Perennial Food Garden

By April Hensley

Gardening for food seems to focus mostly on annual plants. Some well-knowns are peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini. Seeds are purchased, planted, the fruit or vegetable grows, and then the plant dies when the weather turns cold. Next spring, the cycle starts all over again.

Not all gardening needs to be so labor intensive, though. Just like planting flowers that come back every year, there are garden plants that can be planted once and, with a little care, produce food every year for years to come.

Perennial plants can easily be incorporated into an existing garden and flourish alongside yearly growers, or a gardener can choose to only use perennial plants and forgo the seasonal planting. Perennial plants like raspberry or blueberry bushes can be worked into landscape designs, and a grapevine can be the centerpiece of a backyard on an ornate elegant arbor.

Besides fruit bearing vines and bushes, other plants that come back every year include asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb, Jerusalem artichoke, some greens, and chives.

If you plan to grow perennial plants alongside annuals, designate an area in the garden to plant perennials that will be undisturbed and not be plowed anymore. They can also be planted in other “out of the way” areas, such as raised beds or along fence rows, as long as they get the required amount of sunlight.

• Besides being less labor intensive, some perennials produce a harvest before other plants are even in the ground. In early spring, greens, asparagus, and rhubarb are emerging from the soil.

• Perennial plants are usually drought resistant. They may not produce a harvest or as much as usual, but my perennial plants have survived dry years and came back the next season.

• Perennial root vegetables can be harvested any time of the year.

• Perennial plants are also cold hardy. The first few years after planting, you may want to cover them with leaves or straw until the tender roots can get established.

• One drawback of planting perennials is you must be patient for the harvest. Rhubarb stalks can only be harvested the second year. Asparagus spears need to wait until the third year. This helps the plant get established. Every year after, the harvest will get bigger as the plant grows stronger.

• Established plants only need to be kept weeded. Be sure to use a light application of your favorite fertilizer a few times during growing season.