Permaculture: A Basic Overview

Permaculture is a word derived from the combination of the words permanent agriculture. The main focus of permaculture is on sustainability and the avoidance of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides in producing food. Much of permaculture focuses on the use of perennial plants, so that little maintenance is needed. The amount of production on a unit of land from permaculture will not likely be as high as a monoculture crop such as wheat, but the permaculture crop requires just a fraction of the work and effort that a farmer would employ to sustain that field of wheat.

One of the ways that permaculture can produce so much food is by utilizing vertical layers to maximize the amount of plants able to grow in one area. It would be as if the wheat farmer were able to stack many wheat fields on top of each other to multiply the amount of food to be harvested from them. The seven layers of permaculture range from the canopy layer at the top, to the rhizome or root layer at the bottom. This system was adopted by observing these layers in forests and jungles worldwide and then applying them to the methods of permaculture design.

Water harvesting is another important aspect that must be paid attention to when designing a permaculture garden or food forest. The use of rainwater barrels as well as the construction of earthen mounds and swales are both common. A swale is a ditch that is cut at a high point of property so that rain collects in the ditch and then drains slowly downward to the permaculture crops on the lower property. These methods have allowed permaculture to be set up in deserts, and they can also reduce the time needed to maintain your crops. The use of these swales as well as heavily mulching the soil to retain moisture can eliminate the need to ever water these permaculture food forests.

The need for fertilizer in permaculture is eliminated by the use of compost and nitrogen-fixing plants. Compost and manure are both natural methods of adding nutrients to the soil for plants to utilize. There are many nitrogen-fixing plants that have symbiotic bacteria on their roots to make atmospheric nitrogen gas available to plants in a form they can use. Many advocates of permaculture recommend that a certain percentage of plants be nitrogen-fixers so the soil remains fertile. Some nitrogen-fixers can produce something edible, but many are simply allowed to grow to a certain height, and then the top is chopped off and used as mulch, which also releases nitrogen into the soil. This is called the "chop and drop" method of permaculture, and cutting the top of these plants causes them to shrink their root mass, releasing nitrogen nodules into the soil.

Permaculture is being looked at as an alternative to traditional agriculture because it eliminates the need for harsh chemicals to be sprayed onto food crops, and it cuts down on the oil needed to transport crops worldwide.

The Urban Farmer - Permaculture Essentials

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