In this guide, we’re going to explore the parallels between permaculture and regenerative gardening, and how these two organic gardening techniques can work together to create a resilient garden ecosystem.
While permaculture is more of a gardening philosophy, and regenerative gardening is more of a gardening method, they are complementary practices that can be implemented at the same time seamlessly and without conflict.
Permaculture and Regenerative gardening both prioritize the environment, organic and holistic practices, resiliency, and soil health.
Sustainability: Both permaculture and regenerative agriculture prioritize sustainable practices that aim to restore and enhance ecosystems, soil health, and biodiversity. They both aim to be a nature-based solution to climate change.
Organic and Holistic: Both systems take a holistic approach to land management, considering the interconnections between various elements and processes within an ecosystem. Both methods of gardening avoid synthetic and toxic chemicals in the garden.
Building resiliency: Permaculture and regenerative agriculture draw inspiration from natural ecosystems, which allows for plants to thrive in otherwise harsh conditions.
Soil health: Both gardening practices emphasize the importance of healthy soil, and implement techniques such as composting, mulching, and minimizing soil disturbance to help store more carbon.
Let’s dive in to how the principles of each garden concept can be carried out in your garden.
Permaculture prioritizes sustainability, self-sufficiency, practicality, and multi-purpose plants and structures
What is Permaculture, Anyways?
Permaculture is a philosophy, and one might even go so far as to say that permaculture is a lifestyle. When applied to gardening, permaculture prioritizes sustainability, self-sufficiency, practicality, and multi-purpose plants and structures.
The principles of permaculture are a set of guiding ethics and design principles for sustainable and regenerative systems.
One thing that I really appreciate about permaculture is how it emphasizes working with nature instead of fighting against it, and implementing the natural patterns and processes that we find in nature in our own garden. This helps to create a garden that is both productive and resilient.
It is important to understand that many of the principles of permaculture are rooted in the indigenous practices, traditional ecological knowledge, and sustainable land management techniques developed by the original peoples of the Americas.
The word “permaculture” was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the late 1970’s.
Regenerative gardening works to build soil health and capture carbon as a nature-based solution to climate change
What is Regenerative Gardening?
Regenerative gardening is a technique that aims to reduce soil disturbance in order to capture and store more carbon. It is based on regenerative agriculture, but applied to small scale gardens and homesteads.
keeping roots of plants in ground when possible after harvest
planting cover crops to build soil health in the off season
adding in perennials to sequester more carbon and create more resilience
When the soil is able to capture and hold carbon, it not only benefits the plants, but the planet as well. Regenerative gardening and farming is seen as a nature-based solution to climate change.
Permaculture vs Regenerative Gardening: What's the difference?
While there are some distinctions between permaculture and regenerative gardening, I believe that these two methods can work together seamlessly. Here are ways that they are different, and how those differences can be rectified with simple solutions.
Scope and design:
Permaculture is a comprehensive design philosophy that applies ecological principles to all aspects of human habitation, including agriculture, architecture, energy systems, and social structures.
Regenerative agriculture, on the other hand, focuses specifically on agricultural practices and aims to restore degraded soils and ecosystems.
The system of permaculture can easily be applied to the goals of regenerative agriculture, and vice versa.
Design principles:
Permaculture follows a set of design principles informed by ethics, emphasizing concepts such as "observe and interact," "use and value diversity," and "obtain a yield."
Regenerative agriculture, while also guided by ecological principles, may adopt different practices and techniques tailored to specific agricultural contexts.
However, as we’ve seen, these principles can work together in concert.
Cultural and social aspects:
Permaculture incorporates social and cultural dimensions, promoting community resilience, cooperation, and self-sufficiency.
Regenerative agriculture, while recognizing the importance of social aspects, primarily centers on ecological and agricultural practices.
Those who practice regenerative gardening can easily integrate the cultural and social aspects into their practices.
Both permaculture and regenerative gardening can work together to build a resilient and eco-friendly garden
What are the Principles of Permaculture and How Can They Apply to Regenerative Gardening?
In this section we’ll go over the principles of permaculture, and share examples of how each principle is typically applied in a permaculture garden.
Then, we’ll see how each principle has a parallel in regenerative gardening.
Permaculture Principle 1: Observe and interact
This principle looks at ways that we can emulate nature in our design. It also echoes the Integrative Pest Management technique of observation and knowledge-seeking whenever problems arise instead of acting rashly.
Being present frequently in the garden can help to spot issues when they are small and manageable.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
One way that regenerative gardening emulates nature is by keeping the soil covered and planted - think of how a forest floor is covered with leaf litter, sprawling plants, and other organic debris.
Mulch applications of grass clippings, organic straw and adding cover crops mimic this in our gardens when they are not planted with vegetables.
Fallen leaves are energy that you can catch and store in your regenerative permaculture garden
Permaculture Principle 2: Catch and store energy
This help gardens and homesteads to be more resilient and self-sufficient. Setting up a water catchment system, harnessing contours, or powering your home with solar or wind are all actions you can take to fulfil this principle.
You can also harvest wood from fallen trees to fuel your wood stove, responsibly harvest wild food, preserve excess harvests, and make medicine from certain herbs when in bloom (I was reminded of some of these actions from permacultureprinciples.com, see more ideas here).
I also think that saving seeds can be a part of this principle.
Application to Regenerative gardening:
Mulching with grass clippings or fallen leaves “catches” the energy and nutrients available in these items that are typically seen as waste products and applies them to the garden. In turn, the mulch “catches” moisture and helps the soil to retain water for longer periods of time.
Regenerative gardeners also catch the nutrients of food and garden waste and store it in the form of compost.
Keeping roots in the ground whenever possible after harvest also stores all of the energy and nutrients in the root systems and allows them to be stored in the soil for future plantings to utilize.
Permaculture Principle 3: Obtain a yield
There is nothing more satisfying, motivating, and rewarding than bringing in harvests from your garden. Whether that is in the form of food, medicine, beauty, or even a harvest of soil-building material, there should be purpose and intention in the results of your garden.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
The regenerative goal of building soil health goes hand in hand with obtaining a yield. While regenerative gardeners are looking to improve the ecology of their land and mitigate climate change, they are also looking to grow food. Building soil health accomplishes all of these goals.
When the soil is healthy, plants are able to thrive as they benefit from relationships with the soil microbiome, which deliver nutrients to them and protect them. In turn, there is less pest, disease, and weed pressure, and crops are more resilient to weather extremes. This helps overall yield to increase.
Permaculture Principle 4: Apply self-regulation and accept feedback
This principle is very related to observe and interact for me. Notice how your plants respond to your inputs or lack of input. Notice what works and what doesn’t, and adjust accordingly throughout the growing seasons.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
I see this permaculture principle as being a way of encouraging us to build resiliency into our regenerative gardens. We need to create systems that can thrive, even in extreme weather conditions, extended droughts, and the continuously changing climate. When these “non-typical” weather events happen, we need to see what feedback our plants are giving us and adjust accordingly.
Another way that this principle applies to regenerative agriculture is that there is often a lot of resistance from farmers when they are told that not tilling the soil is actually beneficial to their land and crops.
Perennials, such as artichokes, are a renewable resource that produce harvests for multiple seasons
Permaculture Principle 5: Use and value renewable resources and services
In the same way that we catch and store energy, renewable resources and services are a priority in permaculture. This principle can be extended beyond power and water to free services such as chip drops, utilizing leaves or grass clippings as mulch, or building relationships with other farmers who might be happy to have you haul away their manure to help build your gardens soil health.
Another example of this is to recognize ways that plants and the natural world can help you with building support structures in your garden. You can build a natural fence with willows or hazels, or work with more protective plants such as native roses and hawthorns. You can build trellises from fallen branches, or make a raised bed from the trunks of fallen trees after a wind storm.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
For me, this principle really shines in the regenerative practice of cover cropping. Cover cropping allows you to essentially grow your own soil conditioner, adding nutrients and organic matter into the soil to improve next year’s crop. Certain cover crops can even help prevent disease or pests.
Another way that this can be applied is by growing perennials, such as comfrey, nettles, and borage that offer a lot of organic matter continuously that can be used to make fertilizer tea, mulch, or boost the compost pile.
Turn food and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost
Permaculture Principle 6: Produce no waste
Permaculture values reusing and repurposing materials so that they are never thrown into the landfill. When materials are no longer needed, see if they can be passed on to someone else or find creative ways to repurpose them again.
When purchased products are necessary, see if you can buy them secondhand, or purchase products that are known for their durability and long-lasting quality.
I apply this principle when in my house I try to have water have as many purposes as possible before either going down the drain or being captured to water my plants. For example, I may wash my hands over a dirty bowl, so that the bowl can soak and it’s easier to clean later on. Then, I’ll use that water to soak other dirty dishes that fit in that bowl. Finally, I may use that water to either moisten our compost pile or water perennials. The same water is repurposed and isn’t wasted.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
Regenerative gardening looks to build soil health, and one of the ways to do that is with what many people consider “waste.” Whenever possible, let any garden waste be used as mulch or added to the compost to be brought back into the garden system.
Another way that regenerative gardening produces less waste is by not tilling the soil. That’s less work, equipment, and fuel wasted, and less captured carbon wasted and released back into the atmosphere.
Permaculture Principle 7: Design from patterns to details
Sometimes it can be difficult to zoom out and see the big picture when you’re planning your garden, but careful observation will help you to create lasting systems that work well for you and your plants.
A classic example in permaculture is planting your most frequently harvested and also your more high maintenance plants closest to your home in a way that is very easy for you to access, walk through, and observe. In this way, it’s easy to stay on top of harvests, integrate your garden produce into your kitchen and cooking routines, and to notice any problems that may arise with your plants before they become larger issues.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
For me, this principle looks at how our regenerative gardens can be designed with layouts that are based on permaculture ideals. A regenerative garden doesn’t have to be in linear rows or mimic bigger scale agriculture.
Instead, a regenerative garden can merge with permaculture design and be more visually interesting and inspired by nature, with guilds around perennials, high maintenance or high-use crops closest to the house, and plants that need more water being close to a water source.
Integrate livestock into your regenerative permaculture garden
Permaculture Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate
Interplanting, in my opinion, adds so much visual beauty to a garden. It also helps to prevent pest pressure. For example, a whole row of just onions and only onions is a feast for onion thrips! But if the onions are interplanted with high-scent herbs, flowers that attract beneficial insects, the thrips will be less likely to thrive. Spreading out your onions into different sections of the garden also helps.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
Regenerative agriculture promotes the environmental and garden benefits of integrating livestock into planted areas. While this needs to be done in a way that is mindful and with intention, the livestock add manure to boost soil fertility, may reduce pest pressure, offer weed control, and help keep the garden balanced.
Of course, regenerative gardening also asks us to plant multiple crops together, or to mix flowers and vegetables, so that we can avoid the negative effects of monocropping.
Permaculture Principle 9: Use small and slow solutions
Notice where issues are appearing in your garden and try to solve the issue in the simplest way possible. This gives you and opportunity to make adjustments if necessary based on observation and how well the solution works over the long term.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
This echoes the way that both regenerative gardening and permaculture use only organic practices.
Instead of applying a fast-acting synthetic fertilizer to your plants, which in turn damages soil health, work with organic ways of adding fertility to the soil, such as cover cropping, organic fertilizer, and compost teas. While it’s slower, over all it’s better for the health of your crops and has a longer lasting benefit for future plantings.
A regenerative permaculture garden favors biodiversity
Permaculture Principle 10: Use and value diversity
Let there be a diversity in species, functions, and interactions to your garden. In turn, this will enhance system stability, resilience, and productivity.
Instead of having a garden that is strictly vegetables, regenerative practices encourage adding in herbs, flowers, trees, and shrubs to attract pollinators and beneficial insects, reduce pest pressure, and increase overall yield.
Permaculture Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginal
The edges and margins of the garden, food forest, or your land can hold a lot of potential for productivity and structures.
It’s at the edge of the forest where we typically find wild roses, hawthorne, and blackberries.
A garden fence holds potential for vining plants or pole beans to climb, without you needing to add in any additional structures.
Space around the edges of the garden can hold potted plants that can be moved around depending on weather and microclimates, or it can be an area for you to experiment with a pollinator patch or perennial vegetables.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
This permaculture principle links together with the regenerative gardening goal of maximizing photosynthesis* to increase carbon capture and improve the landscape.
If we ignore the margins, we are missing an opportunity to store more carbon in the soil, add more beauty to our yards, and build habitats and ecosystems.
Permaculture Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to change
Embrace change as an opportunity for innovation and adaptation, and create systems that can effectively respond to dynamic conditions.
Application to Regenerative Gardening:
In a changing climate, regenerative gardeners are doing all they can to respond to change in ways that are creative and beneficial to the land at the same time. When we look at building resiliency into our gardens, we are implementing this permaculture principle.
*If you are thinking “however am I going to remember all of those principles and what they mean!?” then you might want to listen to Formidable Vegetable’s album, “Permaculture: A Rhymer’s Manual,” where each song is dedicated to a different principle.
Go on, play a song:
A regenerative permaculture garden is a nature-based solution to climate change
In action: How to create a Regenerative Permaculture Garden?
1. Keep roots in the ground to minimize soil disturbance whenever possible:
Minimize soil disturbance and keep roots intact to promote healthier soil ecosystems, prevent erosion, and preserve soil structure and fertility.
Chop and drop plant residue after harvest to build soil health.
2. Go organic with fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides:
A regenerative permaculture garden uses only organic inputs, and values low-input solutions to improve plant yield and soil health.
Water conservation and management strategies would be implemented in order to build resiliency during times of drought and in order to use less resources overall.
Techniques such as rainwater harvesting, swales, and mulching would be employed to retain moisture in the soil and reduce runoff.
In a regenerative permaculture garden, perennial plants would be favored over annuals to promote sustainability and reduce the need for replanting each year.
Trees, shrubs, and perennial herbs would be integrated into the garden design.
Instead of gardening in straight rows that are monocropped, a regenerative permaculture garden would incorporate polyculture, where different plant species are interplanted to create mutually beneficial relationships.
Guilds, which are plant groupings that support each other's growth, would be established. For example, a fruit tree guild might include nitrogen-fixing plants, ground covers, and beneficial insect-attracting flowers.
9. Wildlife Habitat:
A wildlife habitat helps this garden to thrive without synthetic inputs, since birds and other beneficial insects would be welcome and would help reduce pest pressure.
Butterflies and bees would help with pollination, so yields would increase.
You’d find bird feeders, bird houses, pollinator patches, and small water sources in a regenerative permaculture garden.
10. Natural Pest Control:
Beneficial insects, companion planting, and other natural pest control methods would be employed in a regenerative permaculture system.
Natural pest control would also come from integrating livestock with the garden, such as chickens or ducks, which are known to help eat grubs, slugs, and other destructive critters.
A regenerative permaculture garden would have sustainable practices that extend beyond the garden itself.
The gardener would seek out energy-efficient equipment, and install renewable energy sources like solar panels, or water-saving and capturing technologies.
Fight climate change in your backyard with regenerative permaculture gardening
How to get started with regenerative permaculture gardening?
Here’s a roadmap to help you get started with regenerative permaculture gardening:
Acquire Knowledge and Education:
1. Study permaculture principles, ethics, and design concepts.
2. Gain knowledge about regenerative agriculture practices, such as soil health management, agroforestry, and holistic grazing.
Here’s a book list I’ve curated with a collection of my favorite permaculture and regenerative gardening books:
Here at ecofriendly homestead, we have a ton of resources to help you become familiar with regenerative agriculture and gardening. Here are some highlights:
