Permaculture Principles in an Urban Permaculture Apartment
Updated: Apr 7
Larry Santonyo, Permaculture Teacher, best describes the permaculture principles as 'indicators of sustainability". These principles are normally interpreted with acreage in mind.
But they can also be applied to apartments with limited or no outdoor space like indoor gardens, balconies, or small yards.
These indicators help to flesh out creative ways we can strengthen the ecosystem within our apartments.
I hope it will give you new ideas of connections you can make within your home.
I've used the more thorough and adapted version of permaculture principles as stated in Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden.
You may also find some of my other blogs useful:
1. Permaculture Apartment Design Zones
I've used Toby Hebenway's extended permaculture principles from his book Gaia's Garden.
Click to go to the section
1. Get a yield
Growing is normally the first thing we think about in permaculture. But we mustn't let our plants die in our pots. We should harvest them and find ways to preserve them in order to truly get a yield.
Preservation techniques:
Fermenting
Pickling
Canning
Drying
Freezing
2. Use biological renewable resources
There are many ways we can find renewable resources and use them in the garden. I've written articles on using coffee grounds and banana skins.
But you can also use cardboard, eggshells and many more see my articles below:
9 ideas on re-using in a permaculture apartment
How to Use Coffee Grounds in your Small Indoor, Balcony, or Backyard Garden
What do Magnesium and Potassium deficiencies look like in plants? | Solve this with Banana Skins
3. Collaborate with succession
Succession is the path nature takes in restoring a landscape, from weeds to a fully mature forest. We don't have landscapes and as such, nature wouldn't be restoring itself in your container. You may find the odd weed or two if you're on a balcony or using re-used compost.
However, one of the techniques nature does employ when maturing a landscape is plant communities. Ecologists and native people found that certain plants always spontaneously show up together with the same companions and it so happens that these companions work well symbiotically together.
In the same way, we can choose companion plants that work well together. For example, planting basil or dill among your vegetation to deter pests.
Companion planting
4. Optimize edge
An edge is created where two environments meet. It's the most productive place where materials accumulate and are transferred.
The most obvious edge at home is the window edge, where the sunlight falls on your apartment.
This is going to be the most productive area in your home for growing. We have the task of optimizing this edge with maximizing techniques like:
Shelving
Hanging baskets
Patterning i.e placing pots in a honeycomb pattern rather than a straight line for more space.
Mirrors or reflective material to enhance sunlight availability
Plant selections i.e dwarf or vining varieties
5. Make the least change for the greatest effect
This is where we justify using our electrical items if they can help produce the greatest effect.
Use grow lights to help grow plants even in the winter or in the shady areas of the apartment.
Having an electric water irrigation system to help if we're so busy that we can't water on time.
A water distiller so that we can convert tap water into pure water for the garden.
Using off-grid items can make a big difference in usage too, like a manual washing machine that you'd use for smaller cycles, perhaps in addition to an electric washing machine.
See my article here on off-grid items.
Doing things differently to be more impactful. For example:
Saving the water from washed veg to pour back into the garden (this would be from your garden or organic and not generic store-bought veg, to avoid pesticides).
Pouring water through your worm bin and then using that in your garden, so that the water is enhanced with nutrients.
Placing plants in the best potential spot according to their growing needs.
Use leftover tea or coffee grounds in the garden instead of throwing them away.
Using space maximization techniques like verticle gardening.
6. Use small scale intensive systems
This is where you have a small system or arrangement that is working well and you repeat it the same way or with variations.
This could be for example grow lights, this is a relatively small system that works extremely well for growing plants indoors, even during the winter.
You can repeat this system with variations. For example, grow lights with a red color stimulates fruit growth or fruiting veg like tomatoes. Blue lights stimulate green vegetation.
I started growing on the floor and then moved to a 3 shelving unit. I now have 3 sets of shelving units with grow lights around my apartment.
7. Turn problems into solutions
This can make a negative occurrence an opportunity, just by changing your perspective.
For example, if you have pests, you could focus on the solution, which is often a home-brewed natural concoction in a spray bottle.
As a result of focusing on the solution, you're empowered to deal with pests and are equipped with knowledge that will benefit you throughout your growing journey.
A permaculture apartment itself is about turning the problem of not having adequate land and sunlight into a home that uses techniques to become regenerative.
Recommended articles:
8. The biggest limit to abundance is creativity
When we think creatively, outside the box, there are little niches of things we can do to increase abundance. I love thinking outside the box when it comes to gardening in an apartment.
Some of the creative solutions you could use in an apartment:
Using mirrors to reflect the sunlight for plants;
Having a reflective box for grow lights to be more effective;
Having a mini greenhouse;
Using mini solar panel lights to provide extra light for plants in outdoor spaces;
Using fish tank water as a great fertilizer for plants.
9. Mistakes are tools for learning
This is similar to turning problems into solutions. it is about adopting a mindset that supports growth rather than a mindset that will make you more likely to give up.
Mindset is often an overlooked part of permaculture. This is why it's important to start at zone 0, which is the individual's state of mind.
Mistakes are often an opportunity for further exploration to learn more and find a solution.
10. Observe
Initial observation will help you greatly in the long run. By observing where the sun falls, you'll know which side of the window is going to get the best light and how far back away from the window you can get away with adding more plants.
You can observe temperatures and this will inform you what plants might not do well on your balcony or home.
Observation will reveal the windiest parts of your balcony and this will help inform what kind of plants to place there i.e sturdy stemmed plants like thyme.
Observation helps you know in advance to create a windbreak and place more fragile plants like dill in the safest spot, behind the windbreak.
Observing your space can give you ideas on how to maximise your planting area i.e. I have an indoor patio area, which has a curtain rail. I've abandoned the curtain and placed hanging baskets there instead.
Sunlight
Temperature
Wind
Space
11. Catch and Store Energy
By growing plants, you're catching and storing the energy of the sun. And by having a worm bin you're catching and storing the energy and fertility of the worms in the worm castings. By having a bokashi bin, you're storing all the energy your food scraps has to offer.
You can further catch and store energy via preservation methods. We can make use of lots of harvesting techniques in an apartment like drying, fermenting, pickling and drying.
Ways of catching and storing energy
Growing plants
Bokashi Bin
Worm Bin
Aquaponics
Hydroponics
Fermenting
Pickling
Drying
Salting
Canning
12. Each Element Supported by multiple functions
An element is, for example, a worm bin. Its function would be to provide fertilizer.
The worm bin can be supported by many functions such as feeding the worm bin with garden waste, food scraps from your kitchen, or even water from your fish tank.
This is part of your permaculture project that turns separate elements into a connective ecosystem in your apartment.
13. Each function is supported by multiple elements
This is similar to the above point but the opposite. This is where, for example, the function of fertilizer is supported by different elements.
The fertilizer can be supported by worm castings, bokashi leachate, fish tank water, brewing garden foilage teas i.e nettle tea.
14. Connect
Permaculture is a linking science that places elements that work well with each other.
For example, planting sturdy plants to create a windbreak on your balcony. Placing, plants on top of the aquarium to help with water filtration and nutrient uptake.
Things you can connect in an apartment:
Vegetation
Worm Bin
Compost bin
Bokashi bin
Aquaponics
Hydroponics
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