and gardening supplies would get you going through that zone more often, can be an art project.

I never had dwarf sized trees. However the higher the trees are, the more spread out their shade will be (and the more difficult to harvest…).

Thank you, Cristo! Good points regarding the fruit trees.

I'm currently leaning towards the mini food forest idea, by creating guilds around fruit trees, which would include also berry bushes and herbs.

Cristo Balete wrote:A winding, level path snaking its way down the slope would let you put a couple of raised beds in the sunnier parts

I'm afraid, the slope is too steep and too short for that. Or. maybe I didn't understand what you mean. Can you show me an example?

To give you a better idea of the area, I'm attaching a picture I just took today (we're in the middle of heavy pruning). You can see the neighbor's house and remnants of a non-functioning irrigation system.

Miroslav, thanks for the photo.  

Do you want privacy on that chainlink fence?  There are great flowering evergreen vines that could use that fence nicely, bring in pollinators.

Paths only need to be 18" for a garden cart or wagon to hall cuttings/harvest away.  If you made an 18" level path along the chainlink fence, the "wall" of dirt that remains could have some wood or concrete block to create a raised bed edge along there.  Then an  X-shape path on that slope of level pathway would give you easy access to 4 diamond-shaped zones, each one with a fruit tree in the middle with lower food forest plants around the base.

If the neighbor's house creates the shade that a real canopy would provide in the summer, then you may not need canopy trees.   High canopy trees in a food forest help with keeping the heat off of the plants below.  Do you have really hot summers?  If the neighbor's house keeps the summer temps good for vegetables, then the fruit tree canopy would be enough.  

It looks like you already have shade trees near that slope, so leave some sunshine for fruit.  Goumi berries are not fussy, blueberries are a nice crop, grapevines can make a nice canopy over an arbor/sitting area.

There are lots of YouTube videos of compatible plants for a food forest.