Want to Save Time and Money in Your Garden? You Can't Afford to Ignore These 6 Easy Permaculture Ideas

Permaculture is a huge gardening trend right now, as we try to make our gardens more sustainable. But there’s another very good reason to try it out: once established, these easy-to-implement permaculture ideas can save you a ton of time and money.

What is Permaculture?

‘Permaculture’ simply means ‘permanent agriculture’, and there’s nothing new about it. This tried, tested and trusted method has been used by self-sufficient communities for centuries and is still widely employed around the globe. Modelled on natural ecosystems, it’s an enduring, sustainable and eco-friendly way to grow food. Simply put, it aims to close the loop, so you don’t need to keep adding nutrients or buying new plants – the system supports itself as you work with nature, rather than against it.

As the cost of living skyrockets, that’s a smart move. And the good news is that you don’t need acres of land to put permaculture principles to good use: these ideas work in gardens of all sizes. Many are relevant even if your garden is full of blooms and you don’t plan on getting a veggie patch anytime soon – although growing some of your groceries in your backyard is always a wise plan, and way easier than you might think.

1. Start a Compost Heap

When the price of a sack of compost tops $20 and you can make your own for free, our first permaculture idea to try is a no-brainer. Think about it for a minute: you’re giving away so much goodness in your garden waste and vegetable peelings, then buying back someone else’s rotted trash. Cut out the middleman and make your own compost!

A compost heap doesn’t have to be fancy. Simply screwing wooden pallets together to make a frame works fine. A compost accelerator will get your heap off to a great start by creating optimal conditions for bacterial breakdown – be sure to choose an odorless one like this natural formula from Amazon, though, as some have an unpleasant smell.

In a small garden, a rotating bin speeds the process, producing compost in as little as six weeks. Choose a dual-chamber bin like this 37-gallon tumbler from Amazon for a continual supply, as you can add fresh scraps to one side while harvesting garden-ready compost from the other.

If you’ve got a tree or two in your garden then turn those leaves into valuable leaf mold with a Geobin Compost Bin, available from Amazon. It typically takes two years for leaves to decompose but shred them first – the easiest way is simply to run your lawnmower over them, which also does the job of picking them up, and you’ll halve the time.

2. Harvest Rainwater

Your water utility bill isn’t going to reduce anytime soon, unless you start harvesting the free stuff that falls out of the sky, that is! Rainwater is so much better for your plants, too, as it’s free of chlorine.

Start with a single rain barrel to see how you get on, but choose one that has an overflow option so you can connect additional barrels to store more, such as this 50-gallon design from Amazon, once you start seeing that water bill go down. Positioning the barrel on a stand such as this stainless steel design from Amazon raises the tap so it’s far easier to fill your watering can.

3. Create a Self-Feeding Bed

Permaculture prioritises soil health and looks to nature to supply the necessary nutrients for healthy plants. If you’re thinking of adding a bed or border to your garden – and it works for ornamental as well as edible plantings – take advantage of these techniques to create super-easy yet highly fertile growing spaces.

‘Hugelkultur’ is a technique that mounds organic material such as compost and manure over decaying wood before covering with topsoil. As the wood rots down, it feeds the layers above with a steady supply of nutrients and holds moisture. You can pinch the idea in a raised bed, too. Start with a good-sized frame such as this galvanised garden bed from Amazon, and place old branches in the base before layering up, and you’ll save time and money on your feeding and watering regime.

Another method that’s good for any-sized garden is to use a sheet mulching technique to turn a strip of lawn into a productive bed. All you need do is lay thick cardboard over the grass to smother it, water well then cover with nitrogen-rich organic matter such as manure, coffee grounds and grass clippings, and carbon-rich materials like straw and shredded paper or leaves. Cover the lot in topsoil and hey presto, you have a nutrient-rich bed, no digging needed.

4. Start a Mini Food Forest

A core permaculture principle is the idea of a food forest, where different types of plants provide support, shelter and nourishment for others. There are typically seven layers: high tree canopy, lower understory, shrub, vines, herbaceous, groundcover and root layer. While it’s perfectly possible to create a full food forest in a 10-foot square area, you can also employ the idea on a smaller scale in existing spaces around your garden.

So, in the dappled shade beneath a tree, could you grow some super-sweet mini Alpine strawberries, such as Alexandria from Burpee, that will thrive in this environment? Or use those branches as a support for a hardy kiwi – because Hardy Kiwi Prolific (available from Nature Hills) is self-fertile so you only need one plant, and is more compact than most? Could you plant some super-pretty creeping thyme like this Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’ from Nature Hills in an border to act as a living mulch and retain moisture to help all your other plants?

If you’re already growing blueberries, then sowing beans alongside will fix nitrogen in the soil that your hungry berry bush will adore. Just be sure to choose a compact variety like Porch Pick Beans from Burpee which won't swamp your blueberry bush. Got some bare patches of soil between a well-spaced long-season crop? Grow some quick-cropping cut-and-come-again salad leaves like this Salad Mix from Amazon to make use of it.

5. Grow Perennial Vegetables

Our food supply chain is heavily dependent on annual vegetable plants because they’re quick to raise from seed to saleable product. But in permaculture gardens perennial vegetable plants are favoured because, once established, one plant will give you food year after year for very little effort or cost.

We’re very used to this idea when growing fruit, but why not vegetables? And you don’t have to have the patience of a saint, either. Plant bare root asparagus, available from Burpee, and you’ll be enjoying a light harvest in the second year and a full crop from the third year, for the next 15–20 years. Malabar Spinach, available from Amazon, is perennial in zones 8–11 and this vine can be grown up a trellis for a summer-long harvest of leaves that can be eaten raw or cooked. Chipman’s Canada Red rhubarb, available from Nature Hills, has such bright red stalks that it’s ornamental as well as highly productive, and it’ll last for at least a decade.

There are plenty more, too. Get the full picture with Perennial Vegetables, available from Amazon, written by edible forest-garden specialist Eric Toensmeier, that profiles over 100 species.

6. Try Chop & Drop

A relatively new technique in permaculture, but one that’s being widely adopted by the finest sustainable gardens around the world, is ‘chop and drop’. Try it and you’ll wonder how you ever gardened without this method as it suppresses weeds, retains moisture, boosts soil fertility, saves labor and reduces your use of expensive compost and mulch to boot. It’s real simple, too.

When you cut back the old growth of herbaceous perennials, just chop up the stems and plant material in situ, and drop them on the soil. Here they form a layer that smothers weeds and traps moisture, just like a mulch does, and slowly decomposes to nourish the soil and improve its structure, as compost does. It can also help reduce the number of seedlings from over-enthusiastic self-seeders. Wildlife benefits, too, as all those hollow stems provide shelter.

You can chop and drop anytime from October to March, and all you need is a comfy pair of hand pruners such as these Titanium Bypass Pruning Shears from Amazon. If your borders are big, then hedge shears like these Garden Guru Clippers, also from Amazon, will speed up the task. For dense growth such as sedums, a cordless compact hedge trimmer such as the Workpro Shrubbery Trimmer from Amazon is a handy tool.