As I explain at the start of my book Grower Gatherer, perennial edibles are easy-to-grow food plants and fungi that continue living from year to year. They provide food across the world at low cost or for free, and can usually be grown with minimal effort.
Perennial food growing is when we include perennial edible plants and fungi in gardens, community gardens, on allotments and farms. This could be from a single perennial edible, growing them in traditional rows or, as I’m excited about, in resilient edible plant communities.
We care about edible perennials because much of the food we eat today comes from perennial plants. Food such as asparagus, rhubarb, apples, raspberries and most fruits.
Many of the herbs we eat are edible perennials including rosemary, sage, chives, fennel, oregano and many more. Perennial herbs in fact are such easy and beautiful plants I believe you rarely need to buy them, even if you have only a small garden or can grow some in a nearby community garden or park.
You can grow a single edible perennial in your garden alongside other plants, to harvest a little from, or introduce more to pick from. By growing some food in your garden, every portion you grow helps reduce food transport miles and packaging.
There are many exciting perennial food crops around the world that many gardeners aren’t familiar with, including the above perennial broccauli, a cauliflower that grows like a spring broccoli and tastes halfway between the two. In fact, there’s a whole world of crops to being much more excitement to our plates!
And if you get really into edible perennials, as I have, you can even grow an entire garden using edible perennials! I grow them in mixed plant communities that are productive and beautiful. Even better, they are great for wildlife!
Perennial food growing can be scaled down to pots on a windowsill or balcony, or scaled up to large community and market gardens, even to industrial farms.
If you’re interested in edible perennial crops, I’ve written an entire book going into more detail called Grower Gatherer: edible perennials to grow and forage in your garden, signed copies are available in my shop.
