Perennial Vegetables

Gardeners are usually passionate people. Looking after their plants morning after morning, observing the daily changes. I like to go out early in the morning with the dogs with my coffee in hand and walk the garden, inspecting plants like a general would his troops, searching for things right or wrong with each and every individual cadet. We invest so much time, generally enjoying the work in preparing, planting and caring for our little babies. There are some plants though that we can add to our gardens which don’t require as much work as our annual vegetables and they will give back to use year after year.

The last six years we’ve been installing and planting and caring for other people’s gardens and a number of years ago we were renovating an old garden space for a client who was interested in putting in a raised bed for asparagus and strawberries. We always like to plant exactly what our clients are growing, so we can to be cognizant of how well the plantings work. We loved asparagus, so we decided to add a new raised bed to our own garden and started to grow our own.  We had already been growing strawberries in whisky half-barrels but after reading that the two make for very good companion plants in the garden, we added some strawberries to the bed.

 

Asparagus in our CT garden

What you need to know about growing perennial vegetables

There are a bunch of perennial vegetables which can be grown in your garden. The most popular and well-known and of course include asparagus, rhubarb and globe artichokes as well as berries (strawberries, raspberries, etc.) The beautiful thing about using perennial vegetables in your garden, besides their physical appearance, is that you plant once, and you’re basically done. Perennials are overall low maintenance additions to the garden which will give your harvest, year after year. Plus, there seems like there is a perennial vegetable for every type of soil and light you might have. They also are found to be more nutritious compared to most annual vegetables, so it was a great way to introduce more nutritional food into your diet. The addition of perennial vegetables to your garden also increases your harvest season which will help to provide steadier source of food for your family throughout the year. For some people who’ve decided to take on providing for themselves either through homesteading, permaculture gardening, perennial vegetables provide a very important role for these gardeners. They not only enhance the landscape with their beauty and provide nutritious flavorful foods, they play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy soil web.

Perennial vegetables are the ecological smart choice.

Overall, perennial vegetables require less water to care for than annuals, saving on this valuable natural resource. Plus, they don’t require tilling, saving on the release of soil organic carbon (SOC) into the atmosphere, important since it’s the foundation of soil fertility. The use of tilling has been shown to be very destructive to the soil web, in particular to mycorrihizae, a beneficial fungus that shares nutrients with plants. They also make for efficient weed suppressors since their leaves come out before annuals.

Properly designed and planned out, you can create moderate microclimates within your garden with the use of certain perennials which will help improve your soil’s organic matter, porosity and its water retention abilities. Their deep roots catch and store water and nutrients that would otherwise be washed away. The use of perennials not only provides much needed habitats for some animals and fungi, but they also attract other beneficial insects into the garden. They also tend to be more past and disease resistant than annuals, which is nice since you don’t crop rotate perennials. Lastly, but equally importantly is the role perennial vegetables play in the garden to help moderate climate change by capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and sequestering it in its long-term oil hummus and perennial plant parts.

Our new asparagus crowns arrived yesterday along with the strawberry starts. The plan is to create a new raise bed for New Hampshire Garden. These two perennials make for good companions together in the garden: the strawberry spreading out to create a nice groundcover keeping weeds away from the tall shoots of the asparagus which developed beautiful showy ferns as the season progresses. The first asparagus bed we started in Connecticut is now four years old, it is now ready to be harvested annually. Too that we don’t live there full-time anymore to be able to enjoy the delicious asparagus. Luckily one of us will be heading down there and hopefully can bring home some fresh cut homegrown asparagus for us to enjoy. One thing we learned in all of our years of gardening is that you must have patience. There is no rushing mother nature, pushing her a little- maybe, rushing her – not a chance. The same thing goes when introducing perennial vegetables into your garden, patience is a must. Many required time to be properly established, asparagus is a prime example since it takes a full three years to establish before being able to enjoy a full harvest.

 

Rhubarb in our CT garden

Some perennials can be so maintenance free that they can never take your garden if you’re not paying attention. I was just recently reading about a gardener who had a Little Shop of Horrors-sized rhubarb plants that removed from their grandmother’s garden as a medium-sized transplant. The plant needs little care and gives them bountiful harvest year after year. However, the plant has sprouted off into other plants all over the place which the gardener referred to as her runaway babies that she hopes to be able to give to others who want to start growing rhubarb. So low maintenance doesn’t mean no maintenance. It’s best to pay attention, harvest repeatedly and keeping control of your perennials just in case your perennials do too well.

Popular Perennial Vegetables
Asparagus	Groundnut
Berries – strawberriesblueberries, raspberries, elderberries…	Lovage
Globe Artichoke	Jerusalem artichoke
Bunching or Egyptian Onions	Scarlet Runner Beans
Daylilies	Sea Kale
Horseradish	Sorrel
Good King Henry	Watercress

Garlic (grown as annual)	Radicchio (grown as annual)
Kale (grown as annual)