Home garden in Japan

This is a quick overlay I drew up to roughly sketch out the garden overtop of the google maps satellite image.

Though things are more or less in location, I didn't measure anything, and the photo is old, so some of it is guess work. There are more trees than represented here, and I know some of the ???s but I can't recall off the top of my head, and google lens doesn't work so well in winter.

If you are allowed to cut wood from the forest, it could work well as wood storage/drying place.
A shed might take too much sun away from the Persimmon?

Sebastian Köln wrote:If you are allowed to cut wood from the forest, it could work well as wood storage/drying place.
A shed might take too much sun away from the Persimmon?

True, it can be good to have concrete under lumber drying... that's a good idea. I mean I do have piles of logs there now anyway, hah. But I could build a little shelter. I can't log from the woods beside me, they're private property, but I do have very cheap access to low-medium quality cedar and cypress, that's what I built my hugel beds and shaving horse with.

Filling in more details on this sketch. Things are layered so much here it's actually hard to keep it legible. I kind of want to put up those placards you see in botanical gardens, just so I can keep track of everything...

Posting this here sort of as an organizer. I have a lot of small goals within my garden, each is a project in and of itself, but here is the master-list as it currently stands.

Things I'd like to do.

Growing and Food prep →
Propagate mint and lemonbalm.
Borrow or buy a paddy and grow rice
Grow chinese cabbage and make kimchi and tsukemono
Grow cabbage and make sauerkraut
Grow cucumbers and make pickles and relish
Grow daikon and turnips and make tsukemono
Grow chilli peppers and make my own mild hot sauce
Grow sesame seeds
Grow ginger
Use garden plants and flowers for decorations and garnishes -> Especially: Nandina, ハラン (aspidistra elatior), nasturtium, bay, jap. Honeywort, and other herbs
Learn to make stuffed grape leaves (dolmas) and/or stuffed nasturtiums.
Grow mushrooms

Drying and Preserving →
Dry sage, thyme, and mint.
Dry peppermint and chamomile for tea.
Dry orange peels.
Dry apples, persimmons, apricots, sweet potatoes
Sun-dry tomatoes
Make apple cider vinegar
Dry and pickle ume to make umeboshi
Make kumquat marmalade (done), blueberry, strawberry, and blackberry jam

Woodworking and Crafts →
Seal and dry reasonably sized pruned branches from good woods like cherry, plum, laurel, maple to make small crafts.
Carve a full set of wooden kitchen utensils and tableware
Replace missing tool handles with available wood.
Make a shaving horse (done)
Make a solar dehydrator
Make a treadle lathe
Make a Japanese planing board (in progress)
Turn chess pieces and make other wooden board games.
Make a miniature buried root cellar for storing extras.
Make a holiday wreath (done with mulberry, nandina, and bay laurel)

Animals →
Keep chickens and or ducks, at least for eggs, possibly for meat in the future.
Perhaps one day raise rabbits for eating, depending on quite a few factors.
Perhaps one day rebuild a koi pond.
Record bird species visitors
Learn to recognize various small critters and insects in various stages of their life.
Perhaps raise beetles (if it's something my kids are interested in)

Foraging →
Locate and record our mountain producers like bamboo shoots and chestnuts.
Make a full catalog of plants growing in my garden and other land.
Learn to identify common Japanese mountain vegetables like warabi, zenmai, itadori, and udo.

War on mosquitoes.

We have had an extraordinary number of mosquitoes here. Living beside a forested mountain some are inevitable, but the number getting in the house has been absurd even in the winter, when usually we see neither head nor tail of them.

From what I understand, mosquitoes need standing water, preferably with substantial organic material in it to lay eggs. So, let's eliminate all vectors!

When I first arrived on this property there were countless flower pots, styrofoam containers and other water collecting vessels strewn about the garden. My first step in the clean-up was removing all of these. I have done most of this but don't have photos of it.

Next were the green houses. We had three that were in disrepair. I have removed two. I intend to repair the third and use it for growing starts (and maybe pineapple) in the near future.

This winter I have finally pruned the trees that were dropping leaves into the gutters of our house and outbuildings. The next step was cleaning the gutters. This is in progress. One is fully cleared and documented in the pep badge thread for cleaning/improving gutters. Two more need more attention.

I also have a concrete gutter that divides the property into two plots. It is missing cover blocks and is filled up with dirt, run-off, moss and other goodies. I don't know if it's a real vector, but it seems possible and it should probably be cleaned out for drainage purposes anyway. So here we go! The bonus is, the moss growing there is perfect for filling the gaps in my raised beds and the dirt sifts out to beautiful black growing medium. I will be buying replacement blocks to cover this gutter soon.

After that is done the remaining vectors are a little opaque to me. I do have some plastic agro containers sitting outside that hold some water. I've been trying to find someone to take a lot of these off my hands. I really only use a few for sorting pruned wood and rocks from the garden.

Apparently mosquitoes can breed in the septic tank too... I wonder if there is a way to check/prevent that without calling in the company.

Looks like things are coming along!

We had mosquitoes breeding in the botton toilet(the old just a concrete hole with a toilet seat over it style). They were getting in through the urinal drain, plus the countless cracks in the walls. So if you have a separate urinal that goes straight to the septic tank, that's one way they could get in. They might also get in through the outflow pipe. Depends on how modern your system is. I think you can just open the lid and take a peek if you are brave...but I would think you would notice adults congregating around wherever they were getting in.

If there are a lot of akiya around your place, you might take a look around the houses and dump any standing water you find. Be sure to weigh the vessel down with a rock or something after you turn it so it doesn't blow away. I don't think anyone would give you a hard time for doing mosquito patrol.

I've continued working on all the projects.

I also whipped together a quick leaf collection bin from some wire netting I had. I'm hoping to turn it into some leaf mould potting soil for starting seeds in the future. I get a lot of leaf drop from the mountain trees.

It's also a pretty time in the garden. The quinces, cherry trees, camellia, sazanqa, and magnolia blossoms have passed their time and are leafing out, while the daffodils, tulips, and a few others come into bloom. I posted a few pictures of what's pretty now. Soon the azaleas and rhododendrons will bloom too.