What is Permaculture?
Bill Mollison is considered the father of permaculture. In 1978 he founded the first institute for permaculture together with David Holmgren. The name is made up of permanent and agriculture, i.e. permanent agriculture. Permanent is to be understood here in the sense of sustainability, the creation of self-contained cycles under sensible and respectful treatment of nature and its resources with maximum return for the at the same time People. With permaculture it is important to include and use all existing elements, soil fertility and Maintain or improve biodiversity, and give birds, insects and other animals a habitat and food procure. In the meantime, the term permaculture is no longer used only in the garden area, it also occurs in the energy industry and in the design of social infrastructures.
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- Planning a permaculture garden
- Permaculture on the balcony
- Permaculture in the allotment garden
In the permaculture garden, animals and nature live together in harmony
Bill Mollison defined permaculture as follows: “Permaculture is the conscious design and entertainment of agriculturally productive ecosystems that enhance the diversity, stability and resilience of natural Own ecosystems. The philosophy behind permaculture is a philosophy that works with and not against nature, one Philosophy of continuous and deliberate observation, not continuous and thoughtless Action; it looks at systems in all of their functions rather than just demanding some kind of output from them, and it allows systems to demonstrate their own evolutions. "
The 12 principles of permaculture
David Holmgren has created 12 permaculture design principles that you can use as the basis for creating your permaculture garden:
1. Observe and use
One of the basics of permaculture is to know the existing conditions and plants and to integrate them into the garden. To do this, you should know your soil and the plants and animals that naturally grow in the garden, as well as any inclines, incidence of sunlight and wind patterns.
2. Collect and store energy
Renewable energy sources are popular in permaculture. This includes not only the well-known solar cells and wind and water power but also the use of solar energy z. B. to heat water (e.g. B. in black tubes), in greenhouses or Cold frames or the storage of water.
3. Generate a profit
As I said, permaculture is not just about creating a natural garden, but about generating a yield that nourishes people and animals.
4. Create self-regulating cycles
If it is possible to create sustainable cycles, this not only saves a lot of work, it also promotes the natural balance in nature. This is z. B. achieved by growing perennial plants.
5. Use renewable resources
A tree provides shade and thus benefits the gardener. If it is felled, it gives wood, but no longer provides any shade. It makes more sense to use only parts of the tree as wood so that it can fulfill both functions.
6. Recycle everything, don't throw anything away
Garden waste can be used to make compost or to build hill beds or raised beds, making it a valuable resource.
7. Recognize patterns, then design details
With permaculture, the whole should always be kept in view as a system in order to be able to use and improve it as such. If you know the whole thing, changes can be made within the system without throwing it out of balance.
8. integration
This point is closely related to the first: It is important to know the system and its parts and how they interact in order to be able to integrate and use them.
9. Find small and slow solution strategies
"Good things take time," is the popular saying and permaculture shares this opinion. Highly cultivated, fast-growing plants are poor in nutrients and often cannot do without chemicals. In permaculture, life is given time to develop.
10. Appreciating and promoting diversity
Monocultures are prone to pests and disease. Diversity is much better protected against voracious guests and offers both humans and animals healthier sources of food.
11. Use edge zones
Since permaculture is often used in a small space, it should be used as efficiently as possible. Therefore, edge zones are also to be valued and used sensibly. Also a Allotment garden can thus become a permaculture garden.
12. Use changes
If something doesn't work, the gardener quickly becomes desperate. But changes are part of life and should be valued and used within the framework of permaculture.
Central elements of a permaculture garden
Over time, central design elements have emerged in permaculture that should not be missing in any permaculture garden. These elements allow the cultivation of very high-yielding plants in a small space, such as B .:
- Hill bed
- Raised bed
- Potato tower
- Herb snail
- Vertical gardens
- Dry stone wall
- Rainwater barrel
- Ponds
- Natural hedges
- Use of animals such as ducks, sheep or chickens
