Edible Landscaping with Perennials

Many gardeners think of perennials as just beautiful ornamental landscape plants, in addition to being a great option for landscaping there are many edible perennials that make a nice addition to the vegetable garden.

Unlike most vegetables which are ‚”annuals” and complete their life cycle in a year or less, perennials are long-lived plants. Many perennials are “herbaceous”, meaning that during winter they go dormant, most dying off completely to the ground, and returning with new growth from the roots the following spring. Like many fruit trees, some perennials are better suited to climates where they have a particular number of frost dates. It is important to check when buying perennials to see that they are recommended for the climate zone in which they will be grown. Fortunately many of the edible perennials are not particular and grow well in several climate zones.

Another plus of edible perennials is that most of them are tolerant of less than optomal soil conditions, still for best results they should be planted in well drained, loose, loamy soil. The planting season for perennials is either spring or fall. One drawback of many edible perennials is that they take two or more seasons to begin flowering and producing, it is however, often possible to by more mature plants either as bear root, or container grown plants. Most perennials are not heavy feeders. Applying a balanced fertilizer in the spring is all that is needed for the season. Too much fertilizer can result in weaker lanky plants and fertilizing is particularly undesirable shortly before over wintering.

The following are some common perennials to consider adding to the edible garden:

Asparagus

The delicious young shoots of asparagus provide an early spring harvest year after year. It is best to start with one or two year old plants because asparagus takes three years before it is ready to harvest.

Bloody Dock

This is plant is quite decorative in the garden. Young leaves are tender for use in salads, or they can be cooked and eaten like spinach.

Chicory

Like Bloody Dock, the young leaves of chicory can be added to salads or cooked like chard and other greens.

Chives

Regular chives and garlic chives can be added to eggs, stir fries, soups, and salads whenever and onion or garlic flavor is desired. They should be divided approximately every three years.

Egyptian Onions

Rather than developing bulbs at the base like most onions, this mild flavored, perennial onion develops them at the top of its slender leaves.

Garden Sorrel

There are many kinds of sorrel, and all of them easy to grow. The tangy tasting leaves of sorrel ad zest to salads, or can be used in making sorrel soup. Like mint sorrel can be quite invasive in the garden.

Good King Henry

Young flowering shoots can be cooked like asparagus, and tender young leaves can be added to salads, or cooked to season soups or stews.

Rhubarb

A standby for use with strawberries in holiday pies, this attractive perennial is a prolific producer that doubles as a nice display in the garden.

Salad Burnet

Salad burnett’s plump leaves have a slightly nutty and cucumber taste that can be nice in salads.

Welsh Onions

Welsh onions are hardy green onions, larger than chives and more like onions in flavor. Great in, soups, stews, stir fries and vegetable dishes.

These are some possible sources for perennial edibles:

The Cook’s Garden

Goodwin Creek Gardens

Gourmet Seed International

Johnny’s Selected Seeds

The Gourmet Gardener

Richter’s

Artistic Gardens

Pantry Garden Herbs

Sand Mountain Herbs

Mulberry Creek Herb Farm