Perennial Vegetables by Pat Newell.

Gardeners routinely include perennials of many kinds in yard and garden.  Flowers, grapes, berries, and fruit and nut trees are valued for their return year after year. Several advantages, besides only having to plant once for many years of enjoyment, are that they can make garden planning easier, with a dependable color and size to expand upon with annuals, and that some can thrive in spots that are difficult to fill, coming back again and again to improve and decorate problem areas.

Until recently, however, the myriad variety of perennial vegetables that can also be included in any area of the garden or yard have been almost totally overlooked. These year-in year-out producers have varieties that will perform as well as an annual garden, with the unique ability to easily provide foods that can enhance or even replace common types of ‘plant every year’ vegetables. Imagine the satisfaction and relief of knowing that all these delicious vegetables will be ready for harvest for years to come, even if we can’t or don’t want to spend every spring weekend tilling or mulching, planting or weeding. Care must be taken, however, to be sure to use the specific variety that provides these unique types of foods. Some varieties with a similar name are not suitable for human consumption.

North Texas is suitable for varieties in every class…whether we want edible shoots or stalks, tender greens, delicate buds, seeds, pods and beans, flowers or fruit, plus numerous types of edible roots, bulbs and edible underground as well as aerial tubers. There are even types of fully formed leaves on trees and shrubs that can provide significant landscape features as well.  The biggest problem with a number of them is that they need to be grown in a separate area of the garden because some can become invasive.

Asparagus is one of very few familiar examples of a perennial vegetable.  An incomplete list of annual vegetables with a perennial substitute includes broccoli, cabbage, yams, potatoes, onions, garlic, squash, cucumbers, beans, sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, carrots, eggplant, globe artichoke, winter squash and zucchini. Even the most commonly grown vegetables in any annual garden, the peppers and tomatoes, have delicious, easy to grow perennial counterparts. Some perennials will reliably produce all year round.

The decorative value of Hibiscus, Day Lily, Cannas, Hyacinth and Lotus are hard to pass up since they can also provide shoots, flowers and tubers to enjoy as well.  Any gardener can enjoy perennial vegetables that will bring a bountiful harvest with almost no work and allow us to effortlessly watch our garden grow.

There are several internet sources that explain the uses and list suppliers of  perennial vegetables. My main source of this information is a book called “Perennial Vegetables” by Eric Toensmeier. It also has a list of providers and references.