Reply To: New garden on rock, 8 ins dubious topsoil, in Norway

[Helen]

Hi Cleansweep,
Thanks for replying 🙂 Your research sounds pretty good from my limited experience (I’m British, just moved to this part of Norway ready for the winter…).
I came across the Polycrub through a GQT some time ago. I think my climate is probably more like an Outer Hebrides rather than Shetland one, but the same principles apply of extending the season, and since we won’t have a hedge for a while and are on the top of a small hill, we’ll have the exposure issue which Shetland suffers from. I know that there are more powerfully built greenhouses available here, and am thinking of making that investment in the next couple of years. In the meantime it’ll be a trip to the plumbing supply shop for pipe to raise over new beds.
I’m a bit concerned about the lack of depth of my soil, how thin it is, and in common with some of the new allotmenteers (of which I was one for a few years, too), trying to establish new beds with little readily available compost. I won’t have any green matter for a while (I love how Charles simplifies it into green and brown). Commercially available hot compost bins are encouraged here (for about £500 though), and bokashi are making inroads into the market so I might supplement and make a gradual start to increasing the fertility. I’m hoping the topsoil on the plot might have s couple of worms, but so far after the rain we’ve had, the ground is wet underneath a dry tilth, with no structure to it. I guess a good reason ton adopt this approach…
Thanks for your thoughts!