Pick Perennials

I hear a lot about perennial based food systems, but all perennials seem to be herbs or fruit. What perennial vegetables can I incorporate into my garden plan?

I’m glad the word about perennial based food systems is getting out. For those who don’t know, perennials will regrow from an established root system every year. By incorporating more edible perennials into your garden, you can reduce the need for tilling, sowing and starting seeds, and the challenges of caring for young plants. Perennials also tend to be more resilient to climatic variances. 

Many people think of herbs and fruit (and flowers) when they think about perennials. But what about vegetables? There are actually a wide range of perennial vegetables, some more common than others.

Sorrel and Sochan are two perennial greens that I have established in my garden. There are multiple varieties of sorrel available, including large green leaves and red veined or ‘blood’ sorrel. Sorrel has a delicious tangy flavor that goes well with eggs and adds depth to salads. Sochan is a Rudbeckia and closely related to the other coneflowers, but this one grows an edible and tasty leaf that was prized by the Cherokee. 

Asparagus and Rhubarb are two perennials with similar growing styles. You can buy live crowns at this time of the year. Both grow edible stalks. These types of crops benefit from a few years of resisting temptation while the crowns become established and strong, but after that you’ll be harvesting asparagus and rhubarb for decades.

Horseradish and Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes) are two perennials that grow prolifically (perhaps invasively) from rhizomes, so plant these crops somewhere that is naturally contained. Having your own horseradish allows you to harvest young leaves in the spring and the root in the fall—pickle it, grate it, or make homemade horseradish sauce. Sunchokes are a perennial sunflower that grow small potato-like tubers. They are good roasted or in soups. You’ll certainly get enough to experiment with.

I cook with onions all the time, but really struggle to grow them. Can you help?

Onions do have a reputation for being a difficult crop to grow, but they are actually quite easy if you choose the right variety and plant at the right time.

An onion‘s desire to ‘bulb-up’ is triggered by daylight length. An onion’s desire to ‘die-back’ and get a crispy skin (for harvest) is triggered by heat. The aim is to have an onion bulb-up before it gets too hot. The South has shorter daylight hours and summer weather arrives very quickly, so find short-day varieties that will bulb-up more quickly. Seed packets should list this with the variety information.

Next, determine your growing method.

Sets: The easiest way to grow onions, but with the least amount of variety options. Onion sets are basically immature bulbs that have been forced to go dormant. When you plant them in spring they start growing again, which means you’ll have a good chance of getting big fat onions. 

Starts: Like buying any type of transplant, these have been grown from seed to the thickness of a pencil, at which point you can buy them in bundles and transplant them around February or March. Now is a great time to be buying and planting starts. They are very easy and get good results. 

Seeds: Seeds will always offer you the most varietal diversity, but they do require extra effort. Start seeds inside in flats about 8-10 weeks before your last frost date (check with your local Cooperative Extension Service), once they are pencil thick then you can transplant them to the garden. Note that onion seeds have notoriously poor longevity, so replace seeds more than a year or two old. 

Alternatively, if your winter isn’t too harsh, direct sow seeds in the fall and overwinter (row covers, hoop houses and cold frames can be useful tools) to get early growth and large bulbs the following year.

Special considerations: Spacing of mature plants will depend on the predicted bulb size, so check your variety specific planting instruction. If thinning onion plants then know the tops can be eaten as a tasty green onion, or whole plants pulled as spring onions. Even if you fail to get large bulbs, you’ll always have something tasty and edible. Also research Egyptian Walking Onions and Perennial Onions for easy-to-grow options.

Chris Smith, the community coordinator of Sow True Seed—an Asheville-based company that specializes in open-pollinated, heirloom, and organic seeds—answers gardening questions in each issue of Smoky Mountain Living. Email your gardening questions to ask@sowtrue.com. Sign up for a free catalog and planting guide at sowtrueseed.com.