Saga In Colours

Where I live areas with uncut grass will turn into scrubland and then forrest in 7-12 years. Fine if that is what you want, but not so fine, if you aren't planning to turn the area into a forrest...
The permie way of having a lawn/meadow would be to have some animals to graze there, that is the way it is in the wild.

I have about 350 m2 (about 3700 square feet says google), and find that there is enough place for small trees. Because forest garden thinking make it possible to use the "vertical" space as well, a few trees/big bushes (elder and hazel in my garden) can be fitted in between the vegetables.
Pergolas and other "dead" structures can also give you height, shade, visual interest a.s.o. that you would get from trees.

I don't really have a desire for many and big trees, and when I want walnuts or the like, I find them in nature. So I can't be very helpful on that.
I have however, maintained (and grown some of my own stuff in the back of) a garden for an old lady when I didn't have a garden of my own, and I think it worked well. I would say that it is important for you and the owner of the land to talk about (and maybe write a contract of sorts) exactly what you expect of each other.
If you rent a piece of land, then also figure out if you are on the same page concerning gardening (so they don't e.g. mistakingly think you let it run wild, because you have groundcovering plants).

Burra, rhubarbs needs a period of cold weather to grow well. Flower bulbs, angelica seeds and the like you can place in the freezer for a while, but I don't know if that will work with rhubarb roots. Maybe in the fridge in a pot with soil?

Don't really know anything about detoxes, but in my country the health authorities warn pregnany women from drinking green tea, if they didn't drink green tea before they got pregnant. It is because green tea  detoxes you from heavy metals, and you don't want your fetus to become exposed to them.
It they did drink green tea before the pregnancy they will already have been detoxed.
So: Green tea is very good for detoxing (oh, and white tea also).

Cyara wrote:
Great little helper you have there..    ..... already testing soil samples and wielding a big black watering can almost as big as he is!

Nice blog.

Chelle

Thanks. I'm so pleased that he loves to be in the garden too. It's also great fun to make the garden interesting for him  - which luckily coincides with making a more wild/natural garden.

Thank you very much!
No ducks I'm afraid, we rent and the owner of the house forbids us having animals:cry:. So I have to make do with wild birds and critters. It is especially the top layer, that I'm concerned about. Straw would be nice, but constantly wet straw would just make slugs happy. What else can I use?

We just moved ½ a year ago to our present location, so I have plenty of cardboard I will use. (Then I'll use the weed mat in my allotment, that hasn't sold yet, and which I don't have time to spend time on).

I have another question: Should I remove the grass first (its a lawn now) or should I just place the beds on top of it? I haven't really been able to figure out from the ready avalible sources online. 
I initially thought that I would remove the grass where I will have vegetables and perennials, but not where I will have berry bushes.
I will not start using the vegetable beds until next spring.

(I do need a good permaculture book with all this questions that arise, but I just can't seem to find that good allround book...)

I am about to start making garden beds in my garden, and has been convinced to try the lasagna method for the first year. But I'm wondering about how to avoid making a slug heaven? I live in a wet climate, and I think the approach will just make the slugs go "yay! ". So should I avoid that approach? (Or am I all wrong in the first place?)
Is there any adaptations that I can do, that will make the beds less inviting to slugs?

By the way, I have about 15 m/50 feet of weed mat lying around. Could I use that in stead of card board at the bottom, or are there some really good reason for using the cardboard? (other than it isn't plastic).

Mt.goat wrote:
The biggest hang up people have about debri piles is how they look.Not very orderly!They also can harbor slugs which can be a problem if near vegis.Permaculture is about letting nature do the work and while the amout of calories consumed(burning vs chipping) may be similar,the amount invested by the user is greater with chipping.So I guess I think that yea,natives did have a large carbon footprint but nature did most of the work.

Maybe slightly OT, but a "kvashegn" (branch fence?), which have some resemblance to the hugelkultur heinfrance wrote about, is a great way of making that pile look a lot better, and you get a useful fence at the same time. Looks like this: http://www.biopix.dk/Temp/Kvashegn%2000001.JPG . You can put big weeds (like thistles and nettles) in as well to speed up the decomposing, but having a fence and providing a lovely place for wildlife is as important objectives with this idea.
You can put some stones at the bottom for the benefit of those critters that like it cold and damp. The whole thing is full of life; birds, insects, hedgehogs...

I don't know if it is allowed to promote oneself, but I have just started a blog (see adress in my signature) about my ventures into permaculture.
It is brand new now, but I will write about what I will do and did and my thoughts about why.

Thank you for your serious answers. It is encoraging to get such good answers to my first post.

I did some more searching and found out of the following:
- Tea contains large amounts of flouride.
- Snails don't like tea leaves and coffee grounds.
- Tea are supposed be a fungicide.
- Tea contains a lot of nitrogen.

- Used tea leaves absorbs strong smells, e.g. from garlic.
- And can also be used in the cat toilet (sprinkle on top of the gravel) to absorb smell and work as a flea repellant.

So tea and tea leaves for my nitrogen using plants

(didn't really go into stuff about coffee as coffee is only drunken here, when we have guests)