Would you like to plant your fruit and vegetable garden once, and then not have to plant anything in it again for a decade? That is, in fact, achievable, if you only plant perennial vegetables and fruits in your garden.
Perennial vegetables—crops that you plant just once and harvest year after year—are relatively rare in North American gardens.
With the exception of asparagus, rhubarb, and artichokes, most gardeners are probably unaware of the tasty, extremely low-maintenance bounty that can be harvested when many annual crops aren’t available.
Benefits of Perennial Vegetables
Perennial Vegetables are Low Maintenance
Imagine growing vegetables that require just about the same amount of care as perennial flowers and shrubs—no annual tilling and planting. They thrive and produce abundant and nutritious crops throughout the season. Once established in the proper site and climate, perennial vegetables planted can be virtually indestructible despite neglect. Established perennials are often more resistant to pests, diseases, drought and weeds, too.
Perennial Vegetables Extend the Harvest
Perennial vegetables often have different seasons of availability from annuals, which provides more food throughout the year. While you are transplanting tiny annual seedlings into your vegetable garden or waiting out the mid-summer heat, many perennials are already growing strong or ready to harvest.
Perennial Vegetables Can Perform Multiple Garden Functions
Many perennial vegetables are also beautiful, ornamental plants that can enhance your landscape. Others can function as hedges, groundcovers or erosion control for slopes. Other perennial veggies provide fertilizer to themselves and their neighboring plants by fixing nitrogen in the soil. Some can provide habitat for beneficial insects and pollinators, while others can climb trellises and provide shade for other crops.
Perennial Vegetables Help Build Soil
Perennial crops are simply amazing for the soil. Because they don’t need to be tilled, perennials help foster a healthy and intact soil food web, including providing habitat for a huge number of animals, fungi and other important soil life.
When well mulched, perennials improve the soil’s structure, organic matter, porosity and water-holding capacity.
Perennial vegetable gardens build soil the way nature intended by allowing the plants to naturally add more and more organic matter to the soil through the slow and steady decomposition of their leaves and roots. As they mature, they also help build topsoil and sequester atmospheric carbon.
Baby carrots
Baby carrots are grown in the garden taste leaps and bounds better than anything purchased at the market. Look specifically for baby carrot varieties that grow quicker than traditional varieties. If planting in containers, choose ones at least 6 to 8 inches deep, allowing the room needed for proper growth and development.
Spinach
Green leafy vegetables rank high on the list of quick growers, providing harvestable produce in a short amount of time with little effort. Sow seeds directly into well-amended garden soil or high-quality soil if using containers; harvest when leaves reach the desired size. Avoid growing spinach in the hottest part of summer because it will bolt and go to seed.
Beets
A love-it or hate-it root veggie, beets are grown for both their leafy green tops and the tender resulting beet. Grow beets when the weather is cooler for the best growth. If harvesting the tops, take only one or two leaves at a time to avoid impeding root growth.
Horseradish
If you are looking to add some warmth to your winter meals, a little bit of grated horseradish goes a long way. The best way to get to that root is to harvest it fresh, for as long as you can dig the soil.
It is in the same Cruciferae family as broccoli, cabbages and Brussels sprouts, yet it is hardier than all three combined.
Add some zesty root to your potato salad or serve up a spicy bloody Mary – depending on the time of day, and the company of course.
Watercress
Watercress is another perennial plant that can be used in a variety of ways. Mainly sandwiches and salads.
It also has medicinal properties as well. Watercress may help to ease symptoms of the flu and cough if you’re struggling with a cold or other respiratory illness.
Watercress can be grown as perennials in zones 6-9.
Raspberries
We have a raspberry patch at our home, and I love it. Raspberries are easy to grow and will return with more vengeance with each passing year.
Fun fact, don’t plant raspberries near black walnut trees. We didn’t know this at first and wondered why our raspberries suffered. After we cut the tree down, the raspberries thrived. Also, be sure to plant them where they will get plenty of sunlight.
Raspberries can be grown as perennials in zones 6-9.
Asparagus
One of our most loved vegetables, asparagus is really rewarding to grow at home. By the time asparagus gets to the grocery store it’s often dried out considerably and gotten a bit woody. Homegrown asparagus is infinitely superior in my opinion, but it’s an investment. You won’t be able to harvest for the first 2-3 years as the plants get established.
Generally, asparagus is grown from crowns or first-year bare-root plants. That cuts down on the time to harvest, but they can be expensive to buy. You can also grow asparagus from seed, and a packet of 50 to 100 seeds usually costs about as much as one or two bare-root crowns.
A seldom mentioned benefit of growing your own asparagus is the flowers. The plants are covered with tiny bell-shaped flowers in the summertime, and they’re a real haven for the bees. I love watching the bees work through the asparagus, their pollen baskets filled to the brim.
Blueberries
We also have a blueberry patch at our home. It’s a wonderful addition to our raspberry patch, and they are tasty too.
Blueberries come in around the first of June and finish up early to mid-July. Like the raspberries, every year they come back stronger and stronger, which is a beautiful sight to see.
Blueberries can be grown as perennials in zones 3-7. Some varieties can only grow in zones 4-5.