Plant once and enjoy harvests year after year with these edible perennial plants.
A lot of favorite garden vegetables, such asbeans,peppers,potatoes, andtomatoes(technically fruits!
), are annuals.
Credit: Ed Gohlich Photography Inc
Each of these veggies (yes, rhubarb is a vegetable!)
will come back on their own.
These seven vegetables can be grown as perennials in most zones:
1.
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
Globe Artichokes
This member of the thistle family produces large, attractive perennial vegetable plants.
Artichokes need ample, consistent moisture for best growth.
They can survive drought but don’t produce as well in dry conditions.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Plant 24 to 36 inches apart in rows about 36 inches apart.
Amend the soil prior to planting with 2 inches of compost.
Fertilize monthly with ahigh-nitrogen fertilizer.
Not only do garlic chives (Allium schoenoprasum) taste delicious and come back every year, but they also produce puffy purple flowers.Credit: Marty Baldwin
Harvest perennial artichokes in spring, with a secondary peak in fall.
Harvest the flower buds when the stalk has fully extended but the bud has not opened.
Err on the side of early harvest rather than late to avoid woodiness in the heart.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Globe artichokes are marginallyhardy in Zones 6-7and hardy in Zones 8-10.
Plantasparagus(Asparagus officinalis)in full sun and moist, well-drained soil.
Mix a 2-inch-thick layer of compost into the planting site.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Because asparagus is long-lived, it’s important to prep the soil well before planting.
Grow asparagus from rooted crowns, available from garden centers and online.
Space the trenches 36 inches apart.
Credit: Denny Schrock
Add aphosphate fertilizerto the planting trench according to package directions.
Avoid fertilizers high in nitrogen, which will promote foliage over stalk production.
Set the root crowns 12 inches apart in the trenches.
Cover the crowns loosely with about 3 inches of soil.
After the new plants grow for about six weeks, add another 3 inches of compost-enriched soil.
Finish filling the trench in fall.
Hand-weed to avoid damaging plants.
Leave asparagus unharvested the year you plant it so it becomes well established in the garden.
In the second year after planting, harvest for only two weeks.
By the third year, harvest for the usual five to eight weeks.
Start harvesting when the spears are 12 inch in diameter.
Harvest every day in warm weather and about every three days in cool weather.
Asparagus is hardy in Zones 4-8. you’ve got the option to eat them raw or cooked likepotatoes.
Place them 3-5 inches deep in rows 36-42 inches wide and leaving 15-24 inches between plants.
Hand-weed to avoid disturbing the plant while it’s growing.
By August, the plant will be more than 6 feet tall with yellow flowers.
Handle them carefully as the skin of the tubers is very thin.
you could leave some tubers in the ground to grow into plants again the following spring.
Jerusalem artichokes are hardy in Zones 4-9.
Jerusalem artichokes are vigorous plants that spread by underground rhizomes and may become difficult to eradicate.
Some gardeners consider them invasive.
Grow all onions in full sun to partial shade in well-drained soil that’s high in organic matter.
In spring, apply fertilizers high in phosphorous and potassium but low in nitrogen.
Plant onions as sets, seeds, or transplants in spring as soon as the ground can be worked.
Space them 6 inches apart, in rows about 1 foot apart.
Transplants should be placed about 1 inch deep.
Bunching onion (Allium cepavar.solanium,also called the Welsh onion) is a jot down of multiplier onion.
It doesn’t grow into large bulbs.
Both the roots and tops can be eaten, but some may be left to grow into larger onions.
The Egyptian onion (Allium cepavar.viviparum) produces small bulbils at the top of its stalk in late summer.
Bothchives and garlic chivesform clumps fairly rapidly.
Mostmembers of the onion familyare hardy in Zones 4-8.
Radicchio
This sharp-flavor vegetable is technically a hardy biennial, meaning it grows for two years.
It’s a jot down of chicory and is related to Belgian endive.
Dark red leaves with white veins form into a tightly clumped head that resembles cabbage or romaine lettuce.
Avoid picking it too early; immature leaves taste bitter.
Add olive oil and salt to the fresh leaves to cut the bitter flavor.
Radicchio is hardy in Zones 4-8.
Plant rhubarb in full sun and moist, well-drained soil.
Locate it where it won’t be disturbed because it can keep producing for years.
Plant crowns in early spring as soon as the ground can be worked.
Place the central bud 2 inches below the soil line.
Space the crowns 6 feet apart.
Spread a 2-inch-thick layer of compost around new plants when the air temperature rises above 80F.
Cut any flower stalks that develop off at the base of the plant.
Apply a balanced fertilizer in early spring.
After harvest, spread a 2-inch layer of compost around plants.
Rhubarb stalks have the best color and flavor when harvested during cool weather.
Leave first-year plants unharvested.
By the third year, harvest all stalks larger than 1 inch wide for as long as eight weeks.
Use only the stems in yourrhubarb recipes; the leaves contain oxalic acid and are poisonous.
Rhubarb is hardy in Zones 2-9.
It’s hard to find in markets because it wilts shortly after harvest.
Established plants may be divided.
Garden sorrel is frost-hardy to Zone 5; French sorrel is hardy to Zone 6.
