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What are you growing for perennial vegatables.

 
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Looking to get more perennial going , what's out there?
 
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Good topic. I'm looking forward to people's answers. Depending upon where people live, we could be seeing all sorts of items. And what's an annual one place could be perennial in another.

Perennial vegs growing on my homestead (that I use to grow as annuals where I lived before in NJ):

Parsley
Chard
Kale
A type of bushy collard that I don't know the name of
Peppers
Portuguese cabbage

Some veggies grow a long time, for over a year, until the plants peter out -- tomatoes, eggplant, some pole beans and limas, some pumpkins and winter squashes.

My mother has a parsley plant that is 10 years old now. Looks like a mini tree with quite a thick, stubby trunk. The truck-stem is 12 inches high now. Impressive.

I can grow many vegs that were perennials back in NJ, like asparagus. But the exception is rhubarb. I have to grow that as an annual here.
 
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Purslane
Artichokes
Asparagus
Scorzonera
plantain
dandelions
Salad burnet
Good King Henry
NOpales cactus
leeks
parsley
reseeding:
curly mallow
spiny sow thistle
sow thistle
shotweed
parsley
turnip greens

many others I can't think of right now.
John S
PDX OR
 
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Chris Ulinski wrote:Looking to get more perennial going , what's out there?

Sunchokes, asparagus, rhubarb, Kale, tomato, peppers, Litchi tomato, potatoes, yams, Tuberous pea, Fiddlehead fern, horseradish, Ground nut, quamish, tiger nuts, Dog's tooth violets, tiger lilly, Biscuit roots, Indian potato, Oca, cat tails, yampa, yacon, breadroot, duck potatoes, Skirret, Chinese artichokes, Mashua, Monkey puzzle, siberian pea tree, Hops, grape, (Grapes are a fruit but the leaves a vegetable), walking onions, garlic, Perennial Buckwheat, scarlet runner beans, miners lettuce, Sweet Cicely, nettles, dandelion I am sure there are many more that I am forgetting, plus many herbs. Keep in mind though that some like tomatoes and peppers are perennials that are grown like annuals.
 
Su Ba
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Great list, John. It's given me a couple of suggestions, like for example, I've not tried scorzonera yet.

On my homestead I also grow these vegs as perennials:

Prickly pear cactus
Common purslane
Plantain
Assorted herbs including
greek oregano
stick oregano
mexican oregano
tulsi
thai basil
sage
rosemary
peppermint
spearmint
chocolate mint
salad burnet
leaf celery
chives
garlic chives
stevia
Walking onions
Sweet potato vines for greens
Pipinola
 
John Suavecito
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Scott,
Do you eat hops as a vegetable or is it a flavoring for beer?
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR
 
Scott Strough
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John Saltveit wrote:Scott,
Do you eat hops as a vegetable or is it a flavoring for beer?
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR

Eat the shoots in spring like asparagus and the hops (female flowers) for beer.
 
Chris Ulinski
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For you guys that grow things like thistle, fern, dandelion, and things like that, do you actual eat them?
 
Scott Strough
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Chris Ulinski wrote:For you guys that grow things like thistle, fern, dandelion, and things like that, do you actual eat them?

Never ate thistle, but nettles are good greens cooked like collards. I personally don't care for dandelion, but do occasionally eat them if I can get a few really big but early spring ones. They get bitter quickly though, especially in the Oklahoma heat. This year we went from last frost to 100 degree high in a week or so. Obviously no dandelion greens for me this year. That's the problem with some edible "weeds", inconsistent. Some things though, like cattails are a real treat and always taste awesome! Purslane is another that is a real treat. I eat them right in the garden. Yummy and because it has a sort of citric taste, no need for salad dressing.
 
Chris Ulinski
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Scott Strough wrote:

Chris Ulinski wrote:For you guys that grow things like thistle, fern, dandelion, and things like that, do you actual eat them?

Never ate thistle, but nettles are good greens cooked like collards. I personally don't care for dandelion, but do occasionally eat them if I can get a few really big but early spring ones. They get bitter quickly though, especially in the Oklahoma heat. This year we went from last frost to 100 degree high in a week or so. Obviously no dandelion greens for me this year. That's the problem with some edible "weeds", inconsistent. Some things though, like cattails are a real treat and always taste awesome! Purslane is another that is a real treat. I eat them right in the garden. Yummy and because it has a sort of citric taste, no need for salad dressing.




do you grow enough to actually have a good harvest to eat on a regular basis or is it just something to eat here and there?
 
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Fuki, Dandelion, Pigweed, wild ramps, egyptian walking onion, asparagus, nettles, french sorrel, sea kale, rhubarb, hops, day lily, good king henry, ostrich fern, mint, oregano, sage, sunchokes, giant solomans seal, bamboo, watercress, lovage, horseradish, globe artichokes, ground nut
 
John Suavecito
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Many of these are strong tasting until I put them in my sauerkraut. Another one I forgot to mention: Alexander's. I realize that it is a grammatically awkward sounding name, but it is quite a common vegetable among the English, apparently. I put dandelions, Alexander's, marshmallow ( the plant), plantain, and spiny sow thistle in my sauerkraut "broth" for 4 days and they tasted great. No more bitterness in any of them. They all tasted like lettuce and pickles. I then eat them raw, put it in my chili, and top my salad with it. Talk about saving money and making delicious, amazingly healthful food for your gut microbiome!
John S
PDX OR
 
Scott Strough
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Chris Ulinski wrote:

Scott Strough wrote:

Chris Ulinski wrote:For you guys that grow things like thistle, fern, dandelion, and things like that, do you actual eat them?

Never ate thistle, but nettles are good greens cooked like collards. I personally don't care for dandelion, but do occasionally eat them if I can get a few really big but early spring ones. They get bitter quickly though, especially in the Oklahoma heat. This year we went from last frost to 100 degree high in a week or so. Obviously no dandelion greens for me this year. That's the problem with some edible "weeds", inconsistent. Some things though, like cattails are a real treat and always taste awesome! Purslane is another that is a real treat. I eat them right in the garden. Yummy and because it has a sort of citric taste, no need for salad dressing.




do you grow enough to actually have a good harvest to eat on a regular basis or is it just something to eat here and there?

No I just browse mostly, for a seasonal treat. I could grow then as a real crop I suppose, but generally I stick with mostly regular annual crops, but grown in a permaculture way. The main perennials I have grown are horse radish, asparagus, hops, grapes, Rhubarb, and Kale. I do grow a lot of purslane, but as a low story cover in the sweet corn. It's good, but I don't eat a lot. Sunchokes grow wild here. If I am in the mood I can dig as many as I want whenever. But I am not the type to go digging up everything. In the summer probably 1/2 or more of all I eat is tomatoes! I grow around 100 heirloom varieties in my own way I developed myself. Got a new customer today at the stand. A young kid. He said .... almost choking with ecstasy.... wow, that was an orgasism of the mouth! hahahahaha I almost fell out! Many kids these days have no idea how good home grown food can be. He also fell in love with the Puya pepper. MUCH sweeter than the sweetest sweet pepper, but also as hot as a Jalepeno at the same time! YUMMY.
 
Chris Ulinski
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Scott Strough wrote:

Chris Ulinski wrote:

Scott Strough wrote:

Chris Ulinski wrote:For you guys that grow things like thistle, fern, dandelion, and things like that, do you actual eat them?

Never ate thistle, but nettles are good greens cooked like collards. I personally don't care for dandelion, but do occasionally eat them if I can get a few really big but early spring ones. They get bitter quickly though, especially in the Oklahoma heat. This year we went from last frost to 100 degree high in a week or so. Obviously no dandelion greens for me this year. That's the problem with some edible "weeds", inconsistent. Some things though, like cattails are a real treat and always taste awesome! Purslane is another that is a real treat. I eat them right in the garden. Yummy and because it has a sort of citric taste, no need for salad dressing.




do you grow enough to actually have a good harvest to eat on a regular basis or is it just something to eat here and there?

No I just browse mostly, for a seasonal treat. I could grow then as a real crop I suppose, but generally I stick with mostly regular annual crops, but grown in a permaculture way. The main perennials I have grown are horse radish, asparagus, hops, grapes, Rhubarb, and Kale. I do grow a lot of purslane, but as a low story cover in the sweet corn. It's good, but I don't eat a lot. Sunchokes grow wild here. If I am in the mood I can dig as many as I want whenever. But I am not the type to go digging up everything. In the summer probably 1/2 or more of all I eat is tomatoes! I grow around 100 heirloom varieties in my own way I developed myself. Got a new customer today at the stand. A young kid. He said .... almost choking with ecstasy.... wow, that was an orgasism of the mouth! hahahahaha I almost fell out! Many kids these days have no idea how good home grown food can be. He also fell in love with the Puya pepper. MUCH sweeter than the sweetest sweet pepper, but also as hot as a Jalepeno at the same time! YUMMY.






thats the problem that i was having, all the people touting perennial vegetables especially in the northern climates there isn't too much that you can grow to really sustain you, there is allot you can grow but they seem mostly things that you add to dishes not the main component of the meal, i know sunchokes and other tuber like plants could compose a whole meal, but your not gonna eat just horseradish as a meal. when i read Toensmeiers books, he grows all these perennial vegetables makes we wonder how much of that what they grow they could eat and survive without adding annual plants to their diet.
 
Scott Strough
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Chris Ulinski wrote:
thats the problem that i was having, all the people touting perennial vegetables especially in the northern climates there isn't too much that you can grow to really sustain you, there is allot you can grow but they seem mostly things that you add to dishes not the main component of the meal, i know sunchokes and other tuber like plants could compose a whole meal, but your not gonna eat just horseradish as a meal. when i read Toensmeiers books, he grows all these perennial vegetables makes we wonder how much of that what they grow they could eat and survive without adding annual plants to their diet.



I don't think it is a problem really. There are two types of permaculture enthusiasts. One would try to make themselves self sufficient, homestead, go "off grid" etc... I could do that if I wanted........ But the other kind is farmers making a living selling their food. That's what I do. I grow what I can sell for a profit to regular people, I just do it in a way that regenerates the soil and all the multiple species reliant on healthy fertile soil, without high inputs of any kind, not organic, nor chemical. Minimal inputs period.

I look at the likes of Sepp Holzer as a genius who pointed the way in this regard. Remember, even to this day the vast majority of agricultural scientists still think it is impossible. I was talking to a guy from the USDA earlier this spring to see about a grant to scientifically trial what I am doing and he said just that...impossible.

But even though I know how to do it with rare perennial vegetables, and even like them myself from time to time, I grow more traditional crops, but in a permaculture way. A farmer needs to be able to fill demand. And right now there is no demand for sunchokes purslane etc... There is a huge demand for tomatoes, peppers, broccoli etc.... You get premium price for them too. I have LOWER grow costs than both organic AND conventional growers....AND heal the land at the same time! That means big profits...that should keep increasing over time.....theoretically. Unlike Sepp, I am still developing my method. It's still experimental. First two years of my trial though are very encouraging. So that tells me Sepp's ideas are very likely usable in other biomes. The principles work. I work with perennial grasses instead of perennial trees and forests. My ground is flat, not alpine. The top successional biome here is savanna not forest. But if anything, I see soil improvement much faster. I see worm recover and soil structure improvement in weeks instead of years...with very minimal inputs. My main expense is a small amount of inoculants to restore functioning microbiology to the rhizosphere. Then I let the grass feed and restore the soil. To fertilise? I mow. To plow? I let worms do the work. For insecticides I use spiders and other predators. I literally for two years straight have had tree frogs living in my tomatoes. To water I use the dew from the grass, Mycorrhizal fungi and deep perennial grass roots. My total disturbance to the soil is a small plug of soil I remove and replace with a seedling and compost inoculated with several beneficial microorganisms. Hopefully as soil health improves, one day maybe I wouldn't even need to inoculate!
 
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Taro.

It's perennial here in the borderline 8/9 zone of middle Georgia. The first frost knocks it out for the rest of the winter, but comes the warm weather in April, it's back and ready to spread. This year we had a fairly dry summer, so there were a lot of yellowing leaves and it didn't look prime for harvesting, but the last two weeks have turned wetter and it has greened right up. If you have wet spots that don't drain well and other things end up drowning, try some taro.

As far as eating it, it is high in oxalates, so it must be cooked. I'm experimenting with parboiling the leaves and then using them as wrappers, a la stuffed grape leaves or gołąbki. The leaves aren't very strong tasting and have a pleasant fragrance which goes away (along with a lot of the oxalate) when you boil them. The most common recipes I have come across on YouTube is stewed up in coconut milk and as greens in a pot of dasheen.
 
Chris Ulinski
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John Elliott wrote:Taro.

It's perennial here in the borderline 8/9 zone of middle Georgia. The first frost knocks it out for the rest of the winter, but comes the warm weather in April, it's back and ready to spread. This year we had a fairly dry summer, so there were a lot of yellowing leaves and it didn't look prime for harvesting, but the last two weeks have turned wetter and it has greened right up. If you have wet spots that don't drain well and other things end up drowning, try some taro.

As far as eating it, it is high in oxalates, so it must be cooked. I'm experimenting with parboiling the leaves and then using them as wrappers, a la stuffed grape leaves or gołąbki. The leaves aren't very strong tasting and have a pleasant fragrance which goes away (along with a lot of the oxalate) when you boil them. The most common recipes I have come across on YouTube is stewed up in coconut milk and as greens in a pot of dasheen.




Did you ever make gołąbki with taro leaves? How did it taste, and what was the texture of it, I only make gołąbki with cabbage, would be interesting to try it with something else.
 
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Chris Ulinski wrote:
Did you ever make gołąbki with taro leaves? How did it taste, and what was the texture of it, I only make gołąbki with cabbage, would be interesting to try it with something else.



Like I said, I'm experimenting. Here is another experiment, although I think it needs more cooking. Down at the bottom of the page, Priya admits that she has first-hand experience with the choking effect of undercooked taro. But if you have cooked the leaves enough, they also don't have much taste. Boiled cabbage leaves don't have much flavor, but they have a lot more than boiled taro leaves.

Taro leaves that are cooked enough to eat also have lost any structural integrity they might have had. While it won't leave your gołąbek naked with a puddle of green goo underneath it, that's almost what happens. I can see why the preferred method is to cook it for a long time in coconut milk. Once you give up on having any sort of texture, it just becomes some other green that has been cooked into submission in the pot.
 
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Hi,
I came around this file, listing a lot of perennials. Maybe it is helpful to you, too.
Google Doc listing perennial vegetables

Sending you warm greetings from cold and rainy Germany,
Anne
 
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Anne Kristin Hartmann wrote:
I came around this file, listing a lot of perennials. Maybe it is helpful to you, too.
Google Doc listing perennial vegetables


That is a handy reference. It is very close to Eric Toensmeier's site which has it divided into 8 U.S/Canadian zones.

 
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