Why Perennials are the Backbone of Edible Landscaping
Many folks, when first exposed to edible landscaping, think first of vegetables.
They’re not wrong - vegetables can make up a great portion of someone’s edible landscaping.
But here’s the secret - an annual vegetable garden doesn’t have to be the main event.
That’s where the power of perennial plants comes in.
Perennials, which come back year after year, make edible landscaping fit into your lifestyle - not the other way around.
Below I’ll cover some of my top reasons to incorporate perennials into your edible landscaping, any of which are enough to incorporate perennials into your plans.
Perennials Match Real Life (Not Idealized Gardening)
I know that you might love the IDEA of planting a new veggie garden every year. Heck, I love it too.
But I also know that it just isn’t reasonable to expect a wildly successful veggie garden every year.
This is because vegetable gardening, for the most part, involves a LOT of annual labor. During various phases of life, that’s just not realistic (helllllllo, newborn phase).
The vast majority of vegetables that we commonly eat are annual plants, which means you need to start with new plants every year.
Everything must be planted once frost conditions are appropriate, the weeding can take over your life by mid-August, and by early October, all your hard work has died for the year.
It’s easy to see why someone new to edible landscaping might be discouraged after all that.
This is where perennials are really the star of the show.
Perennials are the perfect plants for those with busy lifestyles who don’t have the time needed for maintaining a “traditional” veggie garden.
Plant Once, Benefit for Years
My personal favorite reason for having edible perennials is that they’re such a stable part of my food production.
Let’s take an apple tree, for example. I only have to plant my apple tree ONE time and I get to enjoy its yield for years to come.
Now…yes, when I’m establishing a new plant, I baby it.
I make sure to amend my soil appropriately.
I ensure that it gets enough water, particularly in droughty summers.
And I usually put tree guards around the trunk for the first few winters so that hungry critters don’t girdle it, killing my tree.
These things, however, are usually only done for the first season, in order to get a healthy plant established.
After that, once a plant is in maintenance mode, even less time is required. I come through each winter and prune it.
That takes me about ten minutes per tree. TEN MINUTES. And then it’s done for the season.
And I get a bounty of apples by mid-fall.
It feels like a pretty good return on investment for me.
Additionally, as my plants have matured, my yields have only gotten better with time.
I remember getting our first apple off of a tree that we’d planted. It was amazing. Celebratory.
But it was also only one apple.
That’s no longer the situation - we now swim in apples each fall.
Less Decision Fatigue
Another great benefit to perennials is that they make your spring planning so much easier.
Spring is a wild time for any gardener - edible or otherwise. New seeds. New plant varieties. New growing methods. And don’t get me wrong - I love it. A lot. But - at a certain point, my brain can become swamped with decision fatigue.
My perennials are one less thing to figure out. Each year, I know that my perennials are in place, ready to go, all set to give us another yield of food.
And honestly - that oftentimes makes it easier for me to decide what new items to incorporate. When there are less moving parts, it’s easier to tuck in some fun stuff “just because” and see how it works.
Easy Sustainability
Perennials are also a great way to support sustainability - without you having to try too hard.
First off, perennial plants have deep roots. It’s why they can take a while to get established, but it’s also what helps them be stable and live so long. Deeply rooted plants add to soil health in a number of ways including catching and storing water and nutrients, reducing soil compaction, and assisting in healthy fungal growth in the soil. All of this leads to healthier soil, which in turn, grows healthier plants.
Additionally, when you plant perennials, you’re only disturbing your soil once. It then has years to recover from that disturbance. This, in turn, means that you aren’t destroying the soil’s ecosystem year after year after year, depleting any health that it’s had a chance to build up.
Lastly, many perennials also make great food sources for pollinators, and when you have those plants in the same space each year, you’ve easily provided a safe habitat for those pollinators. It involves no extra thought or planning on your part - because your perennial is already there.
Perennials Provide a Strong Foundation
A strong perennial foundation makes your edible landscaping easier. It provides the structure for your whole plan. You can always add annuals later - and I’d encourage it, to be honest.
But perennials give a solid place to start, without having to get overwhelmed by the effort that annual plants require.
Additionally, once established, perennials give you the ability to expand your landscaping with minimal financial investment. Most perennials are reasonably easy to propagate either by root division or taking cuttings to grow as new plants. By doing this, you can increase your plant quantity without spending another penny.
Extend Harvest Season
Here in Wisconsin, our growing season is SHORT. But perennials can help extend that harvest window.
In early spring, while my annual plants are still hiding in the greenhouse, my rhubarb and asparagus are HOPPING - and getting harvested daily for meals. Likewise, our apples often hang out on our trees until after the first frost - and that only sweetens their flavor.
Are Perennials Right for your Edible Landscaping?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say YES.
Whether you’re looking for less day-to-day maintenance, reliable annual yields, or an easy way to improve your local wildlife habitat, perennials offer a winning option.