45 Perennial Vegetables you Can’t do Without In The Garden

This article may contain affiliate links. We get paid a small commission from your purchases. More Affiliate Policy

Perennial vegetable gardening can save you time, money, and effort. These are vegetables that are planted once, and the harvest continues yearly.

They need less work when growing them. Perennial vegetables are much more nutritious. They are easy to grow compared to annual crops and depend less on water due to having time to establish larger root systems. They are more economical and have many ecological benefits.

It is incredible how many perennial vegetables gardeners can grow to feed their families. From Globe artichokes to ground nuts, the list is endless. Learning what can be grown as a perennial can set your garden up for future harvests at no cost or effort.

Benefits of perennial vegetables

Extend the harvest

Perennial vegetables crop mainly during the colder months of the year. They are fantastic at stretching out the growing and harvesting seasons by balancing crops and allowing the gardener to harvest during times that would otherwise be lacking.

Help Build The Soil

Since the ground is not tilled during the growing period, they help foster an intact and healthy soil food web. This encourages habitat for fungi and other beneficial microbes.

Perrenials can help build the soil structure. Their roots push further into the soil, creating pockets through which air and water can pass. Essentially a perennial bed becomes a no-dig bed and receives all the benefits as if you were practicing no-dig.

Low Maintenance

Perennial Vegetables and other ornamental garden plants are very sturdy and robust plants. As they age, they become more resistant to pests, weeds, and droughts.

Harvesting perennial crops regularly can prevent them from going to seed. This makes perennial crops high-yielding for the amount of effort required by the gardener and thus preferred over annuals.

Performs Many Gardening Functions

Due to their beauty, perennial crops tend to provide more than food to the gardener. They can be used to enhance the landscape. They can be incorporated within perennial borders of flowers and ornamentals to provide structure.

Some perennials can fix nitrogen in the soil over time; They can be used as a fertilizer by other plants. A prime candidate for this would be Comfrey. Some perennials are climbers that can get quite large and be used by the gardener to produce shade for leafy vegetables such as lettuce.

Perennials Vegetables Grown in Gardens

With so many perennial vegetables available, the gardener is spoilt for choice. Finding a place in the garden for the following could provide years of production without the time and effort of sowing and planting annuals.

Some of the most common perennial vegetables to grow are as follows:

1. Kale

One of the most nutritious greens, the Kale plant is packed with nutrients. It comes in wide varieties and colors. Some are more bitter than others but are a perfect vegetable to grow to provide a sustained supply through the colder months of winter.

Some of the varieties you could grow are

1. Curly Kale
2. Lacinato Kale (Dinosaur Kale, Tuscan Kale, Cavolo Nero)
3. Ornamental (Salad Savoy)
4. Red Russian
5. Chinese Kale
6. Siberian Kale
7. Rebor Kale

My absolute favorite, though, is the Toscano kale; it is considered one of the toughest Kale to grow. However, its flavor and vitamin and mineral content are better than other Kale. Thus, it’s the best.

As you can see from the table below, Kale contains a huge amount of your daily intake.

Vitamin / Minerals	% of Daily Intake
Vitamin A	206
Vitamin B1	3
Vitamin B2	3
Vitamin B3	3
Vitamin B6	9
Vitamin C	134
Vitamin K	684
Calcium	9
Copper	10
Magnesium	6
Manganese	6
Potassium	1023

Kale can be planted throughout the year. Consider planting it out by late summer, so it has time to establish before winter sets in. The plants are very hardy and can take frosts and snow. It is a tremendous perennial to grow in your garden.

2. Garlic

Garlic is best planted in September. However, it can be grown right up to the beginning of spring. It is time to send down a sound root system by burying it in the fall before the winter sets in.

It will send up a small shoot just through the surface of the soil and sit like this all winter long. Frost does not affect the garlic. It requires around 30 days of temperatures below 5 degrees to vernalize.

This means that the cold temperatures can help the bulb to split and form cloves later in the year.

During early summer, the garlic will throw a flowering stem; this is called a scape and can be eaten. It is a favorite in garlic scape pesto.

Elephant garlic has giant bulbs and cloves, but despite smelling and looking like a vast garlic bulb, they are more closely related to leeks.

They are very mild in flavor but are a fantastic addition to soups, stews, and gravies.

3. Horseradish

Horseradish is grown for the roots. They are akin to parsnips and send a taproot deep into the soil. It is a side dressing for beef and an accompaniment for other dishes.

Horseradish could be mistaken for Dock leaves as the tops of the plants look very similar. It puts out huge tops, but this plant can be a real bully in the garden.

Due to the root system working so deep, it is tough to remove the plant entirely, and it often grows back when harvesting removes as much root as possible and only leaves small sections to grow back.

4. Globe artichokes

There are two varieties of Globe Artichokes. They are classified by color, either green or purple. This plant grows enormous and requires a good deal of space.

Provide an area of approximately 6 square feet due to the sheer size of the plant. They can be grown from seed or cuttings. This plant will take a couple of years to establish before harvesting can begin.

Globe artichokes are a favorite of bees as the purple flowers they produce are large and vibrant. They have large amounts of pollen, so they are an ideal addition to your garden to help bring beneficial insects.

5. Lovage

Lovage is a herb that can grow as quickly as weeds. The great thing about this plant is that every single part of it is edible.

Although the plant looks like celery, It is more closely related to carrots. But these plants don’t stay the size of carrots. It can get to the dithering heights of 6 feet tall.

The bottom of the plant thickens as it grows to get more slender as you reach the top. The plant’s seeds are as big as the plant and can get as large as half an inch.

Seeds can be sown indoors six weeks before the onset of winter or left until spring and direct sown. This plant requires its roots to remain damp; if you allow it to dry out, the plant may die shortly after.

The primary pest of this herb is the leaf miner, which can decimate the leaves.

6. Watercress

Packed full of minerals and nutrients, watercress is a delicious salad crop. It is also perfect for adding to soups as it has a sharp, peppery, and tangy taste.

You will usually find it growing beside streams and lakes, But you don’t need your stream to produce this excellent vegetable. This plant will thrive without water if you keep the soil moist and put it in a lightly shaded area.

You can also grow this in containers of water at home. Or even in small pots placed on the kitchen windowsill.

This is a cut and comes again salad. You can harvest watercress when it has grown to maturity, but be mindful not to cut too low to allow the plants to throw new side shoots and continue to provide you with future harvests.

7. Egyptian onions

Egyptian onions, Otherwise known as walking onions, are a fantastic plant. Unlike regular onions, which produce a bulb at the soil surface, Egyptian onions grow bulbs at the head of the plants.

They taste very similar to shallots and are not as strong as standard onions but more intense than shallots.

This plant can propagate by bending the top to touch the soil surface. It then sends out roots and becomes a new plant. Walking onions are given this name because they can travel a distance of over 2 feet in a year.

The best time to sow walking onions is between late summer and fall. This means you can harvest them the following year. Providing you leave some of the onion in the ground, it will continue to multiply and deliver harvests for years to come.

8. Daylilies

When I mention Daylilies as a perennial edible, I get some strange looks. These are beautiful flowers that are entirely edible.

Usually grown as ornamental in borders across the globe, they have not considered food products. The young closed-flower pod can be eaten like a green bean.

They are fantastic added to salads when harvested at this stage. It is because they are very sweet and tender when young.

Day Lilies are tough plants. They do not care what soil type they grow, so it is a plant that can take a spot in anyone’s garden regardless of their soil conditions.

They can even be placed in a shady area, making the most of space you would otherwise struggle to find and edible to grow. One added benefit of this plant is it is also drought-tolerant.

9. Good king Henry

This perennial is very much liked and known due to the sweet taste of its leaves, flower buds, and shoots. It grows very well in partial shades and is among the spinach family. Spring is the best time to harvest this crop, making it easier to sprout for more years. The seeds of this plant are used as a grain, while the flower buds are the same as broccoli. Its leaves are eaten like those of spinach.

10. Groundnuts

The Indian potato, this perennial, is six feet high and hangs on a trellis. Its beans are edible; it also has large tubers consumed. The fall is the most suitable time to harvest this kind of plant. During harvesting, some are left in the ground to continue growing over the years. They have a nutty-flavored potato taste; this makes many people love them.

11. Jerusalem Artichokes

This perennial vegetable is known as sunchokes. They are in the sunflower family, but their underground tubers are edible. The tubers can also eat either raw or after being cooked.

Due to their nature, sunchokes tend to grow very tall; hence advisable to plant them along the edges of the garden. Harvested during the fall, but not all, as some left to continue growing. They have bright yellow flowers which attract insects. The insects are responsible for keeping the pest away from the garden.

12. Ostrich Fern

It has an ostrich plume hence its name. They have an extended height, and they also curve. This perennial vegetable changes its shape during different seasons. They need a very low-maintenance ace. They are also resistant to pests and diseases. This vegetable tends to unfold its leaves during the summer only to go dormant during the winter.

They grow very well in full shade and also moist areas. The fiddleheads which came out during the spring were used as vegetables. For a beginner gardener, one advised buying the ferns when they are rhizomes.

13. Radicchio

This vegetable requires low maintenance costs. Once planted, it never stops growing. It can survive in many climatic conditions as long as it is not dug up. The soil should be well-fertilized. This prevents the quality from depreciating over the years.

14. Berry bushes

Berry bushes include raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. They are loved all over the world by gardeners. They grow in average soils as long as there is plenty of sunshine.

They are used as desserts and provide excellent color to one’s dinner table. The sweet-pie blackberries grow with thorns hence protecting other crops from pests. The berry bushes can also grow well in containers.

15. Asparagus

It is a known and grown vegetable around the world by many gardeners. They take a couple of years to mature and be ready to harvest. For a beginner farmer, one is advised to plant the crown of the already-developed asparagus.

16. Rhubarb

Due to their comprehensive variety of colors, they are eaten and considered ornaments in gardens. The colors include red, green, and then pink. The plant takes a couple of years to be ready to harvest. The leaves are toxic; hence only the stalks are edible in this plant. The Canadian Red Rhubarb has a rich taste and an admirable, stunning color.

17. Ramps

This plant is also known as the wild creek. Found in the native eastern North American regions. Known to grow in moist areas like underneath trees. They are found in the deciduous forest

Because of the moisture. Ramps ate by many people as salads, and they are very delicious.

18. Scarlet runner beans

Due to its colors, considered by many an ornament. The beans, flowers, and leaves are very nutritious. Their tuber is also edible. They produce varieties of beans each year, which can go on for almost twenty years. It thus makes the plant considered very especially thus planted in many gardens.

19. Sea kale

It has white flowers with gray-blue leaves. This makes it be grown to provide beauty to the garden. Related to the cabbage because of its massive leaves, which are edible. Its top is almost the same as that of broccoli. Their seed produces oil, and then its stalk and roots are edible. They provide vitamin C after being steamed.

20. Sorrel

This plant has a lemony taste when added to food; the main foods are sauces and soup. They grow well when insufficient attention is put on them and low maintenance is considered. It has a heavy root system that makes it hard to divide and rise again. Early spring is the best time to harvest this plant, as it becomes bitter after spring. It also wilts very fast after its harvest; thus advised to use it fast.

 21. Chives

It is a very hardy perennial plant that wilts very fast. Hence once harvested, they must be consumed fast. They have vigorous growth and need low maintenance when growing. The gardener is required to divide them as the years pass. Chopped and added to salads to make it tasty.

22. Three-cornered leek

It is considered, but the bulbs were transplanted during t April. In May, flowering begins. Thus, this is the right time to harvest. The leaves are harvested during the autumn period. This plant requires low maintenance but takes a little time to prepare for consumption.

23. Grapes

Many gardeners love grapes because of the long production time taken. Grapes can produce for about fifty years, depending on the seasons. Though they take a couple of years to be ready for harvest, they are considered long-term investments.

One advised to sample the suitable varieties of grapes, put them on a trellis, and then wait for maturity. They need high maintenance, but the work is all paid for after maturity.

24. Chayote

This native plant is green and also pear-shaped. It is found in native Central America. Its fruit only begins to appear after about six to nine months. It also only grows in USDA zone eight when the weather is freeze-free.

The fruits might not be mature at zone eight, but one can still use the tender tips as vegetables. The roots begin to get starchy after almost two years and can harvest. The vines grow to nearly forty feet and thus need a strong trellis.

25. Yacon

It has been grown in northern Argentina and Colombia since time immemorial. Its roots are sweet-tasting and thus loved; it has a resinous and floral flavor. It is because it has inulin that provides a sweet taste to the roots. The garden-grown must be gentle frost. The plant can be grown using cuttings and planted in a well-dug bed in the early spring. It is also a vigorous grower.

26. Stonecrop

Also known as sedum, this vegetable grows for about two to three feet. The stems have fleshy, succulent leaves. These leaves increases during the summer and autumn seasons with flower clusters. The tall sedums are grown for their distinct form and colorful flowers.

The leaves are also shaped in shades of copper and dark purple, which are very bright. Hence the perennial plant has been an ornament to beautify gardens over the centuries.

27. Sweet rocket

It is a beautiful plant with white, lavender, and fragrant purple flowers. It is grown in Europe and Asia. The flowers appear during April and July. The leaves are serrated and dark green. They grow to a height of about sixty centimeters and 1.2 meters. They can grow anywhere as long as the conditions are favorable. The leaves added to salads are the same as the seeds, containing almost fifty percent edible oil.

28. Sea celery

It is a perennial plant found in Australia and New Zealand. It has toothed leaves and an aroma almost like celery. It has tiny white flowers that occur in clusters. Both its stem leaves are edible. The dried leaves are used as spices and flavors in the soup. Cultivated as a vegetable for an extended period.

29. Sea beet

The plant is found in Europe, northern Africa, and also Asia. Its leaves have a good texture and are sweet when cooked or raw, thus edible. It grows to about 1.2 meters, and its flowers appear during summer. The soils must be well-drained and moist. The plant cannot grow in an area with shade. High sodium content cannot prevent its growth as it can tolerate.

30. Salad Burnet

The plant is grown because it can be used as food and medicine. It can be to control hemorrhaging. It has a cucumber flavor. It grows well in an entire sun area and a partial shade place. It has a height of about 12-18 inches when mature. The plants take one hundred days to mature. The leaves are fast to harvest and are edible.

31. Scurvy grass

They are low and rounded plants. Their height is about 5-20 centimeters tall. Its leaves are smooth and round and also spoon-shaped. It has white flowers that have four petals. It has medicinal value. The leaves are enriched with Vitamin C, which cures deficiency diseases like scurvy. The leaves are used in salads because of the solid acrid taste.

32. Runner bean

Also known as a butter bean, the runner bean is among the legume family. It is found in Central America. It has red flowers and seeds multicolored. The variety of colors makes them grow as ornamental plants. The pods of the bean are edible while young, and they are fibrous. They grow to a height of about three meters. They are supposed to be cooked well as they are toxic.

33. Perpetual spinach

The perennial plant has high yielding and also very nutritious. The months of March and July are the best for planting spinach. It grows well in soils with high manure content and is fertile. The plant does not take too long to mature and harvest.

34. Mashua or Anu

This plant is grown in the Andes. It has edible tubers, which are eaten either cooked or roasted as vegetables. Its mature height is between two to four meters. It has bright-colored flowers and is hence sometimes grown as an ornament. It has a strong flavor when eaten.

35. Lambs lettuce

This plant is grown for the leaves because they are edible. The flavor is nutty with a dark green color. Served as salad greens. It is developed and eaten in Britain and America. It grows to a height of 15.2 cm in harsh conditions and is planted as wintergreen. It has nutrients such as Vitamin C.

36. Land cress

The plant is peppery green. It requires low maintenance when growing up. It matures fast in moist soils and partial shade areas. It has a flavor almost the same as that of a watercress.

37. Fennel

It is a perennial plant in the carrot family. It has feathery leaves, and the flowers are yellow. It has a strong aromatic flavor. Its bulb-like stem is edible as a vegetable. The fruits and leaves are also edible. Its flavor has anise though not strong enough.

38. Cassava

They are about two inches long and have a crunchy texture and sweet flavor. The plant has high levels of sugar, thus a carbohydrate. It has medicinal value as its tubers are used to treat cold symptoms. It tuber eaten raw or boiled.

39. Chicory

It has bright blue flowers; others have either white or pink flowers. It has wide varieties which are used as salads. Some types are baked or ground and used as coffee substitutes. It has medicinal value in that it contains inulin. A fiber that controls weight and improves gut health.

40. Cardoon

The plant is also known as the artichoke thistle. Found in the Mediterranean region and is in the sunflower family. It grows well in dry climates to about 0.8 to 1.5m. Cardoons are used to produce enzymes used for the production of cheese. It has very bright silver foliage, thus growing as an ornamental plant.

41. Black salsify

Used as a root vegetable in the sunflower family. It has yellow ray flowers. It has a tap root that grows up to one meter long. It has a high content of proteins, fats, and potassium. Eaten with peas and served liked white sauce.

42. Arugula

The plant is a leafy vegetable used its a bitter, peppery flavor. It is thus used as a salad vegetable. It has flowers whose petals are white and have purple veins. The plant is eaten raw in salads or mixed with other vegetables

43. Bamboo shots

The shoots of these plants are edible. Grown in Asia. They are harvested in the summer, and the nodes are then removed due to their texture and sweet taste. It produces up to 2.5 kilos of nodes per harvest.

44. Pikopiko

It is a name given to the curled shoots of ferns. It is found in New Zealand. Also called the hen and chicken fern. The fronds are edible and thus eaten as vegetables.

45. Solomons seals

The plant has white flowers and adorable black seed pods grown in North America. The plants are grown as an ornament because of the dazzling flowers.

Vegetable gardens.

 Basics of growing vegetable gardens.

The best vegetables which are sweet, juicy, and with flavor are those planted by oneself. Gardening can be very daunting initially, but it becomes rewarding once one gets into it. Here are the tips to guide one to achieve high yields.

Picking the right location

Plant in a sunny place; most vegetables grow well and faster under direct sunlight. The more amounts of sunlight, the higher the yields, and also, the taste is better.

Plant in a good raised soil; excellent loamy soils are suitable for the plant roots to penetrate. The ground must enrich with nutrients and have a good drainage capacity. The environment must be stable. The right environment should be free of acidity, floods, and drought. It makes the vegetables grow to the required size and amount.

Tips on growing vegetables in gardens

1. Spacing the crops,

The spacing must take into keen consideration. It is because plants close to each other compete for sunlight and water. It makes them prone to diseases and pests; hence their maturity is not good.

2. Quality of the seeds

The seeds used for planting should be researched. Only the highest quality is taken. It is because the yields must be increased and of good quality.

 3. Plants in Triangles

The crops are in rows, but the yields are not good. The triangle helps the plant’s space and also many seeds planted.

4. Grow climbing plants

The crops that grow vertically save space and time. Harvesting and management are faster and more accessible.

When growing climbing plants, sturdy structures are required to support them. The video below will show you how to build the most famous systems cheaply.

 5. Timing

The right timing during planting and harvesting leads to high yields. So the farmer was advised to check on this.

6. Stretch the season

Done by adding a few weeks to the crop. It helps the gardener to have a successful season. Done by keeping the air around the plants warm by mulching.

7. Pick compatible pairings

It is the interlining of crops that are compatible with each other. These crops are corn, beans, and squash. Depend on each other for successful growth.

 8. Round out the soils

Considered as changing the shape of the beds. Raised beds are space-efficient when the ground is rounded to form an arc. It increases the planting area. Crops like lettuce and spinach are planted on the edges of beds and grow to high yields.

Conclusion

For centuries perennial vegetables as been loved by gardeners and considered the best. Most plants are planted only once, and they reproduce for years.

Some plants are even used for medicinal purposes by many people. They provide food and a sense of beauty and admiration to the gardens.

Thus most gardeners should consider perennial vegetables. For the huge variety of benefits that come along

I hope you got some value from this post; if you did, consider subscribing to the blog, so you are notified you can do that below.