Alexander Axelsson

Well you have helped me alot so you are absolutely a good teacher

That is good to know, I will wait with the trees and start with improving the soil.
Yes, I'd rather live with the possibility that there might be a fire than live in a desert.
Prickly pear seems like a nice cactus to have so, I'll probably plant some of those if I can get a hold of them but there already are grapes growing around much of the property wich I like so I won't bother them

I will mulch as much as I can. it's a shame that they spray chemicals on the trees and plants because they throw away so much organic "Waste" and I would have used it otherwise.
The property could be really beautiful with a little work and I will get back to you with an update in the summer so you can see how it's going
I might take a PDC course when I'm down there to learn a bit more, if they are in english.
Thank you for all your help!

Kind regards,
Alex

Alder Burns, I know that California has seen it's fair share of fires and there was a fire quite near me in Greece last summer.
So, next spring I will cut the grass when it's still alive and use it for mulch. I will also try to grow some other groundcovers with the grass to attract a larger variety of insects, hopefully that would help the trees fight off some of the "pests". Take care!

Konstantinos, It would be a great resource if I could reroute that rainwater into the land.

I wont bother you much more I just want you to tell me if you think I have gotten something wrong, if you don't mind.
So here is my plan and please correct me if I'm wrong, the first thing I think I'll do when I get to Greece, around June or July, is to cut the grass, prune the trees and graft the regrowing rootstocks.

The area in front of the house that is pretty much free from ground cover I will make sunken beds and prepare for growing in the autumn (I imagine you can grow some vegetables in the autumn?) or spring.
Do I mix the soil with something like blood and bone or bentonite? Maby I could even get a hold of some Biochar. What local products do you guys use to make the soil hold water? The front will be for larger vegetables and the backside closest to the kitchen will be more for herbs.

I will look up how to make an efficient food compost that doesn't attract rats and other animals.
As I get closer to the rainy season I will look at how the rain flows, where it goes and how I can reroute it. The solar pump was a good idea!

I agree with you about them having degraded the land and just by trying to improve it I'm doing way more than most of them.
I feel much more prepared now and inspired to get things going as fast as possible and I will try to get in touch with Panos when I get down there.
Saw this video of Panos and in it he makes a raised bed, maybe it's a wet area or something? the soil is much darker than what I have. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VOvYlwIy1Bg

Thank you, you have been really helpful.

Thank you for those inspirational words Konstantinos. I have always been drawn towards nature and I always surround myself with plants where ever I go. When I'm in Greece I feel frustrated because so much needs to be done but no one seems to do anything, hopefully I'm just looking in the wrong places. So I'm hoping to meet people whom are actively working towards regreening the land and not just their land but the entire country. But since I've lived in the north all my life I don't know much about gardening in the mediterranean climate, do you know what high school Giannis Varellas works at? Perhaps I could learn some basic greek as well maybe that would improve my relationship with the locals. I'm half greek but it doesn't look like it and the greeks didn't seem too happy to see a "tourist" down there.
Anyway.. What I'm looking for is a guide for the seasons, so that I know what to do and what time to do it. like you pointed out that I should only scatter the seeds during the rainy season which seems logical.
Everything I do will be closely monitored by neighbors and relatives so it would be nice if I could get most of it right =)

Thank you very much.
It's nice to see how positive people involved with permaculture are, only solutions and no problems

By the way, do you know why there are ditches around all the properties? seems unreasonable to me and I can't get it out of my head.
Is it leading to the ocean or is it stored somewhere? My father told me that nobody wanted to live there when he was a kid because it was so wet and now even the wells are dry.

Thanks again,
Alex

Grafting doesn't seem too complicated so that's probably what I'll do, would the fact that the roots are old affect the lifespan of the new growth? do you know? would be frustrating if the trees died five or ten years later. I'm not too fond of the original orange plants as they have quite agressive thorns on them but I'm sure there's lots you can do with the fruit. I did find this about making wine out of oranges http://www.ehow.com/how_5108131_make-orange-wine.html , haven't read it though. you should try it out, would be kind of a unique taste I'm sure

I totaly agree, just realised that myself, they used to be really big orange trees so the roots must be huge, right? I'm gonna look into how you go about grafting with citrus, it would probably bring a fast regrowth. Thank you.

Thank you! I will let you guys know how it goes.

If I decide to plant a different groundcover with nitro fixers, would the method you describe be able to take over the current grass to some degree?

Thank you S Bengi for all the info! I think I'll leave the grass that's already there. As for why they removed it in front of the house (as you can see in the first picture) I don't know, perhaps they think it's a fire hazard but obviously I will keep the ground covered. I might be able to start some from seed. I will check out the list of plants that you sent me, thank you again.

Here are a few more pictures. The last picture is of orange trees that died and were taken down but now they are regrowing. you can't eat the fruit because they were grafted so they need to be removed at some point.

Basically I just want some ideas on what to do first. I'll start around May or June.