How to Plant a Perennial Food Garden – 20 Fruits & Veggies That Will Keep Coming Back Year After Year

Growing vegetables and fruits in the home garden is rewarding, but many people are put off by the backbreaking work involved at the start of the growing season. Perennial edibles are the answer to this problem.

Grow them among your regular veggies so that you will have something to look forward to even if you miss your spring or fall planting.  Once planted and established, they require very little work except topdressing and occasional weeding and pruning.

Perennial plantings need a bit of planning though. Remember the following when you add them to your edible landscape:

1. Select the varieties that are guaranteed to do well in your USDA zone and the microclimate in your garden.

2. Plant them interspersed with your annuals so that your garden is uniformly filled out throughout the year.

3. Prepare the planting spot very well since you will be letting them grow there undisturbed for many years.

4. Leave plenty of space between perennials as they will multiply faster than you think.

5. Plant only a few at a time so that you have better control over them if they turn out to be invasive or fall short of expectations.

Here’s a selection of edibles that will reward you with repeated harvest for several years to come.

Asparagus

Asparagus is one true perennial vegetable that will reliably come year after year. Although it is a seasonal vegetable when grown outside in the garden, the expanding mound can be harvested for over 20 years. The culinary type Asparagus officinalis can be grown from seeds, but you’ll have to wait 2-3 years to get spears worth the table. It is better to buy 1-year old crowns of hybrid varieties or get divisions from someone having clumps of male plants.

Asparagus is a cool-loving plant hardy to USDA zone 4. There are a few cultivars such as UC 157 and Jersey Knight that can be grown in warmer areas. Grow this prized vegetable in well drained slightly alkaline next to where tomatoes are planted since they are mutually beneficial companions.

Artichoke

Globe Artichoke Cynara cardunculus is a Mediterranean native thriving in warm climates. If you live in USDA 7 and above, you can grow this thistle relative as an annual and harvest the edible flower buds from spring to mid fall. When grown from seeds, the flower buds are produced in the second year and for 3-4 years afterwards. Alternatively, root cuttings from established plants or ready–to-plant starts you can get from garden centers can be used as planting material.

Allow plenty of room in a sunny location for the plant to grow and spread. Regular watering and feeding, especially with a potash fertilizer at the time of bud formation will ensure large flower buds. Divide the clumps every 3-4 years to promote vigorous growth.

Jerusalem artichoke

This American native Helianthus tuberosus has a misleading common name. It has nothing to do with Jerusalem and is only distantly related to globe artichoke, although the edible tubers have a similar taste. Also known by more suitable names such as sun artichoke and sunchoke, this plant closely related to garden sunflower were widely used by Native Americans.

The tubers are starch-free and rich in the dietary fiber inulin known for its cholesterol lowering and chemo-protective ability. Inulin is great for gastrointestinal health as it aids the growth of beneficial bacteria in the guts. This sun loving plant is easy to grow almost anywhere and produce large quantities of tubers every year, so plant only a few.

Tree onions

Tree onions (Allium cepa var. proliferum) are a variety of regular onions that develop a bunch of bulbs on the flower stalks. When these topsets grow bigger, the stalks bend until they touch the ground, starting new plants a little away from the parent plant. This has earned them the common name ‘walking onion.’  These easy-to-grow and easy-to-harvest onions are great asset to any edible garden. Not only the top sets, but the leaves and the underground bulbs can be eaten, but the latter is tougher and more pungent than regular onions.

To plant these onions you can either divide a clump or use the topsets. Plant them any time of the year, even in winter if the ground doesn’t freeze. They are now considered a hybrid of regular onion with perennial Welsh onion.

Watercress

If you have some water in your garden, watercress Nasturtium officinale is a great perennial to have. Grow it from seeds or start with a single clump, and you will soon end up having plenty for your use and for giving away.

When you buy watercress, you get whole clumps with or without roots, but in your garden you will be harvesting only a few leaves from each clump.  They will grow back quickly, ensuring a continuous supply. The crisp, peppery leaves are great in salads. You can cook them too, but it mellows the taste.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) is one of the first perennials to come up in spring. This is a plant for cooler regions since it cannot withstand heat above 90F. Well-drained soil amended with rich manure is ideal for growing this vegetable. Sections of rhubarb roots should be planted in early spring and the soil kept moist. Since the clumps can grow 3-4 feet across, sufficient spacing is essential.

The leaves can be harvested from second year onwards and for the next 2-3 years, but may need to be divided after that. These plants are quite tough and take some amount of neglect, but they respond well to good care.

Daylilies

Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are treated as perennials in the flower garden. Although most gardeners know that these flowers are edible, they are rarely used as vegetables like the Chinese do. Not only the flowers and flower buds, but the thick roots that look like fingerling potatoes and the white, tender base of the stalk are edible.

Spare the prized varieties, but leave the common ones like Hemerocallis fulva for culinary use. Stir fry or batter fry the flower buds; boil the larger roots and eat the lighter ones raw; add the chopped stems to soups. Try in small amounts first to make sure that you are not allergic.

Ostrich Fern

The tender fronds of many ferns known as fiddleheads are eaten when they are tightly coiled, but they are often gathered from the wild, depleting the wild stock and occasionally gathering toxic ones by mistake. Growing your own solves these problems.

North American species Matteuccia struthiopteris, commonly known as ostrich fern, is worth growing in damp spots in your garden. It does especially well in USDA zone 3 to 7 and will supply you with fiddleheads every spring if you take care to harvest less than half the fronds that come up. Buy one or two plants from a reliable supplier rather than trying to grow them from spores.   

Scarlet runner bean

This legume Phaseolus coccineus is often grown as an ornamental for its bright red flowers, but the edible beans are excellent as a vegetable. They can be cooked as snap beans when tender, and shelled when they are plump with seeds. The dry pods can be harvested for dry beans. Add the edible flowers to salads and stir fries for color.    

Once started from seeds, scarlet runner bean plants can grow as perennials in warmer areas, and can be overwintered in colder areas by cutting off the top growth and mulching. In spring, new stems will emerge from the underground parts.

Potato bean

This is a neglected perennial legume despite having the potential to become a survival crop. Although native to North America, potato bean Apios americana is now mainly grown in Japan. However, it grows wild in moist areas across USDA zones 4 to 9.

The potato bean vine produces strings of small tubers underground and bean-like pods above the ground. It is also known as American groundnut after its tubers. The beans and the tubers are both edible and nutritious, and have high protein content. The plants can be started from both seeds and tubers. It spreads by tubers and keeps coming back more vigorously every year, so find out if the plant is invasive in your area before planting it in the ground.

Fennel

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a spice, and an herb, and a vegetable, all combined. This aromatic Mediterranean plant is naturalized across the world and is grown for different purposes in different places. Fennel seeds are sweet and spicy with a flavor similar to anise seeds

They are used in curries and breads. The feathery leaves look like dill, and can be used as an herb to flavor dishes. The leaf stalks can be cut off every now and then and used like celery. Finally, the bulbous leaf bases are used as a vegetable, either raw or sautéed or stir fried.

Fennel grown in poor soil has better flavor. You can grow it from seeds as a perennial in USDA zones 5-10, but it is treated as an annual in colder areas.

Sweet potato

Sweet potatos are usually grown as annuals in cooler climates, but the vine can live as a perennial in the same spot for years in warmer areas. Rooting from nodes, the plant can spread very fast and fill large areas until actively contained. Not only the tubers, but the leaves are also edible. The tender shoots with 2-4 leaves can be cooked like spinach.

Grow sweet potatoes from rooted cuttings you get from garden centers, or make your own planting material by allowing the tubers to sprout and put out many runners.  Although sweet potato vine can grow in poor soil, it gives plentiful harvest if the soil is loose and fertile.  

Dandelion

Dandelions are obviously perennial since they come up in the same spot in the lawn despite your best efforts to get rid of them. That makes them good candidates for a perennial edible landscape. The young leaves can be eaten raw in salads and the older ones cooked as a vegetable. The root as well as the flowers can be used for making dandelion tea which has anti-inflammatory and diuretic properties.

Since dandelions grow in almost all USDA zones as a weed, sourcing planting material is not difficult. Grow them from seeds or dig up plants from places you don’t want them to grow. To prevent new dandelion plants from sprouting all over the garden, harvest all flowers before they get a chance to set seeds.

Sorrel

The common garden sorrel Rumex acetosa is a leafy vegetable with a lemony zing that deserves a place in every edible landscape in USDA zones 4 to 9. This cold hardy perennial can withstand a few frosts, but eventually dies down, only to resurrect early in the spring in a rosette of tender green leaves. They can be eaten raw in salads and sandwiches. Sorrel soup is another delicacy.

Plant seedlings in spring and start enjoying the leaves once the plants are well established. Sorrel patches spread rather quickly, so start with only a few. Cut off the stalks when the plant bolts to prevent seedlings coming up all over the garden.  

Strawberries

A strawberry patch in the garden can give you plentiful harvest for several years if you just keep the plants mulched and prevent overcrowding. You can choose seasonal varieties for heavy yield or everbearing ones for staggered production.

Strawberry plants love sunny areas with rich, slightly acidic soil. If you don’t have sunny spots in your garden, you can grow woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) which does well in partial shade.

Gooseberry

These spiny plants that grow delicate looking, translucent berries are a must-have for any edible garden in the temperate world. They are cold hardy to USDA zone 3, but don’t do very well in high summer temperatures. Plant rooted cuttings 6-feet apart to provide adequate space for their arching canes.

Gooseberry bushes love rich, well-drained soil. Regular watering and feeding with potassium fertilizers and top dressing with dolomite limestone give good results. Regular pruning keeps the bushes healthy and neat, besides producing bigger berries. American gooseberry Ribes hirtellum has better yield, but gives smaller fruits while the European variety Ribes grossularia has larger, flavorful berries.

Currants

Coming in black (Ribes nigrum) and red (Ribes rubrum) varieties and the albino version of red, currants are easy-to-grow perennial fruit for edible gardens. These cold hardy plants do very well in sunny locations in cooler areas and in partial shade in warmer places and reliably produce fruit every year from the second year of planting. They are generally grown from cuttings, and prefer moist, slightly acidic soil.

Once the plants are established, all you have to do is prune them every year to keep the bushes under control and to promote new growth. The tart and sweet fruit can be used in a variety of dishes and made into jams and jellies.

Jostaberry

Also called Buffalo currant, Jostaberry (Ribes aureum) is a mix of gooseberry and black currants. It combines the best of both parents and gives you sweeter berries on spineless canes. What’s more: it is resistant to the diseases affecting the parent species.  

When grown in rich, moist soil from rooted cuttings, the plants grow vigorously and start producing fruit in 2-3 years. You need quite a bit of space to accommodate these large bushes, but they are self fertile, so a single bush is enough. The berries can be used the same way you use blackcurrants.  

Raspberries

You have a wide choice when it comes to raspberries since both summer bearers and everbearing varieties that continue to produce fruit from spring to fall are available. Then there are purple raspberries, red raspberries, and their albino versions, known as golden raspberries, to choose from. You can find different cultivars that do well in USDA zones 3 to 10.

Plant rooted cuttings of the variety of your choice in spring. You can have several types depending on space and zone limitations, but plant them at least 6-8 feet apart. Each plant will put up an increasing number of long canes every year. Rich soil and regular feeding give great results. 

Blueberry

This North American native deserves to be part of every edible garden. Once established, a blueberry plant can provide berries for several decades, but many cultivars are self-sterile and require more than one plant to ensure fruit production. You can choose between lowbush Vaccinium angustifolium and highbush Vaccinium corymbosum and its hybrid varieties.

Blueberry bushes are acid-loving; they grow best in soils with pH 5. It should be evenly moist and well drained. Occasional pruning keeps the bushes healthy. For warmer climates (USDA zone 7-10), the tall growing Rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium ashei ) may be ideal.

source by: http://www.naturallivingideas.com/perennial-food-garden/

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How to grow fruit the organic way

You've just bought a high quality fruit tree or bush, capable of providing you with years of delicious harvests. So what do you do next? Here we help you prepare your soil, plant, cope with pests and diseases, and then Harvest and store.

To prepare your organic growing area – whether it is a pot, single bed or a large allotment – see Managing your soil and Home composting. And remind yourself of the Organic Gardening Guidelines. These are a code of practice, designed with a helpful traffic light system, to help you on your organic growing journey - whether you are a complete beginner, want to convert to organic, or be reminded of good organic practice.

Our How to Grow cards cover a selection of vegetables, fruit and herbs - including apples, pears, and soft fruit such as raspberries, strawberries and currants.

Planting

If the fruit tree or bush is bare-rooted, it is important that the roots do not dry out. Keep them temporarily wrapped in wet newspaper and covered in plastic. If you don’t know immediately where to put the tree or bush, then plant it temporarily in a spare bit of well-watered ground (called ‘heeling in’).

As fruit trees and bushes will be in the same spot for many years, good soil preparation is essential. Here are some tips:

   1. If your soil is a heavy clay or silt, cultivate an area two or three times as large as the final planting hole. This is to help prevent water draining into and filling the hole

   2. If your soil drains well and is reasonably fertile you only need to prepare a planting hole one     metre in diameter. If your soil is poor, prepare a larger area and mix 1 to 2 spades of well-rotted manure or garden compost to the dug out soil

   3. Dig a hole at least 20 cms deeper than the bottom of the roots

   4. If you are planting into grass, dig the turf in when creating your hole. It contains valuable nutrients

   5. Keep a perimeter of 60-75 cms clear of grass and weeds

Backfill your hole with a 20 cm layer of your prepared soil. This allows you to place your tree or bushes in the hole, with the exception of blackcurrants, so that they are no deeper than the original soil mark. It is particularly important with fruit trees not to bury the graft union (the bump at the bottom of the stem just above the roots) . Blackcurrants, however, should be planted 5 cm deeper than the original soil mark.

Fruit trees need a stake, so plant this at the same time. It should be approx 1.2m long, with 45 cms driven into the ground.

Water plants well after planting, then apply a mulch (see below). Finally, tie the tree to the stake, using rubber strips or old tights (do not use string or wire, they will cut into the stem as it thickens with growth).

During the first summer

It is vital to provide enough water to your new fruit plantings during the growing season, and to keep them free of weeds. Water regularly and generously if the weather is dry. A mulch - of old newspaper (at least 8 pages thick) or cardboard covered with straw, grass mowings or leaf mould - after you have thoroughly watered, will help to conserve moisture and suppress weeds.

Check out the How to Grow cards for a selection of individual fruits. Also see Pests and Diseases and Weed management. Soon you will be Harvesting and storing. We hope you enjoy growing fruit the organic way. Not only are you safe from chemicals, but you are encouraging a healthy life for you, the plants and the planet.

source by : https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/fruit-growing

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Top 10 Reasons To Grow Your Own Organic Food

1. GET THE NUTRITION YOU NEED & ENJOY TASTIER FOOD!

Many studies have shown that organically grown food has more minerals and nutrients that we need than food grown with synthetic pesticides. There’s a good reason why many chefs use organic foods in their recipes—they taste better. Organic farming starts with the nourishment of the soil, which eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and, ultimately our bodies.

2. SAVE MONEY

Growing your own food can help cut the cost of the grocery bill. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars and month at the grocery store on foods that don’t really nourish you, spend time in the garden, outside, exercising, learning to grow your own food.

3. PROTECT FUTURE GENERATIONS

The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. Food choices you make now will impact your child’s future health.

                          “We have not inherited the Earth from our fathers,
                                  we are borrowing it from our children.”
                                                 – Lester Brown


4. PREVENT SOIL EROSION

The Soil Conservation Service estimates more than 3 billion tons of topsoil are eroded from the United States’ croplands each year. That means soil erodes seven times faster than it’s built up naturally. Soil is the foundation of the food chain in organic farming. However, in conventional farming, the soil is used more as a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they can be chemically fertilized. As a result, American farms are suffering from the worst soil erosion in history.

5. PROTECT WATER QUALITY

Water makes up two-thirds of our body mass and covers three-fourths of the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates pesticides - some cancer causing - contaminate the groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country’s population.

6. SAVE ENERGY

American farms have changed drastically in the last three generations, from family-based small businesses dependent on human energy to large-scale factory farms. Modern farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country’s totally energy supply. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate and harvest all the crops in the United States. If you are growing your own food in the city, you are cutting down on transportation and pollution costs.

7. KEEP CHEMICALS OFF YOUR PLATE

Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered long before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases had been established. Now the EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides carcinogenic. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides might cause an extra 4 million cancer cases among Americans. If you are growing your own food, you have control over what does, or doesn’t, go into it. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms and can also harm humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations.

8. PROTECT FARM WORKERS & HELP SMALL FARMERS

A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had six times more risk than non-farmers of contracting cancer. In California, reported pesticide poisonings among farm workers have risen an average of 14 percent a year since 1973 and doubled between 1975 and 1985. Field workers suffer the highest rates of occupational illness in the state. Farm worker health is also a serious problem in developing nations, where pesticide use can be poorly regulated. An estimated 1 million people are poisoned annually by pesticides.

Although more and more large-scale farms are making the conversion to organic practices, most organic farms are small, independently owned family farms of fewer than 100 acres. It’s estimated the United States has lost more than 650,000 family farms in the past decade. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted that half of this country’s farm production will come from 1 percent of farms by the year 2000, organic farming could be one of the few survival tactics left for family farms.

9. PROMOTE BIODIVERSITY

Mono-cropping is the practice of planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year. While this approach tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of natural diversity of plant life has left the soil lacking in natural minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical fertilizers are used, often in increasing amounts. Single crops are also much more susceptible to pests, making farmers more reliant on pesticides. Despite a tenfold increase in the use of pesticides between 1947 and 1974, crop losses due to insects have doubled—partly because some insects have become genetically resistant to certain pesticides.

10. HELP BEAUTIFY YOUR COMMUNITY

Besides being used to grow food, community gardens are also a great way to beautify a community, and to bring pride in ownership.


source by : http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/top-10-reasons-to-grow-your-own-organic-food

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Advantages of Organic Farming

The word organic simply means that nothing unnatural, toxic, or harmful are used in any step of the production process. Organic produce is different from normal produce in a wide variety of ways, but not all of these differences are very significant at all. In order to better understand just how beneficial organic farming is we have to look at both sides of the fence. 

1. No Poison Is Always Great

Organic farming does not use any type of harmful chemicals to keep pests away, unlike the majority of industrial farming. They use all natural methods that do not harm the consumer or the environment that they are grown in. Herbicides, pesticides, and artificial growth hormones are all forbidden on an organic farm.

2. Closely Regulated

In order for a food to be labeled as organic, the entire process of which is was created is thoroughly investigated. The organic food industry is internationally regulated, which means that organic means the same standards where followed, no matter where in the world it was made. This helps the consumers to know that they are truly getting what they think that they are.

3. Better Taste and More Nutrition

Fruits and vegetables that are organically raised have a much better taste than other mechanically farmed ones. This is due to the fact that they are given a much longer time to develop and are not pumped with artificial things. The sugar structures in these crops have more time to mature and develop into a tasty and nutritious product.

4. Costs Are Lowered

There is a deep stigma around anything organic that it had to have cost an arm and a leg to cultivate. This is actually the opposite of the truth. When you cut out the time that is spent to farm organic crops, the actual costs are minimal. These farmers do not have to shell out large amounts of money for expensive chemicals and massive amounts of water, unlike industrial farmers.

5. The Environment Doesn’t Suffer

Another thing that benefits from the use of organic farming is the environment! In industrial farms, the chemicals that are used are seep into the ground and contaminate the soil and local water sources. Humans, animals, and plant life are all affected negatively by this. With organic farming, there are no chemicals used, so no pollution occurs either. 

source by : http://thenextgalaxy.com/8-disadvantages-and-advantages-of-organic-farming/

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Keeping The Cost of Organic Food within Your Budget

Organic food is often more expensive than conventionally grown food. But if you set some priorities, it may be possible to purchase organic food and stay within your food budget. Purchase the organic versions of the foods you eat the most and those that are highest in pesticides if conventionally grown.

Venture beyond the grocery store. Consider the following ideas for finding organic food:

Shop at farmers' markets. Many cities, as well as small towns, host a weekly farmers' market, where local farmers bring their wares to an open-air street market and sell fresh produce direct to you. Often you will find items for less than you'd pay in the grocery store or supermarket.

Join a food co-op. Find out whether there is a natural foods co-op, also called a cooperative grocery store, in your area. Co-ops typically offer lower prices to members, who pay an annual fee to belong. However, you do not need to be a member to shop at a food co-op.

Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, in which individuals and families join up to purchase "shares" of produce in bulk, directly from a local farm. Local and organic!

Organic food buying tips

Buy in season – Fruits and vegetables are cheapest and freshest when they are in season. You can also find out when produce is delivered to your market. That way you know you're buying the freshest food possible.

Shop around – Compare the price of organic items at the grocery store, the farmers’ market and any other venue (even the freezer aisle).

Remember that organic doesn’t always equal healthy – Junk food can just as easily be made using organic ingredients. Making junk food sound healthy is a common marketing ploy in the food industry but organic baked goods, desserts, and snacks are usually still very high in sugar, salt, fat, or calories. It pays to read food labels carefully.

source by: http://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/organic-foods.htm

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