Perennials will add a great deal of variety to your garden plan. These plants live for several years or more. I always tell my students to plant perennials first.
Perennial fruits, vegetables, and herbs will make a considerable impact towards self-sufficiency goals and your food security. They are also beautiful landscape plants.
Some perennials such as fruit trees can live 100 years. Since they stay in one place year after year you need to carefully decide where to plant them. They take longer to get established and produce. The average is three years. Strawberries are the fastest and produce in one year and many varieties of nuts take seven years.
Advantages of Perennials
Plant once
Will produce over a long period of time
Low maintenance compared to annuals
Disadvantage of Perennials
Higher up-front cost
Take up more space
Can be picky about location
Some don’t produce well every year
Perennials Can Provide Extended Harvest
Making an overall garden plan will help you to have a productive garden that meets your food needs. Read more about garden planning in our blog.
It is important to plant a variety of species and look at their ripening schedule, to have an extended harvest. For instance, some crops like apples have varieties that produce in summer, early fall, or late fall. Planting apple trees with different ripening times can give you apples from July to November.
Some years apples may do well and plums poorly. In my area, we can only plan for peaches one out of every three years which makes them extra special.
Planting a variety of perennials will keep you in fresh produce from May to October. By preserving some of each of your harvest you can have homegrown fruit all year. We enjoy making jams, preserves, applesauce, pear sauce, and juice for winter eating and baking.
When I Harvest in My Zone 6B Gardens.
May: asparagus
June: asparagus, strawberries, blueberries, mulberries
July: blackberries, blueberries, raspberries (domestic and wild), mulberries
August: apples, peaches (some years), plums (domestic and wild), elderberries
September: apples, pears, plums, hazelnuts, paw-paw’s (wild)
October: apples, hazelnuts, black walnuts (wild)
Do Perennials Cost More?
Perennials are also more expensive than annuals. Annuals are typically sold in seed packets for a few dollars. With one packet you can plant many annual vegetables or flowers.
Perennials are purchased as plants. Some like herbs may be in a potted plant and others such as fruit trees are sold as small trees. Berries and asparagus are sold by rootstocks.
Since more work has gone into growing them the cost is higher. You can purchase perennials locally or order them online. Online gives you the largest selection.
Can I Plant Perennials from Seed?
You can plant perennials from seed, but it is a much longer process. In some cases, the plant will not be true to the parents. In other words, they may not have the same characteristics and may even not produce fruits.
This is especially true if you plant seeds from fruit purchased at a grocery store. You may have purchased apples and save the seeds. However, if the parent tree is a hybrid or graft it may not grow true to the variety you purchased.
Spring blossom from my Bruce Plum tree
Budgeting for Perennials
Having a garden line item in your budget is a good idea. For example, if you save just $20 per month that adds up to $240 per year, a nice sum to purchase several new perennial varieties.
BTW – I’m a big fan of the spare change jar. I have a garden jar and a lumber jar and save a couple hundred in each jar for projects or plants.
What to Plant Your First Year
Assuming you have budgeted about $240 for perennials I suggest you plant the following. I like Fedco Trees to purchase perennials from. In addition, they offer a bulk discount for early ordering.
4 fruit trees - I suggest getting two dwarf apples and two semi-dwarf pears to start with. Apples and pears have the highest production rates and are very dependable. Make sure you get varieties that pollinate each other and ripen at different times.
1 Mulberry - a great hardy tree, mulberries have a long growing season. I have an Illinois Mulberry which at three years was blooming abundantly and producing a multitude of berries. Mulberries can be eaten fresh, make great jam, and muffins.
2 hazelnuts – nuts are often overlooked in the planting scheme. Hazelnuts grow quickly and are a good source of protein. Vegetarians definitely want to plant hazelnuts.
50 strawberries – a good June bearer such as Jewel or Earliglow will provide you with fresh eating and enough for jam. I suggest you have an individual plot for your strawberries,
Read our blog on growing and using strawberries.
5 blackberries – I have Triple Crowns and Choctaws, both are excellent producers. The books will tell you that blackberries will produce in the second year but mine took three years to get established and start producing. Berries are typically sold in bunches. Read our blog on blackberry surprise!
10 asparagus roots – I have an individual perennial plot for my asparagus, rhubarb, and horseradish, but you can put it in a corner of your main garden. Asparagus and strawberries can be planted next to each other. Remember that asparagus does expand and will become fuller so don’t plant the roots too close together.
5 perennial herb plants- plant one each of oregano, thyme, sage, and chive in a dedicated herb garden. Rosemary is a tender perennial so plant one in a pot that can be brought inside during winter. This will give you fresh cuttings and plenty to dry for winter use. These are easy to purchase at your local nursery.
Photo by Shelley Paul
Location and Space
Take the time to map out your orchard. Where you plant your baby trees is very important. You can’t decide to move them next year because they are not getting enough sun. Trees need full sun and plenty of room to grow.
When designing a space consider the mature height of the tree. Semi-dwarf trees need to be about 15 feet apart on each side. Dwarfs can be 10 feet apart.
In addition, plan to plant perennials where there are known pollinators. If you have bees that’s great but also near flower gardens or fields are good areas that pollinating insects live. Hoverflies, butterflies, and bumblebees are all good insects to encourage.
This is another reason to grow organic! You don’t want to kill your beneficial insects because then you will get less food.
Growing plants need plenty of water. Make sure your perennials are planted in a location that is easy for you to provide water.
Perennials in Small Spaces
Some of you may have small urban yards and are wondering if you can plant perennials. Yes, you can plant perennials in small yards and many of them do well in containers. However, this does take more planning.
You will want to seek out dwarf varieties or ones that state they do well in containers.
Edible Landscaping
Edible landscaping is a way to use “food plants” in a way that doubles as beautiful landscaping. Many perennials have showy spring flowers and gorgeous fall foliage.
Blueberries are often used in edible landscaping for just that reason. They can be planted along a fence line for an attractive and edible addition. Blueberries produce bell-shaped flowers in spring and the leaves turn a rich red in the fall.
Asparagus does well in a deep container. After the spring harvest, the beautiful fronds need to remain to provide nutrients for the plants. Place some annual flowers such as petunias among them to create an attractive container garden.
Planting
Perennials are more expensive. Getting good quality, healthy plants is important here. Look for bare-root plants with good healthy roots that are not dried or twisted around each other. For potted plants check the roots to make sure they aren’t root bound are circling the pot.
Preparing Your Soil for Perennials
Preparing your soil for perennials is crucial. You want them to become established quickly and have plenty of nutrients to start growing. The healthier the plant the faster it will start producing.
Start by testing the soil in your orchard area. You just need to make one test and then you can make adjustments for the particular species if you need too but most fruit trees like the same soil conditions.
I like to prepare my soil in the season before I plant. However, if you have not had time to do that you can still follow this method.
Steps to Preparing A Perennial Spot
Remove the top layer of sod if you are making a new bed. You don’t have to do this for an existing garden space. Place the sod in your compost pile.
Remove the dirt to produce the size hole you need. Place this soil in a wheelbarrow.
Break up the soil and remove any stones.
Add your amendments to the soil.
Mix everything together well
If you are not ready to plant just place the mixture back in the hole and cover it with some straw to protect it from the weather.
This mixture is safe if you are ready to go ahead and plant it now.
The following is what I do when planting fruit trees, but you can adjust this for smaller perennials.
Ame’s Secret Sauce Perennial Planting Mix
Soil from the hole
1 gallon of peat moss
1 gallon of aged compost
2 cups of bone meal to support good root growth
For spring planting, I add 2 cups of fish meal
Maintaining Nutrients for Established Perennials
It’s not just that first year you want to maintain good nutrition. Each year put two inches of well-aged compost around them after they finish fruiting or in late fall.
Don’t Stop Now – What to Plant in Your Second Year
The second-year buy with your $240 perennial budget:
Four fruit trees – two plums and two cherries. Japanese plums need a pollinator. European plums do not. Sour cherries do not need a pollinator, but most sweet cherries do. Remember to look at ripening dates and chose an early and a late variety to spread out your harvest.
2 elderberry bushes – another hardy native, two varieties are necessary as they cross-pollinate.
5 blueberries – get at least two different varieties as blueberries cross-pollinate. Blueberries come in early, mid and late varieties so get a mix. That will give you a longer harvesting season.
5 black raspberries – I have Jewel and they are very productive.
2 rhubarb plants- my favorite is Valentine
3 perennial herbs for medicinal use – comfrey, echinacea, and chamomile are easy ones to start with. Tea Tree and Aloe are great house plants. Food self-sufficiency does tend to spill over into other areas!
3 perennial herbs for drinks – obviously you know that guzzling soda and Kool-Aid is expensive as well as unhealthy. But many people get “bored” with drinking water. Making your own tea is a healthy, inexpensive solution!
Herbs in the mint family make great teas. The standard peppermint is just the tip of the iceberg; apple mint, lemon mint, and bee balm are just a few. Pineapple sage is wonderful in fruit salads as well as making a refreshing summer iced tea. Borage flowers make a great pick me up tea.
I love my apple mint for summer tea!
Are Perennials Worth It?
Yes! Perennials are well worth the time, energy, and wait. They just take a little planning. Think about what perennials you like to eat and what types of space they need to grow. You and the plants will both be happy.
Author, Ame Vanorio, is the director of Fox Run Environmental Education Center and has spent 25+ years gardening in Zone 6B.
Perennials will add a great deal of variety to your garden plan. These plants live for several years or more. I always tell my students to plant perennials first.
Perennial fruits, vegetables, and herbs will make a considerable impact towards self-sufficiency goals and your food security. They are also beautiful landscape plants.