Katja van Veen

Michael Cox wrote:
Use what you can get - grass clippings, manure is great, wood chips will last a long time. Don't worry about buying compost - start a pile of your own.

Yes I will start it soon, but it will take several months to make compost? I do need ready-to-use-compost to make a "new bed" in a few weeks, right?

Thanks for the link. I will take care of what I plant, but I do want to plant a variety of plants for my daughter's enjoyment and for us to learn

Few question about mulching. I did some research and found some quality compost http://www.rhp.nl/en/consumer/keurmerk/ Sounds good isn't it?
Looking at the size of our garden, it will be quite a investment, together with wooden chips. How thick the layers should be?
I also wonder if there are ways to make it less expensive by mixing other things into it? We have lot's of dry oak leaves and pine needles. And maybe some horse manure?
Should we mow the grass before mulching and use it in the mix?
Our neighbor has chickens, can we use them somehow to remove the grass?

Thanks again.

Thank you so much for suggestions!

Great tip about strawberries on wood chips, and carrot between glass.
We don't have our own compost, I'd have to buy it, should I look for some special qualities?

I digged into climate information, hope the following makes sense:
- 270 days growing season (above 5 degrees C)
- 23,2 summer days per year (above 25 degrees C)
- 3 to 4 tropical days per year (above 30 degrees C)

The Netherlands has Oceanic climate (like in Seattle?), Wikipedia article seems to be down, here is the link to google cache:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LgO2YI1h2PYJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_climate

Hello,

I am completely new to gardening and love the idea of permaculture. I started to read a book about it but never got to the practical part. We have a large garden with long grass, trees and bushes that mostly takes care of itself . The soil never dries out (we are in The Netherlands, very wet country).
I really want to start to grow vegetables this spring, mostly because of my toddler daughter who is currently very interested in everything that grows. So the results are kind of important, but I do want to move toward permaculture garden finally. Is it too late to mulch now? Should we start with more traditional garden, trench the soil this year and slowly move to permaculture? Or is it still possible to do it from the beginning, starting now (February)? We didn't have real winter this year yet, no snow, almost no frost.

Thanks!