Growing Perennial Vegetables
Ben Caesar from Fiddlehead Nursery
We chat with Ben Caesar about perennial vegetables and salad greens. Caesar, who runs Fiddlehead Nursery, specializes in perennial edibles.
He says that in Western cultures, annual vegetable crops are the norm. But with a shift in thinking, it’s easy to incorporate perennial vegetables into the diet.
That shift to perennial vegetables is good because not only can they be easier for gardeners to manage—they require less soil tilling, which means less release of carbon that’s locked up in the soil.
Top Perennial Edibles from Caesar’s Garden in 2020
Seedless sorrel is his all-time favourite this year, a very productive green that he recommends as a “bombproof groundcover”
Caucasian spinach is a little-known vine with excellent ornamental properties
Cutleaf coneflower is a native perennial that produces edible greens in the spring, and 6’ tall flowers in summer
Oxeye daisy, a common roadside weed in Ontario, is a European perennial that has naturalized, with leaves that he says are delicious
Patience dock has leaves that can grow up to 2’ long, but he says to use them when about 1’ long, fresh, cooked—or as a wrap as is often done with grape leaves
Garlic chives are often grown as ornamentals…and he suggests eating leaves and flowers
Bronze fennel has greens with a sweet, anise flavour, and seeds that can be eaten as a palate cleanser and used in pickles
Honewort is a shade-loving native perennial with leaves that Caesar says are delicious
Tips to get Started with Perennial Vegetables
Caesar says that if you already have a perennial garden, chances are that you might already be growing edible plants. Here are common edible plants that he says many people already have in their gardens:
Hosta
Solomon’s seal
Daylily
Stonecrop sedum