Gardening can be a lot of work, especially if you have to get the plants growing before the ground is ready so they can be ready to harvest in time. You can avoid some of the work if you plant some perennials that will come back each year with no extra elbow grease on your part. Asparagus, rhubarb, artichoke, and horseradish are a few of the options available for perennial vegetables, and they are also quite healthy options. There are also some leafy greens that will come back on their own.
Key Takeaways:
- During a season when soils are cold and weather can range from scorching hot to below freezing, we take the most vulnerable new seedlings and plant them outdoors.
- The vast majority of the edible plants we grow are annuals. They germinate, mature, bear fruit and die all within one year.
- Perennial edibles don’t offer the quick abundance that annuals do, but once they are settled in the ground and producing, they are wonderfully low maintenance.
“The issue is this: almost all of our most widely grown crops have to be sown from scratch at the most unpredictable time of year. Our traditional method for growing is both a race and a gamble.”