A Bit On Greenhouses

Do you live in a cold, snowy and arid climate? Do you struggle to keep your plants alive? Would you like to have your own permaculture-based indoor oasis for you and your plants that is warm every day? It might seem like a fantasy, but this is the scene you can create in a tropical permaculture greenhouse of your very own.

Permaculture gardeners embrace Mother Nature’s systems and attempt to replicate her genius and efficiency in their designs, and there are a number of permaculture practices on display throughout forest gardening, maximizing edges, capturing and harvesting energy (see our article on Photovoltaics), and producing no waste. Minimizing the miles y
our food travels, eating fresh produce and spending time around green living things doesn’t have to stop with the end of summer. A greenhouse is not only a microcosm of plant life but also a testing ground for permaculture principles and your imagination.

In a permaculture greenhouse, the ethics of caring for the Earth, caring for the people and sharing of the surplus overlap and support each other in every design element. You can kick back and relax while enjoying the fact that your self-indulgence is a self-sustaining ecosystem. Besides, who doesn't like to taste of homegrown foods that you can watch grow?

- Larry Gilland