Anyone can keep a vegetable garden. Perennials are a quick way to create a nice easy-care vegetable garden. Lots of fun to do, and you’ll be harvesting and enjoying it for years to come.
Without the stress
The big advantage of perennials is that they come back year after year. Just plant them once, and you’ll be enjoying them for years. In other words: vegetable gardening without the stress! Good examples of these vegetable garden plants include: strawberry (Fragaria), artichoke (Cynara scolymus) and rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum). Many herbs such as chives (Allium schoenoprasum), calamint (Calamintha nepeta), rosemary (Rosmarinus) and thyme (Thymus) are also perennials.
Cutting garden
If you love flowers, the vegetable garden is a perfect place to grow them. Perennial herbs are real must-haves since most of them produce beautiful edible flowers. What about the flowers you can pick from musk mallow (Malva moschata), sage (Salvia microphylla) and hyssop (Agastache)? These flowers also attract bees, butterflies and other insects, so they benefit biodiversity.
A square metre garden
Vegetable gardening can be done anywhere – even in a small garden or on a balcony or roof garden. Working with a square metre garden is a useful method; because it’s so well organised, it’s easy to care for. Vegetable gardening can also be done in wooden boxes or a collection of pots and plant containers. Just be sure that excess rainwater can drain off through small holes in the bottom.
Seasonings from your easy-care vegetable garden
Every perennial plant you grow in your veggie patch has its own use in the kitchen. Soup takes on a delightful flavour with the addition of lovage (Levisticum), and many recipes call for fennel (Foeniculum) in fish dishes. Culinary sage (Salvia officinalis) is a welcome ingredient in salads. Are you a fan of mint tea? Then plant some mint (Mentha) so you can always have fresh mint at your fingertips.
Tip
For a stunning effect, plant some eye-catching edibles such as artichokes among the ornamental plants in your border.
Also interesting:
Edible plants
A small outdoor space? Try vertical gardening
Top 10 cutting flowers
