Today while doing chores I spotted some rhubarb and horseradish popping out of the ground! This just makes me so happy. It's one of the first real signs of spring that we've had.
There is SO MUCH snow still on the ground and it's really cold outside! Spotting this new life seems so miraculous and reminds me of how much we value perennial edibles.
Perennial foods are really important for food security.
I should note that this time last year I was preparing some of the raised beds for planting. The year before I had already sown some of the cold tolerant seeds. This year, we've still got several feet of snow on top of the garden. We are weeks behind.
The climate is changing and becoming so much less predictable. Most perennial food plants are incredibly durable. In fact, many are considered invasive. This is a good thing! When it comes to growing a lot of food with ease and having a reliable food supply, it really doesn't get much better than a resilient perennial.
Here are some posts that I've written about growing perennial foods
If you are feeling inspired to add perennial foods to your landscape, spring is the perfect time to get started!
Grow A Perennial Food Garden!
When it comes to establishing a self sufficient food landscape, perennial vegetables are impossible to beat. You'll thank yourself when food starts popping up out of the ground in early spring, with no effort on your part. Edible perennials are often hardy, reliable food crops that need very little care and attention. A lot of these plants can be invasive and spread, some might see this as a down side but to me that's the ultimate goal. Read it here
Why You Should Grow Perennial Chives
In early spring when the ground is just thawing, chives are one of the first plants to emerge from the ground. They are also one of the first spring time flowers for bees. Chives are a hardy and easy to grow perennial in zone 3-10. Read it here
Cold Hardy Perennial Food Shrubs & Trees
There is nothing better than perennial plants that produce food. They look beautiful, nourish you and best of all you only need to plant them once while reaping the benefits for years to come. There is also a cool factor. Just the idea of walking around our land while snacking on food gets my heart racing. Not to mention, some of these trees will be here long after we are gone. It's such a good feeling to know you are leaving behind a legacy. Read more here
Perennial Vegetables: Jerusalem Artichokes
The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)also known as Sunchoke, is a species of sunflower native to eastern North America. It is cultivated for the tuber which is treated as a root vegetable. The flower will grow 8-10' tall producing lovely sunflowers in August but unlike other sunflowers this species does not provide seed/oil and it used exclusively for the tuber. Read more here
How to Plant, Grow, Harvest & Preserve Rhubarb
Rhubarb is one of my favourite perennial edibles. Although most often treated as a fruit, rhubarb is actually a vegetable. The edible stalks have a rich tart flavour making it a rather diverse ingredient in the kitchen. Rhubarb is the lowest maintenance food crop on our homestead. It requires a little bit of tending in the early spring and autumn but otherwise grows happily without interference. It’s easy to grow and hardy in pretty much all growing zones.Read more here
Here are some Fabulous Posts From Other Steemians About Growing Perennial Food!
Forgotten Plants | 6 Perennial Vegetables Bought With Steem Planted! from @mountainjewel
THE EDIBLE OUTDOORS 26 - BLACK RASPBERRY from @papa-pepper
Beauty and Abundance in one Perennial Plant from @fernowl13
Edible Perennial Ground Nutfrom @fernowl13
There are so many perennial edibles that you can grow! This post just skims the surface of possibilities
Talk to locals in your area and search local resources to see what will grow best for you. You can also search for "perennial food" in the steemit search bar. There are many other articles for your to pursue on this topic!
Happy Growing!
Building a greener, more beautiful world one seed at a time.
Homesteading | Gardening | Frugal Living | Preserving Food| From Scratch Cooking|
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I love all of these ideas and hope to have bunches of perennials in a few years. I planted rhubarb and asparagus last week. I have chives in a pot and they are just starting to grow. We found wild asparagus on our road last year. It is in the ditch so I am going to try to transplant some. No one is cutting it so I plan to harvest some to try. I love getting to grow all this yumminess.
Wild asparagus! That is so exciting. I am starting to grow asparagus as well, it's one I don't have much experience with. My patch is so tiny that I've just been letting it bolt and reseed. Hopefully this year we'll have enough to make a meal. :)
i love this!!!! your posts are beautiful!!!! perennial foods!!!!!! re steemed!
gosh, thanks @rawutah. So nice of you to say. :)
yes! love it! perennial food is the future in our unstable and unpredictable climate change. love how you mentioned most are "invasive" or weedy in some way. just what we want :D power to the perennial! :)
I recently read an article "10 plants you should never grow" (that's not the title but it was something like that) and all of my favourite perennials were on it. The fact that people dislike how invasive/resilient they are stuck with me and made me love them even more!
haha i feel ya on that!
I'm all about perennials from the
lazinesslow maintenance aspect 😉 I hadn't even thought as far as things like rhubarb or asparagus. They'd have to share my berry patch since the Husband insists on tilling the main garden annually!maybe you can expand your berry patch or start a new little patch? I would love to be a lazy-ish gardener, I hope one day all this work makes that possible.
I'm thinking about doing that. I intend to plant herbs and flowers among or around the berries, but I want to establish a dedicated area for bees eventually too. I think the principle of front loading all the work now to make for an easier life later should hold good and pay off :)
garden planning and dreaming! Such good stuff. What kinds of berries are you growing? I have an addiction to berries. I've never tasted one I didn't like.
Blackberries and raspberries to start. We love them in smoothies and for jam, and I want to try making blackberry wine eventually since I drink so much of it 🍷 Once we get around to building a raised and protected bed we'd like to grow strawberries too, and I wouldn't mind adding other things like elderberries over the years. Baby steps ;) Our neighbor is putting in a whole blueberry farm, so that's covered!
I've got a lot of Jerusalem Artichokes. In Russia we call them topinambour. Just yesterday, I've wrote how to make coffee from it. We have already come the spring, and now I'm going to dig artichokes :)
I love coffee with dandelion and with chicory but I've never heard of using Jerusalem Artichokes! I noticed that you don't love the taste :) I love honest reviews like that!
The best "wild coffee" I've tried was from acorns
I uncovered my rhubarb on Saturday. Cool idea to collect similar posts together!
ooh look at that - it's leafing out! You'll be eating it in no time! :) I sometimes forget what I have already written on a topic, I do think that sometimes you need to gather them all up if they are relevant to your post. Even though there is no "monetary" value anymore the information itself has value still (or so I like to think!)
I agree! I think bringing them back to people's attention, after the work you put into them, is a very good idea!
Perennials are the garden gift that keeps on giving! I never used to know what to do with chives but then someone recommended adding them to salads and I was hooked. I just tasted Sunchokes for the first time last year and I was pleasantly surprised; they're like a giant sunflower seed with the consistency of a sweet potato. I have made rhubarb chutney before but most rhubarb recipes call for heaps of sugar to mask it's tart flavour. I am curious to read about how you preserved yours. -Aimee
They really are a gift!
One thing I love with Rhubarb is to make lemonade - I use honey instead of sugar. I know it's still "sugar" but in my mind honey is goodness. I also chop up and freeze rhubarb. I'll drain the juice to drink and then use the pulp in "banana bread type loaves". There's a slight tartness but the honey in the bread is just enough to balance it.
I have never canned it before, not for any real reason other than I like having it available raw without sugar so I can do what I want with it.
Mmm lemonade! I know sugar isn't great, but we need a little sweetness in our lives, don't we? Plus, honey isn't all bad! Interesting, using the pulp in breads/loaves - not something I would have thought to do. Thanks for sharing. -Aimee
Love your gardens, I have gardens. Love your photos. I'm Oatmeal hehe. Love homesteading. Food security is great with gardens and also with canning, food pantries.