Permaculture Gardening and Agriculture – This article explains how permaculture works and why it’s a sustainable way of cultivation in the long term.
To sum up permaculture in a few sentences isn’t so simple. It is important to remember that permaculture is a multi-faceted and comprehensive approach to gardening and sustainable agriculture.
In this post you can learn about
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a land-use model inspired by natural ecosystems. It emphasizes the importance of adopting natural cycles, diversity, and resiliency in the design and planting of the landscapes.
“Permaculture” comes from the English term “permanent agriculture,” and it refers to long-term land use. To practice permaculture, one must use natural cycles and ecosystems as inspiration while planning a garden.
Permaculture Principles & Methods
Australia’s Bill Mollison and David Holmgren developed the permaculture concept in the 1970s. Instead of using pesticides and fertilizers that damage large areas without consideration for the environment or biodiversity, they hoped to use them to develop a new industrial agriculture system.
Permaculture’s purpose is to produce a significant amount of sustainable output with the least amount of work (such as labor, purchased materials as well as energy). Resources should be used wisely and sustainably, with a focus on the environment, economy, society, and the people who use them.
There are many tenets and concepts behind permaculture, and we’ll go through a few of them here.
Three Principles of Permaculture Gardening
- Caring for the Earth and the ecosystem: Building up fertile humus, nurturing soil organisms, soil health, and fertility, preventing erosion and desiccation.
- Caring for other People: Care for self and others around us, nurturing human relationships, taking responsibility, working and finding solutions together.
- Fair Share: Harvesting and utilizing natural resources and their rewards without loss and in a fair way by sharing with the community.
Furthermore, permaculture ideas are used in sectors other than agriculture and horticulture, such as sustainable urban planning or architectural engineering. In permaculture design, all other metrics and tactics should be derived from the three fundamental principles.
Common Permaculture Methods
- The practice of observing and imitating natural phenomena.
- Incorporating lessons from biology and ecology: keeping an eye on food chains and creating habitats that benefit both humans and animals.
- Think, plan, and act for the long term by starting small and working your way up.
- Diversify and keep it that way: Create zones and microclimates that are both diverse and interesting.
- Save time and money by focusing on optimization rather than maximization.
- Reduce consumption, eliminate waste (go “zero waste“), and recycle as much as you can.
- In collaborative initiatives, come up with innovative ideas.
- Instead of rivalry, promote cooperation.
Advantages of Permaculture
Permaculture has the added benefit of being eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable. Gardeners can create a variety of ecosystems by using natural resources wisely and promoting biodiversity as well as natural cycles in the garden. At the same time, it’s about being able to provide enough good, natural food for your family on your own.
Here are some of the major benefits of following this model in agriculture and gardening,
- Resource-efficient and environmentally friendly.
- It’s environmentally and socially sound.
- By creating several microclimates and habitats, it helps conserve biodiversity and attract beneficial insects.
- Communities of plants that are very hardy (high resilience).
- Long-term humus accumulation increases soil CO2 sequestration.
- Using less water and storing it in a more convenient place.
- Helps the (self-)supply of natural and nutritious food to be more self-sufficient.
- Increasing one’s understanding of natural cycles and their interrelationships.
Permaculture as a Way Towards Sustainable Gardening
Using sustainable and environmentally friendly Organic products are very compatible with the principles of permaculture. We also always emphasize a conscious and respectful approach to nature.
Permaculture can achieve the best results by utilizing natural fertilizers, flowering mixtures, and many other products for sustainable gardening, which bring the greatest benefit to you, your garden as well as the environment.
For concrete examples of use and practical tips on how to create a permaculture garden yourself, see our article on permaculture in the garden.