Permaculture, explained simply
Neither a mound nor a recipe. A way of designing a place. Nine sites studied in 2024 stored 27 % more carbon in their soil.
People say "permaculture" about a mound, a thick mulch or a forest of fruit trees. After a while, the word no longer means anything. Permaculture is not a growing technique. It is a way of designing a place, with three ethics and twelve principles. Recent studies back it up on the soil. On yield, the question stays open.
Where the word comes from
Bill Mollison and David Holmgren coined the word in the 1970s. At the start, it meant a system that combined useful animals with perennial plants, or plants that reseed themselves. Holmgren now gives it a wider definition. Permaculture is "the conscious design of landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature". It seeks to produce an abundance of food, fibre and energy for local needs.
Keep the first word, design. Permaculture tells you how to think before acting. It does not tell you which tool to pick up.
Three ethics, before any technique
Holmgren sums up the ethics in three principles, taught in design courses from the beginning:
- Care for the earth. Soils, forests and water.
- Care for people. Yourself, those close to you and the community.
- Fair share. Limit your consumption and redistribute surpluses.
In the vegetable garden, this gives a soil you do not let run down. A garden that does not wear you out. Surplus courgettes that go to the neighbour rather than to the compost.
The twelve principles, applied to the vegetable garden
Holmgren gathered permaculture thinking into twelve design principles, each with a proverb. The examples in the third column are ours.
| No. | Principle (Holmgren) | In the vegetable garden, for example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Observe and interact | Note for a whole season where the sun falls and where water stagnates before laying out the beds |
| 2 | Catch and store energy | A rainwater tank, a pile of leaves kept for mulching |
| 3 | Obtain a yield | A garden that feeds, not just a decoration |
| 4 | Apply self-regulation and accept feedback | Note the failures and change next year |
| 5 | Use and value renewable resources and services | Clippings and leaves rather than the bag of potting mix |
| 6 | Produce no waste | Peelings to the compost or onto the surface |
| 7 | Design from patterns to details | Put the vegetable garden near the house before choosing the varieties |
| 8 | Integrate rather than segregate | Flowers among the vegetables, hens that eat the leftovers |
| 9 | Use small and slow solutions | One more bed a year rather than the whole garden at once |
| 10 | Use and value diversity | Several varieties of tomato instead of one |
| 11 | Use edges and value the marginal | The edge of a hedge, the foot of a south-facing wall |
| 12 | Creatively use and respond to change | Take advantage of a fallen tree to build a mound or a shelter |
None of these principles requires a mound, a herb spiral or an edible forest. They are questions to ask yourself, not plans to copy.
Design or growing technique, two different things
A lasagne bed, a permanent mulch or no-dig growing are techniques. Many permaculturists use them. So do many other gardeners. The researchers who studied permaculture farms stress it. Permaculture is not reduced to a set of practices. It lies in the way of arranging them to suit the place.
In the face of science, it is also its weakness. In 2014, two researchers, Rafter Sass Ferguson and Sarah Taylor Lovell, reviewed the scientific and popular literature. According to them, permaculture has long stayed isolated from research. It is criticised for overly simple claims and the lack of a clear definition. Its texts on practice often downplay the complexity, the difficulties and the risks for those who start out. On the other hand, its ideas on mixed perennial crops and on water management go ahead of the research of the time. They are leads worth digging into.
The figures from the studies
Two pieces of work give serious figures in Europe. One is about the soil, the other about money.
The soil clearly gains
The 2024 study followed eight sites in Germany and one in Luxembourg, from 2019 to 2021. Each site had to follow permaculture principles and live off its production. It also had to combine at least two uses, for example fruit trees and grazing. There were small-scale market gardens, mounds with a wood core, grazed orchards and hens. These sites had 457 % more plant species and 197 % more bird species.
Two reservations matter. Part of the carbon comes from compost and manure brought in from outside. The authors note that the net gain for the climate may therefore be smaller. They also did not measure harvests. Their last question is precisely about the yield of permaculture against mainstream agriculture.
Money, possible with many hours
At Bec Hellouin, Inra (now Inrae) and AgroParisTech followed the most intensive part of the farm from 2011 to 2015. The results were scaled to 1,000 m². Turnover went from €33,000 in 2013 to €57,000 in 2014. But working hours followed, from 2,006 in 2013 to 3,026 in 2014. The monthly net income ranged from €898 to €1,571 depending on the year and the cost of equipment. A half-time employee was needed on top.
The report insists on a point that is often forgotten. These 1,000 m² "should in no case be considered sufficient to set up a micro-farm". They are part of a larger whole, with less intensive crops, natural areas and buildings. The study observed the farm in real conditions. It did not compare it with a control.
The open questions
We do not know whether a family vegetable garden designed on permaculture lines produces more or less than a well-run conventional one. No study we opened compares the two on the same area. We also do not know where the soil gain comes from. Part perhaps comes from the design, another part from the compost brought in and the soil never turned over.
Ideas to take on your beds
You need neither a mound nor a course to begin. While you observe, the app gives you the sowing dates of each crop for your region. Start with your seeds.
To place permaculture among the other methods, read the overview Six methods put to the test. The techniques associated with it have their own guides: Lasagne bed, Mound growing and hügelkultur, Never bare soil and Forest garden.
FAQ
Do you need a big plot to do permaculture?
No. The principles apply to a balcony as to a farm. Holmgren even advises designing at the smallest scale that does the job.
Does permaculture forbid digging?
It forbids nothing. Many permaculturists no longer dig. But this technique is also found outside permaculture. The guide To dig or not to dig goes over the trials.
Does permaculture give better harvests?
We do not know. The 2024 study measured the soil and biodiversity, not harvests. At Bec Hellouin, production rose with experience and hours of work.
Is permaculture organic?
It has no label of its own. The sites in the 2024 study followed organic rules, without all being certified.
Photo: Ries Bosch, Unsplash
Sources
- David Holmgren, L'essence de la permaculture (traduction française de Essence of Permaculture : définition, trois principes éthiques, douze principes de conception)
- Ferguson R. S. et Lovell S. T., Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement, practice, and worldview. A review, Agronomy for Sustainable Development 34, 2014
- Reiff J., Jungkunst H. F., Mauser K. M., Kampel S., Regending S., Rösch V., Zaller J. G. et Entling M. H., Permaculture enhances carbon stocks, soil quality and biodiversity in Central Europe, Communications Earth & Environment 5, 305, 2024
- Ferme biologique du Bec Hellouin, INRA et AgroParisTech, Étude « Maraîchage biologique permaculturel et performance économique », rapport final du 30 novembre 2015
- Permaculture Principles (site de David Holmgren), Permaculture ethics : earth care, people care, fair share
He gardens in Belgium and tries out in his own vegetable patch what the app recommends. His articles always start from a source you can check and a step you can take this weekend.
