3 Easy to Grow Perennial Vegetables
Make space in your garden for these long lasting favorites that will give you plenty of harvests for many years to come.
Asparagus
This long lasting delicacy includes both female and male plants. All male hybrids however are better performers that grow quicker and have bigger spears. Look for all-male Jersey hybrids including ‘Jersey Giant’ and ‘Jersey General’ if you plan to grow this perennial vegetable. A good plot can last 10 -20 years making this one of the best perennial vegetables to have in your edible garden.
Growing basics:
- Plant lots! You’ll need plenty of asparagus roots to feed a family. Average 20-30 spears per person.
- Keep them topped up. Add well rotted compost every year to maintain at least 6 inches of coverage over your roots. You may need to do this twice, once in spring and again in fall.
- Harvest the second year. The general rule of thumb is to wait for year three, but you can begin to harvest early spears the second year. In year three, keep harvesting for about 6 weeks or until all you get are spears about the size of a pencil, then stop.
Rhubarb
This cool climate lover is as pretty as it is delicious and can grow for decades! A good variety to try is ‘Starkrimson’ for its sweetness and gorgeous red color.
Growing basics:
- Remove flower stalks. These pull nutrients from the edible stalks so they should be pruned when they appear.
- Harvest only the big ones. Stalks should reach about a foot and a half before you pull them. The bigger the stalk, the more flavor it has. When only small stalks remain, it’s time to stop harvesting.
- Never eat the leaves! They are considered poisonous because they contain high levels of oxalic acid. Only the stalks of this plant are edible.
Jerusalem Artichokes
These aren’t actually artichokes, they are perennial sunflowers. They are also know as Sunchokes…. In fact, they are not really considered perennial vegetables either! Everything that is commonly known about this plant is really something else… if you ever wondered why Botanical Latin is necessary to identify plants, here is a perfect example.
So why did I include this in perennial vegetables? When digging up the roots for harvest, you’ll most likely leave a few behind because it’s hard to find them all. This will result in new plants the next spring, that will grow in the general area they were last year… this makes them a repeater plant that comes close to perennial behavior.
What do you do with a Sunchoke? Prepare them like potatoes or as alternatives to turnip and parsnip in recipes. They are tasty mashed with onions, garlic and cream.
Growing Basics:
- They get tall. Plant in a partially shaded area near the back of the bed as these lovelies will get up to 12 feet tall.
- Try to find all the roots. The tubers can establish themselves quickly and over take an area, do your best to find them all… but chances are that you won’t.
- Not too wet. Root fungal problems can occur if the ground remains too wet. Ensure proper drainage and discard any infected tubers to the garbage bin and not the compost heap.
So there’s 3 Easy to Grow Perennial Vegetables, just make sure you have a place in the garden where they can remain for years and you’ll enjoy harvests for many seasons to come.
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