Benefits Of A Home Permaculture Food Garden

Starting a permaculture garden at home is possible even if you don’t have much space. Even a relatively small plot of land can produce a variety of foods to help feed you and your family. If you are wondering whether to establish your own kitchen garden, here are some reasons why you should go ahead.

Provides Food Safety
By growing your own food, and knowing what you are inputting into the ecosystem on which it grows, you can feel secure knowing that you can feed yourself and your family with unadulterated, fresh food, even in times of shortage.

Attracts Wildlife
A kitchen garden attracts wildlife. The plants and trees provide habitats for birds, mammals and insects. A healthy soil also provides an environment for microorganisms to thrive, which in turn will help your plants to flourish. And if you have room for a pond, the diversity of the species attracted is increased again.

Conserves Biodiversity
This diversity is another reason to establish a permaculture food garden. By planting a wide variety of species and welcoming as diverse a range of wildlife as possible, you create an ecosystem rich in biodiversity. This helps, even if in a small way, to counter modern food production practices that are typically monocultures.

Reduces Your Carbon Footprint
Your carbon footprint – the ecological damage via greenhouses that your way of life has on the planet – is reduced if you eat food from your garden. By avoiding supermarket produce, even just for some of your food, you reduce the carbon cost of transporting foodstuffs to shops and the energy and water used to package it.

Uses Waste For Positive Functions
A permaculture garden is designed to minimize waste. In fact, it seeks to turn what is commonly considered to be waste into useful products. So, the food scraps from your kitchen become compost, old jeans become mulch, and it may even be possible to recycle the greywater from your bathroom and laundry for use in the garden.

Saves Money
Growing your own food, particularly when employing the techniques of permaculture saves you money. From a single packet of seeds, you can grow many plants, which can then be propagated for no extra cost. You also avoid paying the coasts associated with supermarket food, such as transport, packaging and labour costs.

Preserves Heirloom Species
Modern agricultural practices tend to use manufactured seeds. A permaculture food garden is a great opportunity to preserve heirloom species – those that have been unadulterated by modern industrial processes and are part of the natural heritage of a location. There are now concerted efforts to preserve these species, and using them in your own food garden enables you to play a part in that effort.