u/kegologek

Moved into a house last year that had a rectangle of plain grass. Decided I'd prefer trees instead. Got searching and came upon the Miyawaki method where native species are planted in high density, choosing an equal number of canopy, subcanopy, understory, and groundcover species. What intrigued me was the speed at which it grows about a meter a year!), and it is maintenance free after a couple years.

I killed my grass using the cardboard method back in April and let the ground sit until yesterday, when I planted 113 trees and shrubs in a 6x7 m plot (19 by 23 ft for the Yanks). Each square meter has 3 trees of different height. My little white stone path is so I can walk through it but also to avoid gas mains running beneath the property.

I'll post updates next year when it starts really growing but just wanted to share as this sub was a major inspiration that grass is not the way to go!

Hi everyone. I am new to trees and gardening in general, so first off please excuse my ignorance. While I've done a fair bit of reading, I'm hear to learn!

I have a 40sqm front yard (zone 6a) that I'd like to turn into a mini forest. I was originally planning to simply follow the Miyawaki method to the letter. However, my partner is concerned that with that density of coverage, the resulting thicket will feel claustrophobic. She's probably right.

In my attempt to come up with a species list I was intentionally avoiding pioneer species like poplars and willows, as they won't survive once the shady canopy forms.

Now for my question:

If I would like the extremely fast, vertical growth of a Miyawaki forest but don't want the extreme density years later, can I intentionally plant pioneer species that will naturally thin the plot over time? Can I take advantage of the density prior to canopy formation using "sacrificial pioneers"? From what I've read and understood, the pioneer species are mostly shade intolerant but otherwise will grow fine near my climax species, until things get too shady.

Thank you in advance!

My new front yard mini forest

Miyawaki concept