Perennial Vegetables

A New (Ancient) Way to Eat from the Garden

When people think of vegetables, they often picture tomatoes, carrots, or potatoes—classic annual crops that need to be sown, nurtured, and replanted every year. But there's another world of vegetables out there: perennial vegetables, which offer a completely different approach to growing food—one that’s deeply aligned with permaculture principles.

What Are Perennial Vegetables?

The most familiar examples are probably asparagus and rhubarb. But there are many more. In short, perennial vegetables are plants you only need to plant once—and then you can harvest from them year after year. They return every season, often stronger and more abundant than before.

Unlike annual crops, which require tilling, planting, weeding, and often heavy watering, perennials are low-maintenance, resilient, and contribute to long-term soil health. This fits perfectly with permaculture design, which is all about creating regenerative, self-sustaining systems that work with nature rather than against it.

Learning to Love What’s Already Growing

I must confess—when I first heard of perennial vegetables, I didn’t quite get it. Leaves, shoots, flowers, roots... but where were the "real" vegetables? It all seemed more like foraging than gardening.

And in the beginning, it really did feel strange. The idea of tossing unknown leafy shoots into a pan—or worse, offering them to my kids—was daunting. My first year, I simply tasted. A raw hosta shoot here. A nibble of linden leaf. A hesitant bite of a steamed stinging nettle. That was it.

But something changed the following season. I gained more knowledge, courage, and curiosity. And suddenly, those once-weird weeds became a staple in our kitchen. Today, perennial vegetables form a solid foundation of our diet—especially during the green abundance of spring and summer.

Dinner from the Garden

Now, dinner decisions often begin in the garden. What’s growing today?

A wok with hosta and hop shoots
A ramen with ground elder and stinging nettle
A pasta with mixed perennial pesto

They even make it into breakfast: a savory oat porridge with bronze fennel and feta, or an omelet with ostrich fern fiddleheads. Into our smoothies, our quiches, even our desserts. We’re completely hooked—and our bodies crave them.

Come early spring, we often find ourselves in the garden, mouths watering just imagining the green goodness to come. The taste palette is extraordinary: sour, bitter, mild, crunchy, mustardy, earthy. Every plant offers something unique—and many are nutritional powerhouses.

Why Perennial Vegetables Deserve a Place in Your Garden

Long harvesting season, often starting in early spring
Nutrient-dense – richer in vitamins, minerals, and proteins than many common vegetables
New and exciting flavors – expand your cooking with wild and unique tastes
Low-maintenance and high-yielding
Resilient – naturally disease- and pest-resistant
Good for the planet – they support soil life, reduce erosion, and boost biodiversity

What’s Not to Love?

It might take a little courage, a little learning, and a little willingness to experiment—but once you start growing and eating perennial vegetables, there's no turning back. They offer a way to eat with the seasons, reduce your workload, care for the environment, and enjoy incredibly diverse and delicious meals.

Ready to give it a try? Your garden—and your tastebuds—will thank you.