Permaculture embodies a harmonious relationship between plants, animals, and people. This sustainable approach fosters healthy garden ecosystems that benefit local communities while minimizing environmental impact. The term ‘permaculture’ itself is a blend of ‘permanent’ and ‘agriculture,’ emphasizing the desire to establish long-lasting systems rather than relying on fleeting solutions like petrochemicals or destroying biodiversity.
While it may evoke a sense of hippiedom, permaculture’s true power lies in its ability to transcend gardening, aiming to create ecosystems that wisely utilize resources and consider the needs of future generations. This holistic approach can even lead to self-sustaining systems on your property. So, how do these philosophical underpinnings translate into practical benefits for your garden?
We’ll explore four straightforward strategies to help you seamlessly integrate permaculture techniques, ultimately saving time, money, and the environment.
The Background of Permaculture
Permaculture, founded by Bill Mollison and The Permaculture Institute in Tasmania, is a holistic approach to producing food within ecosystems, whether on a small scale in one’s backyard or at a community level. This philosophy emphasizes a step-by-step method for creating sustainable systems that not only provide sustenance but also foster harmony with the environment.
While permaculture has gained international recognition, its impact is perhaps most profound in developing countries where it plays a crucial role in addressing issues such as world hunger. Humanitarian organizations like the United States Peace Corps and World Vision have incorporated permaculture strategies into their initiatives to establish gardens and schools in rural communities, empowering local populations to adopt sustainable practices and improve their overall well-being.
What is the Difference Between Organic and Permaculture
While both organic gardening and permaculture share a commitment to harmonizing agriculture with nature, they diverge in their approaches. Organic gardening eschews synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, relying instead on natural inputs like compost, leaves, and beneficial microbes. Techniques such as crop rotation, companion planting, and cover crops work together to create a thriving garden ecosystem.
Permaculture, on the other hand, takes organic gardening one step further by integrating the garden with the home, farm, and community, seeking balance within a self-contained ecosystem. This holistic approach emphasizes closing loops, such as turning waste into new nutrients. For instance, using animal manure, food scraps, and leaf litter in your compost pile not only breaks down waste but also creates a new source of nutrients.
If you’re eager to incorporate permaculture principles into your own garden, four fundamental concepts provide an accessible starting point.
Water Control
When assessing the water flow on your property, take a moment to appreciate its nuances. Next time the skies open up, resist the urge to dash indoors and instead take a leisurely stroll around your yard. Observe how the water moves across the landscape – are there areas where it tends to accumulate or does it flow with reckless abandon through your garden? Does it disappear into thin air down the street?
Jot down any notable patterns and areas you’d like to alter, then put those observations to use by employing the following strategies to redirect the water’s path.
Controlling Run-Off
Permaculture’s focus extends beyond the simplicity of cultivating crops in neat rows for harvest purposes. Instead, it’s about designing ecosystems that work harmoniously together to maintain soil health and conserve water resources. This can be achieved by planting vegetables in clusters on raised beds that follow a natural slope, eliminating runoff and erosion. Berries, lovage, or asparagus are excellent choices for stabilizing soil and absorbing excess moisture.
In addition to this approach, permaculture principles also encourage the redirection of water flows to where they’re needed most. In my own experience, I had an issue with excess water running from a ridge through my neighbor’s yard, collecting in a large pool beneath my barn. Rather than installing a traditional French drain, I employed permaculture techniques by creating a ditch along the fence line that circumvented the barn and flowed into a nearby field.
At the endpoint, I planted several nut trees and elderberry bushes. This innovative solution allowed me to harness water where it was needed, minimizing waste and excess runoff. By applying similar concepts in your own yard, you can create a functional rain garden or drainage swell, effectively managing water resources and promoting ecological harmony.
Harvesting Rainwater
On my farm, we rely on rainwater harvesting as a crucial permaculture practice for preserving precious water resources. Without access to city water, I’ve implemented an efficient system using gutters to direct rainwater into storage tanks. Strategically placed on all buildings, this setup ensures not a single drop is lost.
This dual benefit provides stored water for future use and prevents unwanted runoff, redirecting excess rainwater from flowing under eaves or other areas where it’s not needed. By adopting similar measures, such as utilizing rain barrels or catchment systems in your own garden, you can also capitalize on otherwise wasted water and promote a more sustainable relationship with this vital resource.
Hügelkultur
In ancient Germany, a unique gardening technique was born – Hügelkultur, which translates to ‘mound culture’. This method involves burying wood in your garden, mimicking the natural decomposition process on the forest floor, albeit at an accelerated pace. As the wood breaks down, it absorbs and retains water, releasing it during dry periods. This clever technique is particularly useful in areas prone to drought.
By incorporating raised beds, or mounds, decaying wood is placed in a trench, with soil piled back on top. This concept has been successfully applied in orchards, where fruit trees and berry bushes thrive thanks to improved drainage and nutrient-rich soil.
Build a Hügelkultur Bed
When setting up your hügelkultur bed, start by searching out untreated, raw wood from trees or construction waste. Rotten wood is an excellent choice, but fresh cut wood can also be used. Begin by marking off a 3×6 foot area and removing the topsoil, which you’ll set aside in a nearby pile. Next, fill your trench with sticks, branches, and small logs, then stomp it down to compact the material.
Alternate layers of wood and filler materials like compost, plant waste, grass clippings, and additional soil, gradually building up a pyramid shape about 3 feet tall. Finish by topping your mound off with a few inches of soil. Once your bed is built, allow it to settle for a few months. This will give the microorganisms time to break down the materials and the soil to compact.
When you’re ready to plant, hügelkultur beds are ideal for vining plants like pumpkins, melons, and squashes that require heavy feeding. Other good options include soybeans, herbs, and borage. Berry bushes also thrive in these conditions, and I’ve had success using this method to establish blueberry patches.
By deliberately incorporating acidic materials into the bed, you can create an environment with a pH level suitable for blueberries, ultimately resulting in a thriving berry patch like mine.
Agroforestry
Farming the forest, a concept known as agroforestry, not only pertains to cultivating land in harmony with trees but also incorporates elements of forestry into agricultural practices. In permaculture terms, agroforestry is about infusing the qualities found in forests into one’s garden and livestock spaces, fostering a harmonious coexistence between nature and cultivation.
Bringing the Forest to your Garden
Integrating forest areas into your fields by planting trees can have a profound impact on the overall ecosystem of both your farm and the surrounding forest. One of the most significant benefits is the provision of shelter and windbreaks for livestock, effectively keeping sounds and odors contained within the property. Certain tree species, such as hazelnuts, also offer a valuable food source as their nuts, twigs, and leaves fall into the grazing area.
For larger pasture areas, consider incorporating beneficial trees to create a more diverse and resilient ecosystem. Additionally, trees can provide natural barriers for crops by controlling water flow, breaking up clay or rocky soil, and offering habitats for beneficial wildlife.
Bringing your Garden to the Forest
Forested areas on your property can be a goldmine for innovative farming, offering a diverse range of crops that not only provide sustenance for your animals but also contribute to a more circular and sustainable ecosystem. Mushrooms and nuts are two exemplary examples of crops that thrive in these conditions, serving as valuable feedstock for chickens and pigs, respectively.
By planting crops like sarsaparilla, arnica, ginger, wild indigo, gotu kola, chicory, wild yam, coneflowers, hyssop, ginkgo, rosemary, and valerian on your forested land, you can tap into the rich benefits that trees have to offer. These crops not only provide a natural food source for your animals but also foster biodiversity, enhance ecosystem services, and promote ecological balance.
Domesticated Animals
Incorporating domestic animals into ecosystems is a crucial aspect of permaculture design. One exemplary case is the humble chicken. Typically, we keep our chickens in a separate coop and run, but this setup fails to fully harness their ecological potential. By incorporating chickens into the overall landscape, they can perform valuable services such as nutrient cycling through foraging and waste production.
They also serve as natural weed and pest controllers, reducing the need for chemical or biological controls, and facilitate soil turnover via their scratching behavior. This integrated approach encourages a more harmonious coexistence with our surroundings. Other animals, like pigs, can be equally beneficial. A pig tractor allows these omnivores to prepare an area for planting by digging and depositing nutrient-rich waste.
This eliminates the need for fertilizer, pest control, and mechanical clearing. Smaller yet valuable additions to the homestead include bees, other insects, and fish. Permaculture doesn’t require a sprawling estate; even modest gardens can benefit from its principles. By embracing these ideas, you can create a more resilient and thriving ecosystem on your property. Have you incorporated any of these techniques into your yard? We’d love to hear about it!
