Top perennial veg suggestions

Nancy Reading wrote:

G Prentice wrote:

Interesting! Are you talking about the normal runner beans that lots of gardeners grow as an annual? I didn't think that they could be perennial. Do you just leave them in the ground at the end of the summer and mulch around the base of the plants?

With the dry beans do you literallly just dry them and then eat them without any further cooking/preparation?

I've had runner beans overwinter in my polytunnel in a mild winter. I suspect you'd generally need to dig them up and replant like a dahlia or Yacon in the UK. it's usually a bit damp in winter and the roots would probably rot off - otherwise they'd be resprouting in allotments everywhere! I wasn't aware that  the root was edible, apparently the young leaves are too which I learnt recently! This really is a great plant isn't it? I'm going to have another go at growing them this year. Although they don't like it too hot and need pollinators so don't like it too windy, they're just such great plants and I love the green beans too.
I had heard that the dried beans need boiling like kidney beans. That's what pfaf says too:  pfaf on runner beans

Let's see what Christy comes back with, but I can see from your pfaf link that the seeds probably need cooking - which I don't mind doing anyway. Your comments about the roots in winter has made me wonder whether growing them in planters would work better as the drainage is better - and perhaps I could even cover/protect the plants some how in the winter with fleece or something?

Ed Waters wrote:Good King Henry aka Lincolnshire Asparagus is a keeper.  Greens in the early spring, then eating it like asparagus and then a grain in the Fall.  When we sold it at market there were folks that liked it more than traditional asparagus.  Never tried to harvest it as grain but I have read it was done way back when.  It is easy to propogate by splitting in Spring.

Another would be sorrel.  If you are in England you may not be able to get the profusion variety which is only available from Richters in Canada.  Never bolts even in the hottest summer and once again very easy to propogate.  

Ramps are only available in Spring but another one that spreads easily and reliable.  Here in Maine they are ready in early April.  Nature knows you are ready for a cleanse.  Tough to grow from seeds.  The plants will become available on ebay in March.  A pound of plants will get you a nice bed started.

Cheers

Thanks! Good King Henry is already on my list but I'll count your suggestion as an up vote

I think ramps are Wild Garlic, right? I'm also considering those but slightly worried about the lack of cover for much of the year and then my weeds having a party.

Have added sorrel to the list of contenders.

For the runner beans, you can cut down the vines after your harvest the dried beans and then mulch well to help them over-winter.  I've also dug the roots up like dahlias and replanted in the spring.  Both methods work well for me.  

The dried beans need to be cooked like any other dried bean.  I make mine in the Instant Pot.  The texture of the cooked bean is fabulous - dense and creamy.  I made a a garden burrito for lunch with cooked runner beans and some perennial collards.  Delicious!

 

G Prentice wrote:

Nancy Reading wrote:

G Prentice wrote:

Interesting! Are you talking about the normal runner beans that lots of gardeners grow as an annual? I didn't think that they could be perennial. Do you just leave them in the ground at the end of the summer and mulch around the base of the plants?

With the dry beans do you literallly just dry them and then eat them without any further cooking/preparation?

I've had runner beans overwinter in my polytunnel in a mild winter. I suspect you'd generally need to dig them up and replant like a dahlia or Yacon in the UK. it's usually a bit damp in winter and the roots would probably rot off - otherwise they'd be resprouting in allotments everywhere! I wasn't aware that  the root was edible, apparently the young leaves are too which I learnt recently! This really is a great plant isn't it? I'm going to have another go at growing them this year. Although they don't like it too hot and need pollinators so don't like it too windy, they're just such great plants and I love the green beans too.
I had heard that the dried beans need boiling like kidney beans. That's what pfaf says too:  pfaf on runner beans

Let's see what Christy comes back with, but I can see from your pfaf link that the seeds probably need cooking - which I don't mind doing anyway. Your comments about the roots in winter has made me wonder whether growing them in planters would work better as the drainage is better - and perhaps I could even cover/protect the plants some how in the winter with fleece or something?

Thanks - sounds great!

Ed Waters wrote:Good King Henry aka Lincolnshire Asparagus is a keeper.  Greens in the early spring, then eating it like asparagus and then a grain in the Fall.  When we sold it at market there were folks that liked it more than traditional asparagus.

Hey Ed, this is great info! I tried growing Good King Henry, and as far as I could see the second year it was coming up as a rosette of leaves and I didn't see any shoot even vaguely like asparagus, or even what I would call a shoot. And the leaves were too bitter for me, even when I tried either boiling them in salt water or soaking them in salt water (and I do like some bitter vegetables). I pulled them out but still have the seeds.

I tried searching for photos of good king henry "shoots" and didn't see anything convincing. Do you have a photo you could share here? Is it the bolting stem that is used as asparagus?

Don't know why you aren't seeing a shoot.  Kind of hard to miss.  If you do get them don't let them get very big as they get tough.
We have recently moved to Maine and left the GKH behind in upstate NY but ordered plants from Richters for this Spring.  I don't know how to post a picture or a link here.
I am not very good with any kind of tech stuff.  

Joshua LeDuc wrote:Rhubarb, horseradish, golden fennel, artichoke and perennial kale are a few perennials I planted in my food forest.  Hope that helps!

What is the Latin name of golden fennel? Google searches only refer to bronze fennel and I’m not sure if it’s the same…

Luke Mitchell wrote:three-cornered leek (be careful with this one, it grows rampantly all over the SW - I foraged it extensively whilst living in Bristol).

Yes please don't, it is on the list of illegal species to cause to grow in the wild.  Better to just not.  Grow wild garlic instead.  I had a pizza bianca earlier this year with nettles and wild garlic.  Is it worth growing nettles deliberately - I think you might need plenty of space for them not to be an inconvenience!

Other wild greens I have enjoyed this year as a bed to steam fish on - hogweed and cow parsley. Be careful of the poisonous relatives though.