Norwegian permaculture garden. Help needed!

[Quantonium]

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

[Husker]

Hi Mads and Mikkel, and welcome. It's great to have you with us . I'll try to help you on some of the "?" you've asked. First, I think compaction of the soil is one of a gardens worst and most overlooked problems so you're right to be concerned, but first about the lawn itself. If your grass is thick and healthy you probably want to remove the sod to bare dirt. Either by hand or solar sheeting (placing dark plastic sheeting over the grass and letting the heat from the sun kill the grass) Solar sheeting takes time and I'm thinking you want to get started planting soon so you may want to remove the grass by hand. Another option would be to till the sod right into the soil, especially if it's thin. That's what I do. You get a few sprigs of grass that try to come back but if you keep after them with a hoe they're not too much of a problem. I spade and turn the soil by hand so that the grass is on the bottom, add compost and then till it in. This helps loosen the soil and the compost improves it. This method has worked very well for me for the past 3 years as I've expanded my garden. Another thing would be raised beds but I think you still would want to remove the grass. Someone else would have to advice you on that because I don't have any experience with raised beds. I'm not sure about getting soil from the woods. I'm thinking you'd be better off buying compost until your own is ready to use. By bringing in soil from the woods you may also bring in weed seed, pests, and diseases that you don't want. As for snow on the garden I think it would pact the soil a bit but not enough to worry about. After my garden has stopped producing in the fall I spade it up and leave it rough. The freezing and thawing will break up the clods of dirt and having the soil broken allows the water from snow melt to penetrate allowing for more freezing and thawing. This has really helped me in the spring as the garden tills alot better than if I just left it alone in the fall. Having the clay soil you do you may not see too much change right away but if you keep adding compost and working it in as deep as you can change will come. Plants love loose soil. It's easier for their roots to expand and get more food (I try to walk on the same paths in the garden as much as possible to keep from compacting new areas). I have a similar compost site out of pallets and no roof. I guess I've always felt that the freezing helps with making compost and the snow just adds to the process. I just use mine as it become ready, but a hot/cold site is something I may try now that you've given me the idea . Sorry I can't help you with the pond or snails. I don't have a pond (yet) and I put out a deep saucer of stale beer, at ground level, to attract the ones we have here. Not too sure about the worms. See how many you find when you till the soil. I have alot of them and they winter over fine, as the soil gets colder they burrow deeper (we get -0 f. at times) Sorry to have gone on so long but I do hope I've given you a couple of ideas. Hope to see pictures of your progress. Good luck!

[Alison_Kristina]

Hia, welcome to the forum

If you don't want to kill the snails, once you've got crops growing you can use copper tape or pipes. Snails won't cross it, but that'll mean you might trap snails inside as well as outside. And you need to keep the copper shiny by lightly sanding it. The other option (and also helps get rid of any snails caught inside the copper barrier) is to go out on a wet night and collect all the snails you find, then drive a few miles away and release them. If you just put them next door, they'll find their way back home.

Go out snail collecting every wet night until you've got them all. It'll take a while, but snail hunting is good fun!

One thing worth mentioning is have you considered raised beds for growing your veg? You won't have to worry so much about the compacted soil under the lawn, You can use the lawn as a path between the raised beds, and it'll make it easier to use copper tape on the outside walls of the raised beds to help keep the snails away from the veg.

Ali.