[misterpeter]

  Hello everyone! What a great forum! I seem to have happened upon the right discussion here, as I am just buying some property 'out in the sticks' in the Ukraine (very troubled at the moment), which I plan to relocate to. The Dacha (cottage) is on just over an acre of very fertile, black soil and about 55m x 100m facing SW on a VERY gentle slope. House is at top end and so the land is all clear. I am hoping on an option to buy the plot next door, too (in yellow) My problem is twofold: I will need wood to burn and also would like to have some trees for cover (well, eventually, once they are 'grown up!) which I would like to place around the border. The main problem is that the winters are long and cold, the summers hot and dry (but I do have a good well and water is plentiful with a nearby stream). Which trees for which purpose, please and can I mix coppiced ash or willow with the border, or would either suffer? Two months of frost are normal there (we're talking down to - 20?C at night) as well as a good covering of snow... Any help or advice would be much appreciated! There is plenty of good soil for fruit and veg, too, so aim to be at least 50% self-sufficient for most of the year with two of us within a year or so.

[Bert]

Hi from the Isle of Mull 
Don't know how much help I can be with your tree/ fire wood question. I would have a look around and ask locals what they using / growing. Willows would be very good if there is a boggy bit of land, they love wet ground. I don't know how they would get on with your winters, it might be a bit much for them. It also depends on if you have a log burner or an open fire. As soft wood ( larch and other thing like that ) spits a lot when you burn it and hard ( oak and things like that ) take a VERY long time to grow.
I told you I wouldn't be any help
 

[spandit]

You should have a good look around your plot to see what grows locally and plant more of that rather than trying to establish unsuitable species.

Any wood will burn if properly dried but you won't heat your house on an acre

[misterpeter]

Thanks for the replies... yes, I suspected that an acre wouldn't be enough, so I was sort of hoping to get the area next door for a firewood coppice and make use of the local 'amenities' to fill the gaps. Most of the 'neighbours' are only there for the summer, so I should be able to stock up locally for any shortfall. I may not actually NEED to grow my own, but would still like to have some cover and a certain amount of coppice for the wildlife. I suspect that Willow might not be suitable as the ground is definitely well drained. Ah well, I'll just have to get over there after the thaw and have a 'nose around', as you say...! The same goes for the borders, I suppose. The next problem will be sorting out  trying to install a toilet INSIDE...

[mojocafa]

Wow, how exciting, 
I have no advice, but want to welcome you  and wish you all the best in your new venture

[benandjerry]

Hello and welcome    How fabby and I'm dying with jealously

[Lesley Silvester]

  and welcome. Your place sounds great.

[misterpeter]

I thank you all for your friendly welcome!

Yes, I'm hoping that it will be worthwhile. I'm fed up with the rat race and just want to 'chill out' for a while. I have a book that I'm working on, a VERY old motorcycle to restore and some other projects on the go that I might or might not end up having the time and energy for after getting the house and garden sorted! Whatever comes first will come first and I'll just have to follow what presents itself as being of greater importance.

There is even a guest house!! And all for less than £3,000... A lot of work to keep me busy, though!

[MAK]

Hi and welcome. Good luck on an exciting and challenging phase for you.
Was the Dacha used as a summer house ? If so you may need to invest in insulation or make a small living room within the cottage.
Winters will be long and my guess that you will be preparing for it most of the summer ( stocking up on food stuff, fuel, a reliable water supply and of course things to do when snowed in).
You may find a lot of silver birch ( bit of a invasive weed really) - it grows quite quickly and is an easy tree to harvest, cut and store.

Do keep us updated how it goes - a monthly update would help us understand the challenges that the extreme heat and cold throw up.

[misterpeter]

Ha, I don't know about extreme heat (I'm used to 40?C + summers!), but it will be a bit drier than the UK, that's for sure!

I'll have to get there first, which might take a month or two. And yes, I will setup a website and blog and keep a posting here now and then, too! I will still have loads of questions, of course, being a 'newbie' (at 58...)

Water-supply is reliable from the (covered) well (which will end up with pipes underground into the house with a pump)  and I will setup filtered rainwater collection and proper drainage, too. The 'stove' is a bricked-in arrangement in the kitchen, the back wall heating the room behind. A slow wood-burner will be installed in the larger room against the inside wall. I'll see if it's possible to put a water-tank behind the stove and add a couple of radiators...To start with the ceiling will have to be insulated from the topside and flooring installed in the 'loft', which will also eventually get lagged under the roof, too.

No such thing as snowed in (I hope!), there's always been a way around that somehow, but again, we will see: And there's never a shortage of things 'to do' either. The 'front room' will initially be a workshop for all the projects to set up house with all the woodwork hand-tools + bandsaw, workbench, pillar drill, grinder and sanders (I'm a pattern-maker by trade) and My AC-TIG and gas-axe and jewellery-bench.

There will be plenty to get on with setting up veg and fruit and a few chickens and maybe geese (alarm-system!), sorting fencing and the 'guest-house', as well as building a real shed of decent proportions to work in once the inside is sorted, and a lean-to for the necessary enclosed vehicle. All probably after the next winter!

No sense in rushing anything!

[Clarebelle]

The house looks gorgeous! Its sounds like you have loads of plans to keep you on your toes. Good luck with your new venture, it sounds amazing. 

[Penninehillbilly]

Wow this sounds great, looking forward to hearing how you go on.
I have willow growing in 'normal' soil, and it's doing well, but if planted near a food growing area you would probably have problems with tree roots spreading, I have a not-very-big ash tree near my polytunnel and the roots are causing problems in there. Ash is good but don't know what the Ash-die-back problem is over here,
Most of the other plots have trees round them, I presume for a windbreak?
There are some good wood/forestry websites with details of tree hardiness which it may be a good idea to check out.
Good luck, sounds exciting
 
Meant to say 'Ash-die-back problem is over THERE'.

[misterpeter]

Hm, that's an interesting point that you make regarding the roots... I had forgotten that ash can spread 40 feet and more. Something definitely worth watching for! Once it thaws out over there, I'll go and have a good walk around the place for a few days and see what grows locally and what is 'managed' and what is not. I suppose the next thing is to find out who to ask if I DO spot some woodland that I could use for my own stocks and tidy things up for them! That would certainly take the pain out of the first summer, where most of the work will have to be on getting fruit and veggies going and the place insulated for the winter!

Still sorting out paperwork and all-year residence possibilities... a bureaucratic nightmare!!

Thanks for the reminder, though! Peter