Gardening is a technique of planting plants of various types and taking care of them regularly. This practice comes under the horticulture part, not in the agriculture part. And it also includes decorations of plants or trees which means these are designed in various shapes to look attractive.
Organic Gardening and Permaculture are categories of gardening. Both these gardening methods save energy and are done using organic things like organic pesticides, organic insecticides, etc. These methods are adopted to get a good environment and a healthy ecosystem.
Organic Gardening vs Permaculture
The main difference between Organic gardening and Permaculture is that Organic gardening is simple and is done in a small area like in a house, on a farm, or in a small land area. Whereas Permaculture is a whole new way of gardening and farming, it is done in large areas.
Organic gardening is an old method of planting trees and is very effective. The whole process starting from sowing seeds to pest management, is done organically. These techniques of farming and gardening were invented in the older days when there was no sophisticated equipment for gardening was available or made.
Permaculture manages the land and nourishes it to make it fertile for every farming or gardening activity. This activity contains the area of the whole land or whole village and focuses on saving lands. Once the land gets cultivated, it is again refurbished with natural resources like earthworms, black soil, etc.
Comparison Table Between Organic Gardening and Permaculture
| Parameters of Comparison | Organic Gardening | Permaculture |
| Crops types | This method is like the usual farming method in which crops are cultivated annually and staple crops like legumes, rice, etc are generated. | This farming technique involves perennial crops cultivation therefore it does not need much maintenance. |
| Techniques | In this technique, a single crop is focused and is cultivated to feed people. | In this technique, many crops are grown together and because of this, the soil gets revitalized easily. |
| Irrigation system | In this method, a proper irrigation system is used like sprinklers, surface irrigation, etc. | In this method, a rainwater harvesting system is used for watering the crops. |
| Pest control | This gardening or farming culture does pest control with the help of organic pesticides, herbicides, etc. | This gardening or farming system does not use any type of chemical, instead, it depends on the insects to control pests’ population. |
| Soil types | The soil needs to be refurbished in this method every year. | The soil does not require a regeneration process as it gets rejuvenated on its own. |
What is Organic Gardening?
Organic Gardening does not involve using chemically furnished insecticide or pesticides like usual farming methods involve. And this is not a modern method of farming and does not involve anything that harms mother earth. This method is more preferred in those areas where the availability of natural resources is more.
This farming method does not allow the extinction of natural resources. Instead, it tries to replenish them by adding more and more healthy things to them. The fertilizers in this technique are made up of natural organic things like manure, compost, slurry, and plant-based fertilizers.
These fertilizers are made up of using animal waste like cow dung, goat dung, and also with the help of insects or worms decomposition, which is also known as vermicompost.
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture technique focuses on those plants or crops which a farmer wants to grow instead of plants suitability. This technique is adopted to meet the need of a plant or food, which does not depend on the season or type of weather. In this method, plants are grown in the local environment like society, garden, etc.
All the things like surroundings, people, weather, resources are involved in the growth of plants in Permaculture. This method is a pure form of organic farming as it involves rainwater harvesting systems for irrigation purposes, hydrology, animal system, waste management system for making fertilizers, etc.
The soil in which Permaculture gardening is done is rich in minerals and resources as their nutrient level is maintained from time to time by using methods like crop rotation, mixed cropping organic materials, etc.
Main Differences Between Organic Gardening and Permaculture
- An Organic Gardening method is like the common farming system in which crops are grown yearly, and staple crops like legumes, rice, etc., are cultivated. On the other hand, the Permaculture technique involves permanent crops or long-lasting cultivation; therefore, it does not need much maintenance.
- In the Permaculture technique, many plants are grown together, and because of this, the soil gets replenished easily. Whereas in the Organic gardening technique, an exclusive crop is focused and grown.
- Permaculture gardening or farming system depends on the small insects to control pests’ population in their crops. While in Organic gardening or farming culture, pest control is done with the help of organic pesticides, herbicides, etc.
- In Permaculture, the soil does not require a regeneration process as it gets rejuvenated on its own. Whereas in Organic gardening, the soil needs to be refurbished every year.
- In the Organic gardening method, a proper irrigation system is used like sprinklers, surface irrigation, etc., which does not help the ecosystem in any way. While in Permaculture, a rainwater harvesting system is used for watering the crops, which saves water.
Conclusion
In this ecosystem depletion era, new ways are adopted to minimize the harm on the natural resources as they did not get replenished easily and fast. Many methods like organic farming, electricity use instead of petrol for operating vehicles, paper used instead of plastics, etc., are put into practice.
And in the field of farming, methods like Sustainable agriculture, Organic farming, Permaculture, etc., are becoming popular as it saves energy resources and does not cost much. And among all these farming methods, Organic gardening and Permaculture gardening is adopted the most because of their popularity and easiness.
References
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SAAsf4H8BocC&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=organic+gardening&ots=Fj0rEEwjIW&sig=7K4pGe8A6lnI9SOA8EGUEKy_JGg
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%252Fs13593-013-0181-6