Anita Karlson

I have now mulched! A couple of weeks back a landscaping business started taking down some trees just 500 meters from where I live and chopped them up. So I got on the phone to the boss of the company and asked if I could have some of the wood chips they were making. He said I could take the whole pile if I wanted. Sooo ... out with the wheelbarrow I went. Here is a short video of the result, if someone wants to see

Thanks for all the helpful tips! I will start to be on the lookout for these alternatives around my location

Hi all

Does anyone have any good tips for (free) mulch when starting out a new garden. I find it a bit difficult to get enough material to mulch with when I am on a low budget. Here is the state in my garden:
Cold Climate Garden. I have gotten some grass clippings now, but don't want to pile that on thickly to aviod creating a "semented" layer. So I'm just mixing up what I can get my hands on and some spots of soil are still bare

This is one of my rhubarb plants that I planted from seed last year. It seems to be doing ok, but probably will have to wait a year or two to be able to taste it!

I’d give the DVD’s eight out of ten acorns.

I thought it had lots of useful information and tips on these three topics; pond, swale and hügelbed. I particularly liked the fact that we could see how things were doing one year later. Would like to see it after two, three and five years too…

Watching all the three DVD’s I found there was a lot of repetitions, and it could have been much better edited. It was also a bit confusing that the plans changed, and each DVD sort of returned to a previous stage in the planning. On the other hand, it was also great to see that things don’t always work out according to the first plan you make. That was kind of reassuring …

I still don’t feel confident starting to work on ponds on my own, but the swales and hügelbeds I am ready to tackle.

I would recommend the DVD’s to people with some knowledge of permaculture, but without too much practical experience.

I’d give the DVD’s eight out of ten acorns.

I thought it had lots of useful information and tips on these three topics; pond, swale and hügelbed. I particularly liked the fact that we could see how things were doing one year later. Would like to see it after two, three and five years too…

Watching all the three DVD’s I found there was a lot of repetitions, and it could have been much better edited. It was also a bit confusing that the plans changed, and each DVD sort of returned to a previous stage in the planning. On the other hand, it was also great to see that things don’t always work out according to the first plan you make. That was kind of reassuring …

I still don’t feel confident starting to work on ponds on my own, but the swales and hügelbeds I am ready to tackle.

I would recommend the DVD’s to people with some knowledge of permaculture, but without too much practical experience.

Ah, ok. Thanks a lot. That helped! Got to get my nose out of the soil and back up a bit to see the larger picture

Hi all,

I have two older pine trees in my garden. They are very tall and dont have any branches before around four meters up the stem. So they dont make any shade on the ground, and right under them is my best spot for putting in some raised beds. However I am noticing that I am getting a "free" mulch of pine needles everywhere I hear often that gardeners say that will create acidic soil. But as I did some resarch on it, it seems thats not true. Does anyone have experience with pine needles and if that makes any difference in the soil?