Permaculture basics
Permaculture is a design system that tries to mimic nature to create societies that are sustainable. Permaculture is often thought of as a gardening technique, but actually extends into all areas of life including town planning. Whenever you think about how you can improve efficiency by changing a process and minimizing inputs, you're thinking in a permaculture way.
Permaculturalists have many simple tools that they use to aid the thinking and design process.
The RISC rooftop forest garden
Permaculture artichokes
Growing your own without spending a cent!
This is about 3/4 of my Jerusalem artichoke harvest.It may not be the world's largest harvest, but I'm proud of it because a) we always end up eating the artichokes and b) it didn't cost me a penny.
I first planted Jerusalem artichokes back in 2006. The artichokes themselves came from my weekly veg box. I potted them up into home-made compost, in large pots that had been liberated from a building site that was having some landscaping done (the pots would have been thrown away otherwise).
In 2007 I dug up and ate my harvest, and replanted 4 of my tubers into fresh home-made compost in the same tubs - and that's where this year's harvest has come from.
If that's not an example of applied permaculture principles, then I don't know what is.
I'm so proud of my Jerusalem artichokes that they were the subject of the first ever episode of The Alternative Kitchen Garden.
Using paper in the garden
Reduce your inputs by recycling your waste
Permaculture is all about cutting down on resource use and making the best use of the resources you have. That means reusing and recycling as much of your waste as possible.Even if you try and reduce your paper usage, most households still collect a lot of paper that needs to be reused or recycled. Check out this article on using waste paper in the garden for some ideas.
Forest gardens
A forest garden tries to mimic a natural, productive ecosystem by layering plants in specific niches. The end result is a low maintenance garden filled with useful plants that provide a year-round harvest.Read more about edible forest gardens in this article from The Telegraph.
Permaculture zones
The idea behind Permaculture zones is to make sure that everything is in the right place. Permaculturalists believe that towns and cities should be designed so that people can live and work in their local community - without having to travel long distances and waste fuel.In the garden, using permaculture zones in the design ensures that high maintenance plants are closest to the house and receive the most attention, whilst plants that can look after themselves for days at a time can be further away.
Read more about permaculture zones in gardens.
Layers
In a natural forest, plants fill every able niche to maximize production.In permaculture thinking, plants are assigned to layers and arranged so that they mimic a natural forest system and the maximum possible yield for the space.
Find out what the 7 layers of a forest garden are.
Herb spirals
A practical application of permaculture principles
Many people's first encounters with permaculture in a gardening context is an herb spiral.An herb spiral uses permaculture principles to design an herb garden that makes the best possible use of local conditions and microclimates to give each herb its ideal growing conditions.
Learn more about herb spirals.
Sheet mulch gardens
An easy way to make a new garden bed
Permaculture gardeners use sheet mulching to reclaim weedy ground and make new garden beds. It's a low effort project - there's no digging or weeding involved. It doesn't disturb the soil, and adds plenty of organic matter to keep the soil healthy and feed plants.Find out how easy it is to create a sheet mulch garden.
Comfrey
The permaculture plant
Comfrey is often referred to as 'the permaculture plant' because it has so many uses and therefore earns its place in a permaculture garden.Comfrey is edible, although most people find it unpalatable and it should not be consumed in large amounts. It can be used as animal fodder.
The real use of comfrey is to build fertility in the garden. Comfrey sends down deep roots and brings up minerals from the subsoil. Its leaves can be used as a compost activator, a nutritious mulch, or to make a liquid feed that's high in potash.
Learn more about comfrey in episode 7 of The Alternative Kitchen Garden, and read about growing your own fertilizer.
Display your love of permaculture
Permaculture on eBay
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Permaculture books on Amazon
PERMACULTURE: A Designers' Manual by Bill Mollison
Written by the father of permaculture himself.0 points
Permaculture websites
- Permaculture Magazine - solutions for sustainable living
- Permaculture Magazine, solutions for sustainable living. Articles, news, reviews, solutions, courses, classified ads etc. Helping to promote ecovillages, reduce carbon footprints, find solutions to peak oil, climate change and global warming. Links to the Green Shopping catalogue. Owned by Permanent
- Permaculture Activist
- Permaculture Activist, directory, permaculture design, permaculture design course, intentional community,ecovillage,agroforestry,aquaculture,natural building,seed sources,nurseries,alternative energy
- Spiralseed
- Spiralseed is a small independent publishing venture founded by Graham Burnett in 2001, for the purpose of sharing information as well as
produci - The Roof Garden
- Reading's unique permaculture roof garden. Using recycled materials, compost and a cornucopia of edible and medicinal trees, shrubs, herbs, flowers and climbing plants.
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