Permagarden Foundations Course

A nine-part course that explores the building blocks of a permagarden (managing water, building soil health, and improving biodiversity) and illustrates the cyclical process to develop and maintain a productive permagarden (observe, design, implement, and monitor).

A group of women dressed in colorful clothing walk along a road. One is carrying a rake, another is carrying a young tree.
Warren Brush, Mercy Corps

VERSION FRANÇAISE

About

Throughout the world, households struggle to produce enough food and nutrients. Land degradation, poor soil fertility, little access to water, and a lack of access to inputs all combine to result in consistently low yields for smallholders, and this is exacerbated by climate change and conflict. Food security programs seek solutions to increase the availability, access, and use of safe and nutritious food for those suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Often, programs promote home gardens as part of the solution to this problem. However, gardens can only be successful in the longer term if they address key agronomic and ecological issues and are reflective of the needs, desires, and contexts of the communities in which they take root. 

The Permagarden Approach is aimed at addressing these issues. It guides users through a design process that ensures gardens work with the environmental conditions present at the garden site and emphasizes core agro-ecological principles, such as building soil health, improving biodiversity, and managing water effectively, as fundamental to increasing garden productivity. 

This online course offers an introduction to the Permagarden Approach and provides users with a foundational understanding of key concepts, terms, and practices. The course offers supplemental materials, including ‘how to’ documents and videos, as well as homework to support users’ further learning. Users are encouraged to use the supplemental materials to support the successful implementation of a permagarden.

Who is it for?

This course is a key resource for practitioners working with farmers in emergency and early recovery, risk reduction, and resilience (ER4) programs to incorporate permagardens into their household growing systems. It is applicable to program staff with a variety of technical backgrounds – including in agriculture, nutrition, health, WASH, protection, infrastructure, and natural resource management (NRM) – who are supporting farmers to achieve food security, nutrition, and market-related goals. The course can be taken as an individual or with a group and is open to anyone with an interest in learning more about permagardens. 

If you or your organization are interested in learning more about the Permagarden Approach and the resources on this page, please contact SCALE (scale@mercycorps.org).  

Course Outline

The Permagarden Foundations Course includes 9 sessions:

You can find a list of Permagarden Foundations Course supplemental materials below, including:

Session 1: What is a Permagarden? 

Implementing home gardens that can meet the needs of a household even through the dry, hungry season is not easy, particularly when exacerbated by climate change and increasingly erratic rainfalls. This first session of the course will look at the typical challenges encountered in home garden programs and how the Permagarden Approach addresses these. It will also discuss the Permagarden Minimum Standards and why these are important to design and implement successful permagardens. 

Session 1 Supplemental Materials
Session 1 Homework
  • No homework for Session 1.
Session 1 Supplemental Videos

Palabek refugee camp (Uganda)

  • Palabek Refugee Dry Season: This video, with narration by Thomas Cole, Permagarden Consultant for SCALE, introduces the work implementing Permagardens in Palabek refugee camp, showing the gardens in the camp after several months of no rain. 

Budikadidi Programme (DRC)

  • Budikadidi Permagarden Training Video (French with English subtitles): This video from the CRS-led Budikadidi DFSA gives an overview of the Permagarden Approach. The video is from a permagarden training the SCALE team held in the DRC from November 25-29, 2019. 

FSP Enyanya Programme (DRC)

  • What is a Permagarden? (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video introduces the Permagarden Approach and its benefits. 

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Session 2: How Permagardens Contribute to Household Resilience

With climate change exacerbating issues of land degradation, poor soil fertility, and lack of access to water, ‘resilience’ has become an increasingly important concept. In this session we will discuss the concept of resilience, which is often defined as a system’s ability to bounce back from a shock or stress, and how the Permagarden Approach can contribute to the resilience of a household. 

Session 2 Supplemental Matierals
  • No supplemental materials for Session 2.
Session 2 Homework
  • No homework for Session 2.
Session 2 Supplemental Videos

FSP Enyanya Program (DRC)

  • Introduction to Permagarden (Kiswahili with English subtitles): In this video from the FSP Enyanya programme in the DRC, stakeholders who have implemented the Permagarden Approach share how it has helped their households be more resilient. 

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Session 3: Water Management for Garden Resilience

No plant can grow without water. Effective water management is the first building block of the Permagarden Approach. This session will explore how we can capture water and conserve water in the soil for future use. The Permagarden Approach first teaches how to understand the natural flow of rainwater and nutrients across the landscape, and then shows how to build water management systems across the compound to prevent losses from erosion and provide protection from flooding.

Session 3 Supplemental Materials
Session 3 Homework
  • Do a rainfall calculation for your home (using the “How to” document). How much water could you save in a year? 
  • Build an A-frame and mark out a contour (using the “How to” document).
  • Do a "walk the water" exercise (using the “How to” document).
Session 3 Supplemental Videos

FSP Enyanya Program (DRC)

  • How to make an A-frame (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video explains how to build an A-frame - a simple, yet accurate tool used to determine the contours of the land.
  • How to use an A-frame (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video builds on the previous one and demonstrates how to calibrate and use an A-frame to identify and mark the contours of the land.
  • How to conserve water in the Permagarden (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video demonstrates water management techniques that can be used in the permagarden, such as digging and mulching ditches and pits, and creating half-moon berms around trees.

Palabek refugee camp (Uganda)

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Session 4: Building Living Soils

Next to water, the secret to a productive garden and more nutritious crops is a healthy, living soil. Building healthy soil is the second building block of the Permagarden Approach. In this session we will explore what makes a soil healthy; one that is full of living organisms, contains a high amount of organic matter, is high in fertility, and is well-structured with pores that retain water and air. Then, we will learn soil management techniques that can rehabilitate degraded soils and protect soil health. 

Session 4 Supplemental Materials
Session 4 Homework 
  • Build a compost pile or pit (using the “How to” document). 
  • Conduct a rapid soil test on various patches of soil (using the “How to” document). 
  • Do a community walk to observe fertility plants and other sources of fertility (animal wastes, household waste products, etc.) that are present in the landscape. Discuss with community members which plants and other materials they use to enhance soil fertility.
Session 4 Supplemental Videos

FSP Enyanya Programme (DRC)

  • Double digging technique (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video explains the benefits of double digging and demonstrates how to double dig the garden beds in a permagarden. Double digging is a technique used to loosen soil to increase drainage and aeration and improve soil quality.

Palabek refugee camp (Uganda)

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Session 5: Biodiversity

The Permagarden Approach takes its inspiration from nature. An essential element of any ecosystem is a diversity of plants. Biodiversity is the third building block of the Permagarden Approach. In this session we will explore how biodiversity - having many types of trees, shrubs, vines, herbs, vegetables, and animals - not only creates a resilient garden by reducing erosion, preserving topsoil, and adding organic material to soil, but also strengthens household resilience.

Session 5 Supplemental Materials
Session 5 Homework

No homework for Session 5.

Session 5 Supplemental Videos

Palabek refugee camp (Uganda)

  • Palabek Refugee Whole Compound Crop Description: In this video, Florence and Sharon describe what has been planted in, as well as around, one of the permagardens at Palabek refugee camp in order to make it a diverse garden. They also discuss the importance of biodiversity and how it supports the permagarden and household. 

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Session 6: Developing and Maintaining a Permagarden, Step 1: Observe

The Permagarden Approach is unique from many other home garden approaches in that it focuses on a process rather than a set of techniques. Applying this process ensures that each garden is designed for its specific context and adapted to its climate. The first step in this process is to observe. In this session we will review how observation supports farmers to see how their knowledge and experience will be used to shape the permagarden, and then how their garden can be designed to fit their household goals.

Session 6 Supplemental Materials
Session 6 Homework
  • Conduct a resource walk and site assessment at your home or around your community.
  • Create a map of a household in your community and include the main structures, water points, external influences, and available resources on the map.
Session 6 Supplemental Videos

Permagarden Technical videos with Tom Cole and Warren Brush

  • Sponge Demonstration - Part 1 and Sponge Demonstration - Part 2 (English with French subtitles): These videos describe the sponge demonstration activity, which demonstrates, at a very small scale, how a permagarden is different from a home garden by showing how each garden would tolerate a heavy rainstorm. 

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Session 7: Developing and Maintaining a Permagarden, Step 2: Design

The second step in the process is design. In this step, we analyze the observations made in step 1 to develop a design for the permagarden. A permagarden design works with the existing landscape, structures, and external influences present on the site, uses locally available resources, and helps to achieve the goals of the household. We will see how the building blocks of water management, building living soils, and biodiversity support the design of a climate-resilient permagarden. Then, we will see an example of what the design process looks like in practice. 

Session 7 Supplemental Materials
Session 7 Homework
  • Create a garden design for your compound or a compound in your community.
Session 7 Supplemental Videos

FSP Enyanya Programme (DRC)

  • Where can we set up a permagarden? (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video explains how to decide where to build the permagarden, including considering where the sun rises and sets, where the wind is strongest, and distance to the home.

Palabek refugee camp (Uganda)

  • Palabek Refugee Camp Design: This video shows some of the key elements of the design at the Palabek Refugee Camp in Uganda with a focus on the water harvesting system. Examples of swales, half-moon berms, and a finished permagarden with fencing can be seen. 

African Women Rising (Uganda)

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Session 8: Developing and Maintaining a Permagarden, Step 3: Implement

Implementation of a permagarden comes after having spent time observing and developing a design that will work for the specific context of the household. In this session, we will explore some simple steps to implement a permagarden design, while incorporating the learning around the three building blocks of the Permagarden Approach: water, soil, and biodiversity. 

Session 8 Supplemental Materials
Session 8 Homework
  • If you have the space at home or in your community - implement a permagarden!
Session 8 Supplemental Videos

FSP Enyanya (DRC)

  • Setting up the garden beds (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video demonstrates how to decide where to put the garden beds and how to mark out the garden beds for double digging.
  • Double digging technique (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video explains the benefits of double digging and demonstrates how to double dig the garden beds in a permagarden. Double digging is a technique used to loosen soil to increase drainage and aeration and improve soil quality.
  • Planting seeds (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video explains why permagardens perform best when they grow a diverse set of locally-adapted plants. It explains crop rotation, triangular plant spacing, and mulching, and shares an example of what to plant in different beds.
  • Fence construction (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video explains why a fence is needed to protect permagardens and how to construct a living fence using locally available materials.
  • How to improve plant health using biofertilizers (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video explains how to use moringa and Tithonia to make a biofertilizer to improve plant health and how to use different animal wastes as fertilizer.
  • How to make organic pesticides (Kiswahili with English subtitles): This video demonstrates how to make organic pesticides by using plants such as Tithonia or neem, chilis and garlic, and small amounts of soap.

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Session 9: Developing and Maintaining a Permagarden, Step 4: Monitor

As the permagarden continues to grow each season, there will be successes as well as obstacles and setbacks. An essential part of the Permagarden Approach is learning from these experiences, observing how an intervention succeeded or failed, and adapting to maximize production. In this session we will see how the fourth step, monitor, not only aims to improve the permagarden, but also helps to strengthen the capacity of staff, partners, and households in implementing and adapting permagardens. 

Session 9 Supplemental Materials
Session 9 Homework

No homework for Session 9.

Session 9 Supplemental Videos

No videos for Session 9.

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Supplemental Materials

Key Terms
How To Guides
Quiz

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About SCALE

The SCALE (Strengthening Capacity in Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Environment) Award is funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) and implemented by Mercy Corps in collaboration with Save the Children. SCALE aims to enhance the impact, sustainability and scalability of BHA-funded agriculture, natural resource management, and off-farm livelihood activities in emergency and non-emergency contexts.

Acknowledgments

Many people have contributed to the development of this Permagarden Foundations Course, including Ali Blumenstock, Warren Brush, Thomas Cole, Elin Duby, Kristin Lambert, Abby Love, Jen Mayer, Andrea Mottram, William Otoke, Lauren Pincus, and Jonas Rwanika. Special thanks to all of those who contributed to writing, reviewing, and piloting the course; your contributions were invaluable and helped to strengthen the final product.

Course Credits

This course was developed by the Strengthening Capacity in Agriculture, Livelihoods and Environment (SCALE) Award. It was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the SCALE Award and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

All photos used in this course are courtesy of Warren Brush, Thomas Cole, Elin Duby, and Mercy Corps team members. The course was designed and built by HUB Collective.

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