Norwegian permaculture garden. Help needed!

 
Hi!


We are two guys from the southeast of Norway (A place called Asker, not
far from Oslo) planning to convert our garden lawn into a much more
(hopefully) productive permaculture style garden! It's not a
particularly large space, around 60 m^2. We are complete beginners and
have no practical knowledge whatsoever. We do have a certain amount om
theoretical knowledge from reading and watching vids but we need some
support from you guys!


So here are a bunch of questions, if you have any tips to give us about
a few of them or even all of them, it would be much appreciated!




1.REMOVE LAWN OR SHEET MULCH ON TOP?

How should we deal with the lawn? Is it a good idea to dig up the lawn
cover and start a mulch bed or even just start planting straight into
the bare soil with mulch on top, OR should we rather just do a sheet
mulch on top of the lawn and let the lawn decompose underneath over
time? Is there any risk of the lawn coming through the sheet mulch and
would it in that case be better to get rid of the lawn alltogether? We
might try out both techniques but any input from you guys on this would
be great!


2. TOP UP WITH MULCH EACH YEAR/SOIL COMPACTION DUE TO SNOW?

In a sheet mulch layered raised bed system, do we need to "top up" with
mulch/manure/compost etc every year or does it just stay as it is once
settled and decomposed? What about winter time? Here in Norway there's A
LOT of snow during winter, and wouldnt that compact the soil beyond
whats good?


3. TILL THE SOIL?

The soil here underneath the lawn is quite compact and with a lot of
clay especially as you go deeper. There's also a lot of big rocks. If we
plant something straight in the soil, is it advisable to till the soil
first to improve soil structure and aeration? Or would such tilling
destroy the humus/microbial layer in the topsoil? Or do we do this just
once as we start it up and then leave it? Again, what about soil
compacting due to heavy snow?


4. COMPOST SOIL VS WILD FOREST SOIL

Whats the difference between composted soil and soil from the forest
floor? Do we have to buy ready compost soil, or could we just go out in
the forest behind our house and grab some soil from there to use in our
garden?  


5. COMPOST SYSTEM

We are going to start up a hot composting system, made with recycled
pallets. Do they need to have a "roof"? Should we have one warm compost
put together all at once and then another ongoing cold compost? Again,
what about winter? temperatures get down to -20 celsius quite often, how
would this affect the process, it would obviously freeze, but is that
ok?


6. THE BIG BROWN IBERIA SNAIL

Norway has a big problem with the Iberia snail, the big brown one. How
should we deal with this? Killing them is not really a desirable option,
we are looking for ideas on natural, peaceful ways of distracting
them/keeping them out of the garden in the first place! Any
herbs/flowers that they hate? Can we make a barrier around the garden?
What about natural predators, which ones are they and how do we attract
them into our polycultural diverse garden?


7. A LITTLE POND

We want to start a little pond as well, should we also grab reeds/plants
from a nearby large semi natural pond and plant them in our pond to get
instant aquacultural activity, or wait for it to happen naturally? How
do we keep the water from getting stagnant?


8. BUY WORMS FOR WORM TOWER?

We wanna have several worm towers in our garden, should we just wait for
"normal" worms to come to our tower filled with manure and kitchen
scraps, or do we need to buy and supply composting worms? Where do we
find these worms to buy? What about the winter, will the worms die and
come back or do we need to supply new ones each year?





Thanks for taking the time to help us in our project and therefore
helping the earth as a whole! Gardening is definately the sustainable
way forward!


Mads & Mikkel - Grindegutane




--
Quantonium

 On Sun, 8 May 2011 12:01:56 +0000, Quantonium


http://travel.guardian.co.uk/pictures/image/0,8564,-10604115616,00.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/12924/

http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2010/10/02/norwegian-festival-gretes-great-gallop-norway-run-troll-stroll

http://luni.net/?p 30

 @gardenbanter.co.uk says...

  Hi. I garden in west Scotland, about 3degrees of latitude further south
from you.. but on the coast so much milder winters. This garden is 8 years
old; when I began it was all lawn and I didn't dig any beds.They were all
made using a permaculture method, on top of lawn. Look up "lasagne
gardens" on the net.

 What I did was get hold of lots of large cardboard packing boxes from
local shops (the biggest boxes are best, electrical shops are good) , cut
one side, flatten them out, and lay them like overlapping roof tiles on
top of the grass to block out all light. That kills the grass.Then pile
organic matter thickly on top of the card to hold it down. I used seaweed,
animal manure, leaves and and lawn mowing cuttings (vast amounts of grass,
from lawn-mowing businesses.. they were glad to let me have it). Keep
piling on mulch. Within a year, all the mulch and cardboard (and lawn)
will have disappeared, leaving clean soil. But, you can start planting
right away;pull back the mulch, cut an X in the card to open a hole, plant
trees or bushes, or potatoes.

I cut a narrow strip of turf out round the bed perimeter, to stop the lawn
outside it  growing in. Use your turfs to hold down card.
 

You'll be amazed how fast it disintegrates and disappears as worms drag it
dow into the soil.I keep on mulching the soil surface, year after year to
build fertility and discourage weeds.

 What about winter time? Here in Norway there's A

  
  That's what nature does. It won't matter. What is much more important,
is that you are building an open humusy soil structure with worm channels

   I don't, unless I'm sowing very fine seed  direct (like lettuce); then
I just scratch up the surface.

   When you are planting, just take out any rocks that are in the way
(save them for making walls, paths, drain sumps etc)


 If we

   I don't till.I make a hole big enough to fit the plant.


  Neither, make compost.

 That's what I have, and mine have a "roof" (a frame made from pallet wood
with plastic stapled on). Rainfall is high here and  lids let me control
the moisture level in the heaps so they stay hot and don;t get leached
out. If they look a bit dry I push back the lid and let it get rained on.


Should we have one warm compost

I make them in a row (saves walls, space and heat). Fill one and leave it
to mature while you  fill the next one. If you are energetic you can turn
full heaps into the next empty bay (introduces more air).. it saves a bit
of time before the finished product is ready, but not essential.

Compost is one of the mulches I use on soil; so I make a LOT of it.
( using kitchen and garden waste, manure, seaweed,grass cuttings,shredded
paper, shearing wool, thistles from farm, anything decomposable I can get
hold of).

 Again,

can't help you..we rarely see snails here. We have slugs, I use barriers
of wood  ash or shell sand to keep them away from vulnerable crops.


  Feed birds, and make bird tables, feeders and nest boxes. Birds with
young eat a LOT of pests. They also keep scratching in mulch, turning it
over and breaking it down.

  There are lots of books about this.

 Fishing tackle shops ("red brandlings", in English).They aren't
earthworms.

I would put all kitchen waste and worms in the compost heap rather than a
worm tower; then they will work away together whatever the temperature  
and you won't need to do any worm management ever again.

    Janet

 

I hear it gets cold there ;O)
What do you mean permaculture style garden? What do you plan to grow?
Permaculture implies perennial plants like trees, rhubarb, asparagus, or
artichokes.

Depends on what you plan to grow.

Normally, if you feed the soil, the little critters keep the soil
healthy, but I'll leave it to some of out more cold hardy posters to
respond to that one.

Tilling the first time only is advisable to speed up the development of
the soil. This is particularly important if you plan on growing potatoes.

Don't know what you're talking about. Compost becomes an ingredient of
soil. The forest litter can be used as mulch.

So composting will take place during your spring and summer. A large
pile (hot) is desirable for sterilizing weed seeds.

Ducks, chickens, and frogs. The first two will also give you phosphates,
and you are on your way to permaculture.

All the aquaculture I've seen uses running water, like Florac in France.

<http://www.globalsciencebooks.info/JournalsSup/images/0906/DSDP_3 (SI2)12
9-142o.pdf>
may be helpful to you.

- Billy

Bush's 3rd term: Obama plus another elective war
Bush's 4th term: another Judas goat

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
<http://theuptake.org/2011/03/05/michael-moore-the-big-lie-wisconsin-is-broke/>

 In article


Normally, if you feed the soil, the little critters keep the soil
healthy, but I'll leave it to some of "our" more cold hardy posters to
respond to that one.
--
- Billy

Bush's 3rd term: Obama plus another elective war
Bush's 4th term: another Judas goat

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
<http://theuptake.org/2011/03/05/michael-moore-the-big-lie-wisconsin-is-broke/>