What is your favourite perennial veg?

[mysteryduck]

Hi everyone! We're slowly making progress on our small back yard veg patch. Green house is up... raised beds are going in... and I'm marking out space for a perennial section. I have some Jerusalem artichokes popping their heads up in a couple of pots. I've tried sowing a few types of chive seed (still waiting on those)... I considered asparagus, but don't think I have the space. Now I'm looking at the likes of Pennard Plants, Incredible Vegetables, and Otter Farm for more perennial plants! Rather than buying plants at random, I thought I'd ask for advice here first. What do you grow?

The Bristol onion looks very pretty in flower, looks quite compact, and according to the description, will bulb up. But how does it compare to Potato Onion? Siberian Chives also look pretty and compact, but how does this compare to Garlic Chives or Mouse Garlic?? The Egyptian Walking Onion looks amazing, but is likely impractical for a small garden?

How about leaves? Could I grow a pot or two of Perennial Kale, Daubenton's Variegated Form, in pots? Would it be worth while only growing two plants? Are there any good suppliers out there? How about Turkish Rocket? Is it really a good substitute for Kale? It looks pretty enough to grow in a pot and put out in the front garden...

Could anyone recommend any other perennial veg? Ideally something relatively compact and tasty!

[veggiechicken]

Chives, Welsh onions and Babington leeks and rhubarb.
Perennial kales grow tall, mine are 4-5'. May not be best suited to a pot.
I don't like JAs but I'm trying Chinese Artichokes and Oca this year. They're not strictly perennial as, like so many veg, you have to dig them up and replant them. If you consider that's "perennial" then grow shallots and garlic as well.

[Nicos]

Perpetual spinach

[nickdub]

I think Lidl is probably the best round here, taking price and quality in to account.

[mysteryduck]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I guess I do consider digging up and replanting to be a kind of perennial. I found a YouTube channel, My UK Homestead, the host of which seems to grow a fair amount of perennial produce.

Oca sounds good VG, I might give that a go too! And Nicos, I forgot that I'd previously bought Perennial Spinach seeds, so I'll get some of those in. Nickdub, sorry, I don't really understand your comment! But thanks anyway

[Nicos]

Sorrel?
It has a lovely lemony flavour

How about horseradish?
And fiat leaved parsley?

[veggiechicken]

I forgot the 5 Star perennial broccoli/cauliflower.!

[mysteryduck]

Nicos, the red veined sorel and wild wood sorel look really rather pretty! I'll look for some seeds, thanks! I'm not sure my kitchen skills are up for horseradish, but parsley is possible. I already have rosemary and thyme that survived from last year!

VG, perennial broccoli/cauliflower sounds amazing! Can I grow it in a pot do you think? and would one plant be enough for two people?

I'm also looking at mint. Can't decide between black peppermint and after eight mint for tea, and apple mint for cooking

[veggiechicken]

You can grow anything in a pot, if its big enough! I think they're better with their roots in the ground though. https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...wer_89524.html
Do you have a bed or is it just pots?

Don't grow Red veined sorrel - its very invasive. There are ots of posts on here warning against it.

[Jay-ell]

The Bristol onion looks very pretty in flower, looks quite compact, and according to the description, will bulb up. But how does it compare to Potato Onion? Siberian Chives also look pretty and compact, but how does this compare to Garlic Chives or Mouse Garlic?? The Egyptian Walking Onion looks amazing, but is likely impractical for a small garden?

How about leaves? Could I grow a pot or two of Perennial Kale, Daubenton's Variegated Form, in pots? Would it be worth while only growing two plants? Are there any good suppliers out there? How about Turkish Rocket? Is it really a good substitute for Kale? It looks pretty enough to grow in a pot and put out in the front garden...

Could anyone recommend any other perennial veg? Ideally something relatively compact and tasty!

OK Ducky, go make yourself a cup of tea first then settle down to this post - it's going to be a long one.

Never heard of Bristol Onion before. I'm growing it - I've just never heard of it I've known it under Great Headed Garlic or Allium sphaerocephalon Drumstick. Pretty and a nice ornamental but I don't bother with it now as it isn't really a good cropper.

I was interested in Allium Nutans (Siberian Chives) but my seeds didn't germinate. If you find someone selling the plant let me know.

For perennial leeks I'd go with Babingtons Leeks, Elephant Garlic and Allium Polyanthum or if you want something different Oerprie (you might have to hunt in Belgium, Netherlands or Luxembourg for that one). You can always perennialise your favourite annual leeks.

Sand Leeks are another perennial leeks that have potential, albeit with smaller plants than other varieties.

Have a look at these vids for my perennial leeks
https://youtu.be/lIm1iPxYIe0
https://youtu.be/KcWOdiUkMHU

For green onions/spring onions/scallions then you have Welsh Onions which will divide and make a bigger patch as time goes by - start off just cutting the tops off with scissors until they've grown into a large enough patch where can pull up a clump, eat the largest and replant the smallest giving them space to bulk up and divide. There's a variety called Perutil that doesn't flower - at the moment my Welsh Onions all have thick flower stalks and are putting out white pompoms - this stalk is edible but is tougher than the leaves.

Egyption/Tree/Topsetting/Walking onions are looked at by some as a novelty but by others as a productive onion - it depends on how you use it. If you let them divide and mane a large clump you can use them in the same way described for Welsh Onions. You can take the bulbils when they flower stem is starting to die and weaken and start them off in pots/trays then replant to get a larger patch or use them as sets for sprint onions to overwinter.

So far the Rakkyo (a Japanese onion whose bulbs are often pickled) had been uneventful. The bulbs have split and the patch is slightly larger but they aren't getting to any reasonable size.

Potato Onions are like Shallots but with a stronger onion flavour. They don't get as large as regular onions but they make up for that with quantaty - one set gives between 1 and 12 onions - usually 4 or more. Of course the more onions it divides into the smaller those individual onions are going to be as they have to share the local resources. A small set will divide into less bulbs and a large set will split into more bulbs.

Of course Shallots are another replant multiplier onion that any perennial/persistant veg garden should have. And by shallots I mean the ones grown from bulbs not the ones grown by seed.

This is the first year that I've not planted sets, seeds or transplants for regular onions and will have to rely on the potato onions and shallots so I'm hoping for a good harvest from them.

Mouse garlic looked pretty but if I were you I'd keep in in the ornamental section, I didn't think it was worthwhile to produce a viable ongoing harvest.

Same with Daffodil Garlic.

Same with Crow Garlic.

Regular Chives and Garlic chives produce well. They both have a milder flavour and are useful when you don't want the full onion/garlic flavour. Both are liked by the bees and both have edible flowers.


I have Taunton Deane Kale which grows large and Daubentons kale which isn't as large. Both are looking bedraggeled at the moment because the pigeons loved them to bits. There is also Jersey Kale. Taunton Deane and Jersey can be staked up. With Jersey Kale you can put a deck chair under older specimens and have some shade. The Daubentons is more compact and better for a smaller bed.

Realseeds sell a couple of perenial loose leaf cabbages. I love Paul and Beckys Asturian Cabbage - light coloured leaves, great flavour and you just pick what you need. Stands well through winter and in spring kicks out a whole bunch of flowers which you harvest before they open and eat like brocolli raab. You can chop it's entire head off and it comes back stronger. It may be a bit larger but after you've eaten it for a while the leaves will be high enough that you can underplant.

As mentioned by Nicos Sorrel has a nice lemony flavour to the leaves. It dies down in the Winter and dis prone to bolting when I find it bitter but it quickly goes back to edible leaves. There is a variety called "Profusion" which doesn't flower however. This also means that you won't have sorrel growing everywhere

Oca also has citony flavoured leaves (it's related to the wood sorrel) as well as it's abundant tubers. The plants start off with neat mounds of leaves which sprawl later on in the year.
https://youtu.be/IPdhVp6diJg

Other perennial/replant refennials include Tigernuts (more of a snack than a main crop) which I like because of the coconutty flavour although I'm only considering these for containers.

I've also started to grow Mashua last year - this is related to the nasturtion, is a climber, produces edible leaves but is grown for it's tubers which have peppery flavour with aniseed undertones - mellows with cooking (I liked it best roasted). It is a climber so you will need strong supports to hold it's mass of foliage.
https://youtu.be/fYzwM7wCk_Y

Good King Henry is a perennial spinach substitute - unfortunately mine is on the worst bed in the plot so hasn't done much. I need to move it so I can dig out the weed fabric that's hindering everything from growing.

Caucasion Spinach is a herbaceous perennial I haven't tried yet but as it's name suggests it is used as a spinach substitute.

Chard is another spinach substitute and is a short lived perennial if you keep hacking off the flower stalks.

My cardoons are in the same bed so I'll see if they can survive the move as well. These you eat the leaf stalks and are supposed to taste like Globe Artichoke (which they look identical to because they are, essentially, the same plant - just developed in slightly different directions by breeders).

[Chestnut]

Just vegetables? Or herbs too? I love sage when it’s in flower, and rosemary.

[mysteryduck]

You can grow anything in a pot, if its big enough! I think they're better with their roots in the ground though. https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...wer_89524.html
Do you have a bed or is it just pots?

Don't grow Red veined sorrel - its very invasive. There are ots of posts on here warning against it.

Thanks for the heads up with the sorrel! And thanks for the link to the thread, very interesting!

We're putting in six 1x1m raised beds, but I was thinking of using those for annual veg. There will eventually be a little more room for growing, but that means ripping out some old decking and paved areas.

[mysteryduck]

OK Ducky, go make yourself a cup of tea first then settle down to this post - it's going to be a long one.

Never heard of Bristol Onion before. I'm growing it - I've just never heard of it I've known it under Great Headed Garlic or Allium sphaerocephalon Drumstick. Pretty and a nice ornamental but I don't bother with it now as it isn't really a good cropper.

I was interested in Allium Nutans (Siberian Chives) but my seeds didn't germinate. If you find someone selling the plant let me know.

...

Oh wow! That's a lot to process. I'm going to need to do some research! Thank you!!

And here's a link to Siberian Chives:
https://www.pennardplants.com/proddetail.php?prod=Ed458

Also, a shame about the Bristol Onions, they really are pretty!

[veggiechicken]

Could you grow the big perennials (like brassicas and leeks) in a bed and grow annual veg in pots?

[mysteryduck]

Just vegetables? Or herbs too? I love sage when it’s in flower, and rosemary.

I'd prefer vegetables, but herbs are a possibility