Thanks for the second recommendation, Bill. Do you think you’ll grow any of them? I do already, some more obscure things that kind of fall between veggies and herbs.

Hi Helena, Fedco sells them (finally). This is the link:
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/SeedsOrderItem.php?id=3096&SeedName=good%20king%20henry
but it would appear they’re out of them for the season. I might have some available for a seed trade in late September, so stay tuned.

Was reading your forum and enjoyed the comments. I am planting my fall/winter garden and am looking for a source of Good King Henry vegetable seeds as mentioned in Elliot Coleman’s book, the four season harvest.

Anyone know a source?
Thanks
Helena

I just might try the bonsai idea, but I don’t know much about it. I suppose I could find a lot on the internet & the library, though. Thanks for the idea!

Sylvie, I have a garden friend whose thoughts on potatoes are going to have him plant them in late November, seeing as how well the volunteers spring up! But yes, I forgot sorrel, as well as a bunch of other things too. I treat sorrel more like an herb though because it melts away so quickly in the pan!

You know, Laurene, you could bonsai those peppers. Bonsai artists trim the roots as well as the leaves, and change out the dirt every two years. Just a thought! I love chickories, and they’re one of the most reliable overwintering veggies in the greenhouse. They like it kind of cool so maybe they’ll take off more in the fall for you. But with this summer’s weather, maybe that’s what’s happening now for you!

Petunia, I hope you give those chard trimmings to the chickens. One of the reasons my gardens got fenced in is because they LOVED pecking my leaves to nothing!! But yes, it’s a biennial, too bad it doesn’t recharge in the spring. It also does great in the greenhouse over the winter. But the tomato seeds: that would take that gel casing off the seeds for sure! Yuck!

MC, well, tomatoes and squash are my best performers, but they’re from the compost. But any biennial that overwinters and goes to seed is a candidate: carrots, parsnips, kale, beets…you just should try it.

Hi EC. My point is perennial vegetables are good, not bad, but not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. As someone who works 40-50 hours a week and only buys milk products and grains (and I would have gotten dairy goats had our economic picture been rosier this year) I would definitely think that having no job would mean I would have more time to tend to life, my whole life. Electricity is my big slave: it enables me to can and to freeze my meat, but I could get by without it if need be. I don’t know. I am halfway there is all I am saying. Thanks for that article. In that instance, it’s looking at inputs and realizing that our obsession with annual plants is detrimental to the earth and is terribly energy intensive, thus unsustainable, and I wholeheartedly agree. Small-scale subsistence gardening where one doesn’t till every year, with its mix of self-seeded, annual and perennial plantings, trees, and weeds, is terribly sustainable. But yes, I would like a perennial wheat, and I hope they make one happen! As it is, I have alfalfa for green manure. Wish I had more. Look into Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway: there’s a second edition that just came out and there’s all kinds of good stuff in there.

Ending 10 000 Years of Conflict between Agriculture and Nature

Organic agriculture is not enough; we must replace annual with perennial crops.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Ending10000YearsOfConflict.php

But, w/o day jobs and forced to do more by hand: composting, washing, farming, transport, mending, making & repairing tools, hygiene, care & schooling of kids, food preservation, house maintenance, culture…
Perennial veggies would certainly come in handy.

The only people I know who are self-sufficient gardeners (they only buy grain, a bit of sugar etc) work more or less full time in the garden from March – November. They say food preservation takes as much time as gardening. No time for other jobs.

When the swiss chard starts looking ratty I just cut it back and lo and behold….it just comes right back!

Yeah, any tomatoes from the store lack any real flavor or character. But my grape tomatoes are like candy (usually), they’re so sweet! I have a lot of little ones, but no red ones yet this year.

I’m trying 2 types of Chiggoria this year: Spadona & Catalogna. In the past, we used to go dandelion picking in the countryside, but this year I thought I’d try to grow my own. They’re getting there (I was a little late getting them planted). Of all the greens I have tried, I think I’d have to say that beet greens are my favorite, so far. What a great plant! You get the beets AND the greens!

This year, besides the usual volunteer mustard, lemon basil, dill, cilantro, tomato, lettuce & winter squash, I had volunteer potatoes. Very cool.

Of course in other climate, many crops that are annuals for us are perennial…

I often find that many of the volunteers over the years become stronger & healthier plants. Not always… but often.