(This
will only address those plants that are truly a perennial and ones
that we grow as perennials. There are number of our vegetables that
are perennial in their climate, but we grow them as annuals –
usually – in our climate. These are treated as annuals elsewhere.)
Perennial
food needs to be an integral part of any food system. Perennials
provide stability to the food supply, not needing to be planted all
the time. They form association with fungi in the soil rather than
bacteria using a more diversified soil ecology and greater
resilience. Perennials add another delicious component to meals.
Annual plants are harder on the gardener because they must be
replanted every year. They are harder on the soil because they must
grow quickly to full size and produce food within their growing
season. A perennial, comparatively speaking, grows to full size and
produces food at an almost leisurely pace.
Not
being plants you remove from the soil every year allows the ground
underneath them to develop long term associations that don't get
disrupted every year. These plants are very important to the
permaculture gardener as they form major parts of the food forest
canopy.
Their
importance cannot be minimized. Wes Jackson's Land Institute is
working on perennial grains like wheat that will stand year after
year in the field and eliminate a lot of the destructive planting and
tilling we do annually in order to grow wheat, barley and other
cereal crops.
A
perennial is any plant that lives for several growing seasons and is
not a tree. (A tree is a perennial, but we usually refer to trees as
trees and use the word “perennial” to describe any plant that
lives for several seasons and is not a tree.) Because they will live
for many years, planting them requires more thought and careful
consideration. The area must be kept weed free for many of these
plants.
Bulbs
We
have already been planting garlic, leeks, onions, shallots and
onions. There are perennial onions – as follows:
Multipliers
– these onions that grow by dividing – you plant one large bulb,
and net many smaller bulbs. Shallots and potato onions are in this
class. Some gardeners leave the bulbs in the ground to multiply and
that probably works best if you have the room. If you don't, things
get a little bit more difficult: You lift the bulbs at harvest time,
divide them into bulbs you will eat and those you will replant. We
have talked about growling shallots from seed or from sets – it's
tough to do this kind of planting in SoCal because to get the bulbs
to last until it's time to plant them again is tough: they should be
stored in a dark and cool spot – something that is a little hard to
find in Southern California. These multipliers are best for cooking
– they are a little pungent for fresh eating.
Topset
onions. Often called Egyptian onions or walking onions, they produce
leafy green stalks with small bulblets forming on the top. If
bulblets are not harvested, the leaves bend over allowing the onion
to drop to the ground and root – so the onions move a little every
year, hence the name 'walking onion.' When left in the ground, this
onion increases in size. Harvest the bulblets and plant them
individually in fall (if bulblets are very small, don't separate them
before planting). Mild, tender young leaves (with no bulblets) over
the winter can be used like green onions. The small bulblets make
tasty pickles. The bulbs normally are left in the ground, but some
can be harvested. Since their flavor is very strong, they're best
cooked.
Chives
– Common chives and garlic chives (sometimes called Chinese chives)
grow 12 to 24 inches tall with lavender-pink flowers in spring, and
a mild green onion flavor. Simply snip off lengths of leaves with
scissors. The Chinese chives with their pronounced garlicky flavor
(and aroma) are used in Chinese medicine as one of their healing
herbs in addition to being a culinary herb.
Other
bulbs we can plant include one of the most expensive spices in the
world: Crocus sativus, Saffron. Easy to grow – and easy to
misplace! – these crocus bulbs produce the bright yellow/orange
stamens that are valued as a spice and also to dye the robes of
Buddhist monks.
Herbs
Often
called 'herbacious' perennials, just above the ground are the herbs
we commonly use and are so familiar with, they need no introduction:
thyme, rosemary, oregano, and others are members of the mint family,
including several delicious varieties of mint and are easy to grow.
There are oodles of varieties of each, especially of thyme, and each
of us will need to find the varieties that float our boat. When it
comes to oregano, I've got my love and I proselytize its flavor to
any one who will listen: Origanum heracleoticum –
Greek oregano, which has a deeper, more complex flavor than the
typical Origanum vulgare.
As regards thyme, many of the more attractive thymes have added
flavors, like lemon-thyme, lime-thyme and even orange-thyme. These
are easy to grow in pots and in the ground – they need only ample
water and some shade on the hottest days.
Horseradish is similar to herbs in
that it is used primarily as a condiment – and, like herbs, it is
an easy plant to cultivate, in fact, I've heard folks say it is nigh
to impossible to get rid of, although I have gotten rid of it twice –
once when I was trying to not get rid of it, so I think in our
climate, with our lack of water, we have to keep it watered and
shelter it a bit more than you can in other parts of the county.
Bury a piece of root in decent soil and you'll see the leaves up
shortly. Harvest by digging a bit of the root, peel and clean it,
cut in cubes and whiz it in the Cuisinart and mix with white vinegar,
adding more vinegar if you need to cut the heat. Do this in a
well-ventilated room (outdoors?) as your body will respond as if you
were slicing up very potent onions. Unless you dig vigorously you
probably wont get out all the roots which will insure you still have
horseradish growing. It has a reputation for spreading into nearby
beds, so it should be treated with care. Keep it in a pot in the
ground if this concerns you, or remain vigilant and count on luck. I
cannot imagine a person with one horseradish plant not having enough
for an entire block – so if you grow one, share it
enthusiastically.
Rhubarb, also called pie plant is
another perennial I insist on keeping around. If you like Marie
Calender's pies, I'd stay away from eating straight rhubarb pies
because they tend towards the tarter side of life and no amount of
sugar hides that. Strawberries are a favorite of the wimps who can't
take a straight rhubarb pie, like the folks who drink cream in their
coffee. I say, if you can't take coffee black, maybe you were born
to just drink milk.
Rhubarb was prized as the earliest
food folks could get out of the garden after a long cold winter. In
the spring that followed that cold winter, the first shoots out of
the ground in a garden would be the bright red rhubarb shoots.
Called 'pie plant' by many in the mid-west and south, pie and ice
cream sauce are about the only uses for rhubarb and for many of those
people, rhubarb pie is as much a tradition of spring as pumpkin pie
is at Thanksgiving. I love mine with whipped cream or vanilla ice
cream or just plain and I’ll two slices, thank you very much.
Most of the rhubarb in Southern
California doesn't ever get really red which I think is due to the
lack of truly cold weather, but even if the pie looks a little like
'celery pie' it has the same kick as rhubarb. Rhubarb, by the way,
is one of the few plants from which we eat only the leaf stem, the
petiole, – rhubarb leaves are poisonous.
Asparagus and artichokes are some of
the most frequently planted annual herbs in the gardens of
California. Artichokes we treat a lot like annuals in our gardens.
They, unlike other perennials are easy to move whenever the moma
plant dies back, her children, often called pups, can be moved easily
from the original site and transplanted elsewhere.
Asparagus is unlike most of the
plants we've covered and we'll have to look at it on its own merit.
Purchase roots of asparagus in the late fall, early winter. The site
must be chosen with some forethought because once placed, asparagus
is difficult to relocate. From roots to your first picking will be
two years and that picking should be light. Asparagus growers often
like to dump aged manure on their asparagus bed every fall. I'm not
sure that is necessary, but then I am only in my second year of my
second bed so I have harvested very little asparagus... Your
long-term asparagus project can come to naught if it gets infested
with perennial weeds. Asparagus has very shallow roots which are
easily damaged – perennial weeds can quickly ruin an asparagus
patch - which is whence went my first patch. Asparagus is NO match
for false garlic.
Artichokes are easily grown, the
plant that produces chokes this year will die in summer giving rise
to baby plants (called pups) which can be left on the plant or cut
away and transplanted elsewhere. If you can leave the plants alone
for three years, you will soon be giving artichokes away to your
neighbors or making artichoke heart stew! Allowing some the last
chokes to flower is a long lived tradition I adhere to because it
elicits so many cries of joy.
Strawberries are much prized and if
done correctly can provide a gardener with years of sweet
deliciousness in season. They must be well-mulched, and attention to
have mulch that doesn't also serve as a haven for snails and slugs
must be given. Slugs and snails will decimate your strawberries
almost as fast as children – although, children will eat the whole
berry while a slug or snail will at least only take part of the berry
allowing you to trim off the slug part and have the rest for
yourself. Plan your strawberry patch with some forethought because it
will be there for a long time, if you're lucky.
Shrubs Etc
Blueberries, Vaccinium sp.
There are several blueberry varieties that will produce nice berries
in Southern California. They take about three years to get up to
snuff – but they are easy enough, and once, established make for
some great eating! Emerald, Jewell, Misty and Sunshine Blue are
varieties suggested – I have only experience with Misty and I love
it!
California
Native plant specialists will point to Ribes aureum as
being a native edible species. They are correct in the most strict
sense of the word 'edible.' I would not want to be forced to a diet
in which the starring role was played by the Golden Currant. About
30 of them comprise a decent mouthful and it is time consuming at the
least to collect several mouthfuls off one plant. It is a good
berry, but not amazing. It is however, the only Ribes
species that will grow here in southern California – all those
black current preserves are there just to tempt you. Remember, we
can grow so much more than they can, we ought not covet that little
they can grow without us.
Brambles - all the cane berries are
called 'brambles.' They are almost all weedy and difficult to
control, spreading by underground runners (that have thorns too!) but
if you have the space and cannot do without them, they are easy to
grow. Raspberries, Blackberries. There is a thornless white
raspberry that is worth looking into if this sort of thing cranks
your tractor.
Vines – grapes, kiwis, passion
fruit are some of the more popular vines we grow for food.
Especially if you have some fence (sturdy fence) that you can grow
them on.
Trees
Apples, peaches, apricots, plums,
nectarines, figs, pomegranates and persimmons all grow here as easy
as it gets. The choice of variety is most important because many of
these fruits need a set amount of chill time in order to produce
fruit. Neither true cherries or pears do well in our coastal clime,
although some of you further inland might find a pear or two that you
can grow – cherries require the most chilling of all stone fruits.
First off, let's tackle the concept
of 'chill hours.' Every fruit that need some cold in order to set
fruit is said to need 'chill hours.' This measurement of how much
cold a given variety needs is not well-understood and the amount of
hours that given variety needs fluctuates, sometimes wildly, which
let one know that this is not a hard science in the same way as
gravity.
The
easiest method is called The 45-degree-Fahrenheit-and-under model.
Simply calculate a given variety's available chill hours by
estimating how many hours it will spend in temperatures of 45 º
F and under. One hour of time is equal to one chill hour. During the
winter, you can add up the chill hourscumulatively, taking away one
hour for every hour the temperature rises above 60º
F. If you see an apple listed at 500 chill hours (like Fuji), and
you live on the coast, cross if off your list.
Apples we can grow include, Anna,
Ein Schiemer (both Israeli varieties that were bred for their
conditions that are very similar to ours) and my favorite, Dorsett
Golden, named 'golden' for medals and not for the color of the skin.
All of these apples get apple scab which, though not fatal is still a
problem. If you are inland and have more chill hours, Fuji could be
one of your choices.
Apricots include Sunkist, which I
think is the best apricot I've ever, ever tasted although Blenheim
gets all the press. I don't know why.
Nectarines – our list includes:
Snow Queen and Arctic Star.
Our peach selection is likewise
slender, and while there are others, have to admit, Strawberry Free
and Red Baron top my list.
Figs, mulberries, pomegranates and
persimmons are not too picky about chill hours and we can grow almost
all of them. These are all delicious fruits and can be quite
productive blessing one with loads of fruit that can be somewhat
overwhelming – we should all have this problem!
I wish I could get a pawpaw to grow
here. This is a fruit with a texture like a custard and is endemic
to the area around southern Ohio.
Nuts
A number of productive almond
varieties will produce lovely crops in Los Angeles. I was given two
varieties a couple of years ago, one was tagged with the name
'Nonpariel' which means, non-parallel. The other, not being tagged,
was promptly named 'Pariel.' I still don't know it's name! Most
almonds require two trees (of different parentage) to cross-pollinate
in order to crop decently.
We are not cold enough for
filberts,pistachios or walnuts but we can grow pecans – I don't
have any experience with any pecans as I only eat pecans a couple of
times a year.
I would encourage anyone with any
amount of land to grow a native oak tree. The acorns are edible and
there is evidence that the presence of acorns played a significant
role in humans becoming agricultural. The early agricultural
communities could settle in one place and experiment in agriculture
because they could pick all the food they needed from the local oak
trees. Our California oak trees produce edible acorns that can be
prepared for eating. Our own Valley Oak, Quercus lobata is
one of the most edible of the species. While they might not be your
first choice for food, the acorns can serve as a back up source and
in the meantime, oaks provide habitat and food for a good number of
Native Californian species.
david
, Oasis Design
Oasis Design
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