Perennial Edibles - Easy Food Growing

We try to grow perennial vegetables to supply our needs, not only because they are less work but also because many perennial vegetables suit our climate and many of the annual vegetables we have traditionally eaten better suit climates with cold winters. This may also mean we need to change our diet and recipes a little so that we eat more green vegetables. Certainly we need to experiment with preparing our perennial vegetables so that they are as attractive to eat as the vegetables we may have traditionally eaten at our parents' table.

Eating local is also better for the planet.

Kang Kong

Kang Kong grows well in water or moist ground.  Here its broad edible leaves are shown with Lebanese Cress growing in a small pond.

Moringa hangs over a Pineapple plant

Our Moringa (Drumstick Tree) supplies leaves for salads and stir-fries. In many countries its powdered leaves are used as an additive as well. The leaves are high in protein.We haven't yet tried pulping its roots as a Horseradish substitute.

Carambola

 Carambola (Star Fruit) makes a useful vegetable as well as a fruit. We add it to stews and stir-fries. It also makes a useful pickle.

Always cook Elderberries before eating

We have battered the flowers to make delicious pancakes. This is such an easy plant to grow.

A small seedling Mango that is producing fruit already.

Green Mangoes are also used as a delicious vegetable as are Green Paw Paw (Papaya to Americans)

Combine

• 2-3 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon palm or raw sugar 

 and add to grated mango or paw and other shredded or chopped vegetables.

Yam Bean (Jicama) has a poisonous seed and seed pod

Yam Bean vine will straggle and climb

Skin Yam Bean Root

Use Yam Bean as a Crudité

Yam Bean (Jicama) has a delicious and useful tuber. Its crisp white flesh can be used in stir-fries or as a Crudité. Its seeds are poisonous containing rotenone. Always skin the root.

This plant is easy to grow and self-seeds easily if the pods are allowed to stay on the vine. Prune your bean pods and increase your crop.

"Edible Portion

Only the root portion of jicama is edible. The leaves, flowers and vines of the plant contain rotenone, a natural insecticide designed to protect the plant from predators. Eating any of these parts of the plant can cause a toxic reaction. While the seed pods can sometimes be eaten when young, the mature pods are toxic. To be safe, it is best to only eat the root -- underground -- portion of the plant." 

Ref: Livestrong

"Jicama (yam bean), avocado and pineapple salad

 

2 capsicum peppers, seeded and minced; 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 2 tablespoons rice vinegar; 1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped fine; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks; 1 jicama, peeled and sliced into strips; 3 cups lettuce or other fresh greens; 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced. 

Add the peppers, lime juice, rice vinegar, coriander, salt and pepper into a large bowl and mix well. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while continually stirring. Add the pineapple and jicama and toss well so that they are coated with the dressing. Marinate for 45 minutes. 

Place the lettuce/greens into a large salad bowl and add the diced avocado over these. Add the marinated pineapple and jicama, and drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the salad. Serve immediately." Ref: FAO

Yam Bean tubers medium (12cm width)  and small

 Skin rather than peel Yam Bean tubers. Cut the flesh into wedges to dip into your favourite dip. Grate into salads or bake with other root vegetables. Stir fry with ginger and garlic. This mild tasting vegetable will absorb other flavours and provide a crunchy texture. The tubers are easy to dig. I find Yam Bean self seeds so plant in a spot where this no concern.

Kale can last over two years and is more likely to be devastated by White Cabbage Butterfly caterpillars than the climate. 

Kent Pumpkin

Kent Pumpkin X

Often these Pumpkin vines persist through our mild winters to produce in a second season.

Garlic sprouting in a pot

 I prefer to grow garlic in a pot where it is not overwhelmed by weeds.

Thornless Blackberry (not our pic)

We need to net our plants. One day! Loganberries, Native Raspberries and Blackberries grow well in our climate.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) has many uses.

I'll use it for adding insect repelling leaves to the chicken's nests and also as a productive mulch. I make sure the stems I cut and drop are not in smooth contact with the ground because it roots easily. It has a fresh aroma. Apparently it has herbal properties.

Turmeric and Ginger growing under an Icecream Bean Tree. We have since removed the tree because it was shedding seedlings and consuming space. Some seedlings remain and I allow these to grow to produce a useful mulch. I find the white pulp around the seeds is really not worth the effort of growing.




However, Turmeric and Ginger are always useful and thrive in our climate. I now prefer to grow Ginger in a pot.

Basella

Basella (white stem variety) will linger through winter in a sheltered position. Add it to salads, use as a wrap, add to the last stirs of a stir-fry. Our plants grow and self seed in Zone 1.

Lemon Basil might survive winter in a pot in a warm spot.

Lemon Basil seems easier grown than Sweet Basil. Dark Opal Basil usually fails for us. Lemon Basil is more perennial than Sweet Basil. Perennial Basil bushes grow easily in Zone 2. It is more bitter but use less.

Cassava stems and leaves with Edible Hibiscus (hairy leaved variety) seed pods

Cassava root

Cassava root still attached

Trying to avoid loads of carbohydrates we don't often harvest the Cassava tubers and we don't often cook the leaves but this plant thrives in this climate.

Sweetleaf or Katuk is a very popular Asian vegetable.

Remove the small Katuk leaf stems, they can annoy.  Katuk may dies down in our winter but will shoot again in late Spring. Katuk cuttings root easily. Use as a low hedge. Keep trimmed to encourage bushy, leafy growth. Overwinter in a pot if you experience frosts.

Galangal grows easily and is also decorative.

We dig Galangal fresh for curries, chuck in some freshly dug Turmeric, add Chili or hot Capsicum, add Garlic, add some fresh Curry Leaf (remove later if you like) and Cardamom Ginger leaves (remove later) and we have the basics of a great curry.

Brazil Spinach (Alternanthera sissoo)  has fleshy shiny leaves.

It prefers shade and moisture although it is meant to like full sun.

We find the leaves a bit tough in salads. I suggest you eat them young or cook them.

Some sources also claim the common ornamental Alternanthera plants we grow are edible but check this out yourself.

"There are many Alternanthera in warmer area so key out the plant carefully. A. philoseroides is the most common. Four known edibles are A. ficoidea, A sessilis, A. sissoo, and A. versicolor.  A. sessilis is well-distributed in the U.S., A. ficoieda is rare.  A. versicolor is found in Asia. A sissoo is a common green in South America but must be cooked." Ref: Green Dean (Eat The Weeds)

The dark red leaves of ornamental Alternanthera are often seen in local gardens and parks.

Chives

Chives are always there when you need them. We grow regular and garlic chives.

This Choko (Chayote  or Sechium edule) regrows every year.

The Chickens adore the large fruit if they are smashed open and we cook the small fruit stir fried with garlic. The leaves are also edible. These are a pear substitute when stewed with spices. Elsewhere they eat the nut in the fruits centre and feed the large, old fruit to the pigs.

Tree Chili (not our pic)

Our Tree Chili (Capsicum pubescens - Wikipedia) has 'passed on' after three years of growth. they were very hot but available all year.

Wing Bean climbs the railings in Zone 1.

 This Wing Bean has regrown over three years.The Beans are always useful. It starts to fruit as the days shorten. Its tendrils and tuber are also eaten.

Kang Kong and Lebanese Cress growing in a small ornamental pond.

Eat both these vegetables cooked or raw.

Sweet Potato greens are as useful as the potato.

Bandicoots love the sweet potato tuber. It also makes a useful groundcover.

I keep track of Purslane, also a summer weed, by growing it in a pot.

Purslane's lemony flavour makes it an excellent salad vegetable.

Cardamom Ginger has useful leaves for steaming and adding flavour to stews and curries

Cardamom Ginger leaves are useful for wrapping and steaming fish. I add a leaf to a curry but remove when the curry is cooked.

Sawtooth Coriander doesn't go to seed and die like regular Coriander but do plant abundantly because each plant is not very productive. Look for the seedlings when it self seeds.

Sawtooth Coriander needs shade and regular water.

Okinawa Spinach scrambles in the bed in the foreground. The leaves and soft stem tips are always available. Highly recommended. Control the snails.

Okinawa Spinach is perhaps one of the easiest and most productive of perennial vegetables in our climate. Once established it need little care. Easy to prepare, use the leaves in salads or cook the leaves and soft shoots in stews and stir-fries. You will never be without a green vegetable again and its tastes scrumptious.

Perpetual spinach at back left. Rhubarb (Sydney Crimson and Wandin Red)  at back right. Cherry Tomato in front. Surinam Spinach in bed at far left of pic. Straggly perennial Capsicum in bed at right.

Zone 1 vegetable beds are looking straggly at this time of year but perennial vegetables aren't as neat as annuals. Who cares?

Moringa (Drumstick Tree)  branch hanging over pineapple plants.

Moringa leaves can be powdered or eaten fresh. Moringa flowers in this climate but has not fruited.
Pineapples are also useful raw and cooked in stews and cakes. Ripe Pineapples, picked at home and eaten immediately, are are so sweet and flavourful compared to store bought plants.

Tamarillo over a pot of Bunching Shallots

Tamarillos make an excellent substitute for Tomatoes in salads, cakes and stews.

Bunching Shallots growing from seed and ready for planting out.

I grow Shallots in pots. They are easily accessible and I can find them easily. Cut the top off the root so they can regrow.

Green Mangoes make great salads, as do Green Paw Paws.

Common Mint

I find mint needs sun and water. Our Common Mint grows alongside a path and invades the cracks. That's fine.

 Spearmint  also grows well in a pot.

A pot of Rosemary next to a cut back Native Raspberry in the blue pot. Mizuna grows in the trough.

Perennial Basil

This perennial Basil self seeds but is easily controlled. When annual Basils fail it is always available.

Perennial Capsicum

These perennial Bell Capsicums have a hot pith but other varieties at the Fernmount Food Forest are mild. These are great for curries.

Perennial Capsicum

Pigeon Pea

It is interesting to realise that Pigeon Peas are a useful food as well as a source of nitrogen for our soils. Cut and drop excess growth.

Rhubarb

Use Rhubarb as a vegetable as well as a delicious ingredient in desserts. This plant in Zone 1 is recovering from our extreme summer temperatures.

Zone 1 in Autumn. Cherry Tomatoes spread across a bed. Rhubarb plants recover from extreme summer heat at the back of the bed. Perpetual Spinach (top left) has a growth spurt after worm farm mulch was applied.

Garden beds that grow perennial vegetables are unlikely to be as neat as a bed with annual vegetables that cleaned out and replanted in one clean sweep. These raised beds are for food production not aesthetics. The timber is local hardwood from a local mill. The path mulch is mostly from dead leaves collected from under our nearby bamboo clumps.

Zone 1 Surinam Spinach (Waterleaf)

USES
The crunchy, tangy, nutritious leaves are high in protein and rich in Vitamins A and C as well as iron and calcium. The leaves can be eaten raw in salads or lightly cooked as a green vegetable in stir-fries. It is high in oxalic acid, so consumption should be avoided or limited by those suffering from kidney disorders, gout and rheumatoid arthritis. New research suggests it protects the liver and reduces cholesterol.' Daleys Nursery

White Mulberry

Don't forget folk harvest and cook fresh, young leaves from coppiced White Mulberries. I have read that Black Mulberry leaves are also edible. I find the leaves OK when cooked but I prefer Okinawa Spinach.

Yacon Leaf

 Yacon (Polymnia sonchifoli) grows easily in this climate. It is one of the ancient crops of the Incas. It produces good sized tubers with a wide range of uses. We will try adding Asafoetida  when cooking to reduce the reaction some have to the sweet inulin in the tuber. It can be dried, eaten out of hand or cooked.

Yacon

Yacon growing under our large White Sapote.

Coffee (Coffee arabica)  Bush next to Lemon Grass

We have about 20 Coffee bushes and will eventually grow sufficient to have the beans commercially roasted.

This Lemon Grass plant grows in sun and I keep it watered during our dry summers. We also have Lemon Myrtle, Lemon Balm, Tahitian Limes, Australian Sweet Limes, Native Finger Limes (two varieties) and Kaffir Lime plants growing to provide a plentiful range of citrus flavourings.

Longevity Spinach in a pot in Zone 2

I find that Longevity Spinach is not as tasty as Okinawa Spinach, its cousin, but it is said to be very nutritious. It grows more slowly than Okinawa Spinach but does survive winter cold more easily. It roots easily from cuttings. Create a huge bed of this perennial vegetable and eat a few leaves, raw or cooked every day.

Longevity Spinach in pot

Longevity Spinach (Gynura procumbens) is a plant new to our vegetable range. It is a cousin of Okinawa Spinach. The leaf is more crunchy and I prefer it cooked or processed, however, it is said to be a very healthy food, hence the name so may be better for eaten raw. It grows easily from cuttings. Grown in Zone 2.  More information at Longevity spinach (Gynura procumbens). 

Tamarillo

Tamarillos make an excellent Tomato substitute. We also eat them fresh with yoghurt, on cakes and in cakes. Grown Zone 1 to Zone 4

Purple Yam

In mid winter the foliage of this Purple Yam is still hanging on to its dead Wattle Tree support.

Purple Yam (Dioscorea alata)

"Dioscorea alata, known as purple yam and many other names, is a species of yam, a tuberous root vegetable. The tubers are usually bright lavender in color, hence the common name, but they may sometimes be white." Wikipedia

We dig out these large yams and we keep them under control. When dug we grate and freeze the pulp to cook as a purple mash or in a yam-banana cake. They also bake well. We also grow Yellow yams.
Zone 3

Sword Bean

"Canavalia gladiata, usually called sword bean, is a domesticated plant species in the legume family. The legume is a used as a vegetable in interiors of central and south central India, though not commercially farmed." Ref: Wikipedia

 I suggest you pick these quite young and slice the pods. Zone 2

Mushroom Plant Rungia klossii

 This prefers heat, shade and water. We grow it in Zone 1 and keep cuttings growing in pots. The leaves are added to our salads, stir-fries and stews. The Mushroom flavour does not overpower other vegetables in recipes. Zone 1

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This perennial Capsicum has a little heat having crossbred at some time with a Chili. This plant is pictured in midwinter still producing small but useful fruit for salsa, curries and salads.

Choko vine growing on the chicken shed.

Eat chokoes when very small raw, in salads or stir-fries. Boil the nut from the larger fruits.  Substitute Chokoes for Pears in some recipes. Make Choko Chutney. This is an under-utilised and under-appreciated vegetable. Feed older fruits to the chickens. Zone 3

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  Mouse melon (Melothria scabra) can be very weedy in our climate/ These winter mini melons are on a plant climbing through other plants. The larger leaves in the photo above belong to a Mouse melon plant surviving after many of our attacks. 

They are useful pickled and raw as a cucumber substitute although we prefer them pickled.

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Stevia

Stevia is a super sweet herb that regrows each year. We use a few leaves in salads but leaves can also be boiled and reduced to produce a syrup for sweetening foods. The pictured plant is showing some early growth in our mild midwinter period.

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Blueberries (Vaccinium hybrids) grow well in this climate. Indeed Blueberry farms abound in the surrounding valleys. They require protection from birds and an acid soil. They are grown in Zone 1 where we can provide more care and protection.

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Tulbaghia violacia

Tulbaghia violacia (Society Garlic) earned its name because of its garlic flavour but mild affect on the breath.  Grown as an ornamental in Zone 1

Pepino (Kendall Gold) is a great sprawling plant producing useful fruit to eat 'out of hand', and in salads and desserts. Grown in Zone 1 and Zone 3.

Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) grows from seed but is not really a very pleasant fruit to eat. 

Oregano

We grow sun living herbs in pots because the food forest trees shade out many gardens.

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Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) is a straggly bush and is very easy to grow. 

The Cape Gooseberry is related to Tomatillo, and Ground Cherry. The fruit can be eaten fresh and when stewed with a little water and sugar makes a delicious dessert sauce. When they fruit in warmer months they need Fruit Fly protection.

We have a native bee hive as well as local Honey Bees so pollination is mostly successful. Grown in Zone 2.

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Lemon Grass is useful for mulch as well as for cooking.








Try eating OKRA leaves, Aibika and Cranberry Hibiscus leaves. All belong to the Hibiscus family.

Have you tried eating Chili leaves. They don't taste like Chili especially when cooked.

You can also view our Instagram site  
Learn more: 

John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ shares with you his top 8 favorite edible plants that he grew this summer with average temperatures of 100 degrees over the entire summer.  

VIDEO: Top 8 Vegetables You Can Easily Grow in 100+ Degree Hot Summers

See also: 
https://permaculturenews.org/2014/07/25/tropical-salad-leaves-different-cut-panama/ 

Ete & Ofenga
http://aciar.gov.au/files/node/15487/factsheets_4_pdf_16437.pdf