Allelopathy
The chemical influence of one plant on its neighbours, positive or negative.
A living archive of permaculture
Understanding the garden as an ecosystem.
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Tomato
Vegetable Full sunSolanaceae likes Basil, Carrot
What is permaculture?
Three ethics. Endless living combinations.
Permaculture rests on three fundamental ethics: caring for the Earth, caring for people and sharing fairly, by setting limits and redistributing the surplus. In practice, it takes the form of polyculture, companion planting, guilds, permanent soil cover and crop rotation. Simple principles for productive, self-sustaining ecosystems.
Permaculture, a solution
Feeding while preserving, not depleting.
Against monoculture, which simplifies life and tires the soil, another way exists: diverse, human-scale gardens and farms, designed to produce while regenerating the earth, water and biodiversity.
It's not just a utopia. Farms under two hectares already produce nearly a third of the world's food, while occupying only 12% of cropland. Feeding many, on little land and in diversity: it's not a dream for the future, it already exists.
Source: V. Ricciardi et al., Global Food Security (2018).
Feeding without depleting
Covering the soil, combining crops, closing the cycles (compost, nitrogen-fixing legumes): we can produce while maintaining fertility, where monoculture tends to deplete it. The work of Claude and Lydia Bourguignon on soil microbial life sheds light on this. It shows up on the plate too: the nutrient density of vegetables depends on varieties, soil and ripeness at harvest.
Diversity as strength
Multiplying species and layers spreads risk, hosts beneficial creatures and reduces the need for inputs. It's one of the principles of agroecology, promoted by the FAO (“The 10 Elements of Agroecology”, 2018).
At our scale
Every diverse vegetable garden, every hedge, every pond is a small piece of the puzzle. Permaculture doesn't claim to solve everything, but it shows we can help feed people while giving back to the living world.
« Nature is the physician of diseases. »
The popular phrase “nature is our best doctor” is a reworking of it. The Hippocratic Corpus expresses the idea that the living world carries within it its own powers of rebalancing, a principle at the heart of permaculture.
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The main categories
Plants, insects, definitions: enter wherever your curiosity leads.
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Learning pathways
Guided paths from beginner to advanced grower.
Beginner4 steps
Getting started in permaculture
Understand the founding ethics and principles, then take your first concrete actions.
View pathwayIntermediate3 steps
Understanding companion planting
Master allelopathy, trap plants and host plants to design a smart vegetable garden.
View pathwayAdvanced4 steps
Designing your site
Analyse zones, sectors and flows to organise a coherent, resilient site.
View pathwayThe basics
Essential definitions
The living vocabulary of permaculture, explained simply.
Botanical families
The gardener's most powerful shortcut: know the family, and you already know a good part of the behaviour.
Heavy metals in the garden
Lead, cadmium, arsenic and company: what sleeps beneath the garden soil, unseen.
Rainwater quality
What falls from the sky has not been pure for a long time: PFAS, microplastics and metals are now found in rain. Good news: rainwater is still better than tap water for the pond, but the idea of a “naturally healthy rainwater” needs updating.
Guild
A set of plants organised around a central plant (often a fruit tree).
Green manure
A plant sown to improve the soil: nitrogen fixation, organic matter, cover.