Perennial Fruit and Vegetables

Just what is it with me and home grown tomatoes?

 

Every year I choose small, crisp, sweet varieties. To edge my bets I go for different types, sizes and even seed companies to get just the right types. This is the third year that the tomatoes haven’t lived up to their labels and descriptions.  

 I’m taking full responsibility as I’m sure it’s something I’m dong, but they turn out to be ‘little balls of flour’, which is fine if you are buying a bag of local spuds down the Letterkenny road. But when the tomatoes are all foamy it just doesn’t have the same appeal.

My plants have always been free of blight, leaf curl, insect infestation and anything else that tomato plants can suffer from apart from the foam. I’ve tried Google to get answers but as yet I can’t find anyone else that complains of such a thing. Don’t get me wrong, I can still use them sliced thinly in sandwiches and they do go well in a spaghetti bolognaise, but bit into one straight off the vine and you would think you had just tried to take a bite out of a bath sponge full of soap suds.

Perennial fruit and Veg

Maybe it’s situations such as this that highlight how beneficial perennial fruit and vegetables can be. Just think, you could go out into the garden and just know that you have a reoccurring addition to your dinner that’s fresh, doesn’t taste like soap and keeps coming back year after year. 

If you get yourself a healthy looking sea kale for example, you can pick away at it all summer. Part of the Brassicaceae family, sea kale (Crambe maritima) is so named because it’s commonly found along tide lines so there are opportunities for it to grow well in most gardens around Inishowen. The young leaves can be eaten like collards or spinach, and the leaf stalks can be blanched until semi-soft and taste a bit like asparagus.

Edible perennial plants don’t even need to grow in your own garden. We can consider wild plants growing in the hedgerows. There are loads of wild perennial plants that could be classed as edible vegetables.

Comfrey for example doesn’t just make a great addition to the compost bin and as a liquid feed, it’s edible too. The young leaves can be eaten like spinach and the young tender shoot cooked up is similar to asparagus.  The young tender leaves of dandelions can be added to salads and you could make soup from broad leaf sorrel. Fat hen, yarrow and stinging nettles can all be eaten. Apart from the green leafy plants in the wild, we can also find useful seeds and berries.  

Rose hips (Rosa canina) and Hawthorn.

You can make soup; jam and puree with rose hips but the seeds should never be eaten. Their small hairs can dangerously irritate the stomach, so train well or remove. We used to use them as itching powder at school, putting the seeds down victims basks.

Haws from Hawthorn bushes are edible but will also need a bit of work to make palatable.  When cooked they can be made into a sauce or jelly. Young leaves and unopened buds in spring can be used in salads, sandwiches, and casseroles or in mint sauce.

Don’t forget the trees too.

Ash and elder can be harvested and if you are lucky enough to have a walnut tree nearby then you have a great resource. Ash can be used like capers, and elder berries can be made into wine and the flowers deep fried. 

If you would feel happier growing plants in the garden then there are loads of perennial edibles to choose from. 

Fruit.

You have a wide range or long lasting fruit bearers, from apples, pears plums to strawberries, currants, raspberries and gooseberries which can be harvested year after year.

Leaf Vegetables

Canna lily. Certain types are edible and the tubers, leaves and flowers can be cooked up. It’s said the seeds are edible but are really tough. They can stay viable for 600 years and have been used for buckshot!

Good King Henry. Called the Lincolnshire asparagus, you might be disappointed.

Ground Elder. Yes you can boil up ground elder, one way of ridding the pest from the garden

Lovage, rhubarb, globe artichokes are all good.

Perennial spinach. (Basella alba) is a staple food throughout tropical Asia and Africa, and with good cause: it’s high in protein, calcium, and iron, and grows like crazy.

Marsh Mallow,artichokes, Pink Purslane,Salad Burnet,Sea Beet,Sweet Cecily and Wild Rocket are all worth a mention too.

Root Vegetables

Consider: American Groundnut, Chinese Artichokes, Chicory, Earth-nut Pea, Hardy yam, Jerusalem Artichokes, Lovage, Mashua (only if you have room, I have been trying to rid my garden of this invasive climber for two years) , Oca and Pig Nuts and of course asparagus. 

As with all plants that will be in the ground a while, preparation is key for a long and productive relationship. I’m hoping I’ll be getting asparagus spears for many years to come with the minimum of effort, hopefully other perennial vegetables will be the same.