ERIC TOENSMEIER

From Artichoke to‘Zuiki’ Taro, a

Gardener’s Guide toOver 100 Delicious,

Easy-to-Grow Edibles

PERENNIAL VEGETABLES

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Imagine growing vegetables that require just about thesame amount of care as perennial flowers and shrubs—

no annual tilling and planting. They thrive and produceabundant and nutritious crops throughout the season. InPerennial Vegetables plant specialist Eric Toensmeier intro-duces gardeners to more than 100 species of little-known,underappreciated plants. Ranging beyond the usual sus-pects (asparagus, rhubarb, and artichoke) to include suchdelights as ground cherry, ramps, air potatoes, the fragrant

spring tree, and the much sought-after, antioxidant-richwolfberry (also known as goji berry), Toensmeier explainshow to raise, tend, harvest, and cook with plants thatyield great crops and culinary satisfaction.

Including dozens of color photographs and illustra-tions, and filled with valuable growing tips, recipes, andresources, Perennial Vegetables is a groundbreaking bookthat will open the eyes of gardeners everywhere to theexciting world of edible perennials.

“Full of surprising edible possibilities, this book ‘promotes fresh thinking as to what a vegetable garden can be,’ says Doreen Howard. ‘This topic is presented in a thorough and engaging way,’ saysSusan Eubank. ‘It teaches responsible gardening practices without preaching,’ adds Marty Ross.”

—From the American Horticultural Society’s announcement of the 2008 AHS Book Award

“Eric Toensmeier has comprehensively filled a huge gap in the sustainable landscape. Perennial Vegetables letsyou put away your tiller, and covers everything you need to grow, harvest, and eat vegetables and greensthat will keep coming back year after year.” —Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden

“Toensmeier’s knowledge of edible plants is impressive and inspiring. His excitement for a sustainablelandscape helps us focus away from buying food to harvesting it naturally. —Ellen Ecker Ogden,

co-founder of The Cook’s Garden seed catalog, author of From the Cook’s Garden

“That there are more perennial vegetables than asparagus is no surprise, but that there are more than100 species we North American gardeners can choose from is news. Toensmeier’s Perennial Vegetables, thefirst comprehensive guide to growing them, will have all of us reexamining our plans for next year’svegetable plot.” —Karan Davis Cutler, author of Burpee—The Complete Flower Garden

“Growing perennial vegetables is a true pleasure. This fine book gives the knowledge to successfully addvariety to both the garden and the table while also enhancing the home environment.”

—Miranda Smith, author of The Plant Propagator’s Bible and Complete Home Gardening

Eric Toensmeier is an experi-enced advocate and teacher ofpermaculture and an expert onthe world’s most useful plants.He is the coauthor of theaward-winning Edible ForestGardens with Dave Jacke. Ericwrites, trains, and consults full-time in English, Spanish,

and Botanical Latin through his Web site, www.perennialsolutions.org.

Cover design by Peter Holm, Sterling Hill ProductionsCover photos by Eric Toensmeier, unless otherwise noted. Top row, left to right: airpotato, water lotus, papaya. Middle row: fragrant spring tree (Raintree Nursery), oca.Bottom row: hyacinth bean, tree collards (Brock Dolman), sweet potato.

$35 USD | Gardening

ISBN 978-1-931498-40-1

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CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHINGWhite River Junction, Vermont • 802-295-6300

www.chelseagreen.com

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“Toensmeier’s groundbreaking guide is destined to becomethe bible for this new class of edible gardening.”—Booklist

Techniques · �9Sheet Mulching: Instant Eden

sheet mulching combines soil improvement, weed removal, and long-term mulching in one fell swoop. This technique, also known as lasagna gardening, can build remarkable soils in just a few years. There are several key components. First, a weed barrier like cardboard is laid down to smother weeds. In theory (and quite often in practice) the cardboard decomposes after the weeds have all died and turned into compost. The second ingredient is to add compost, or build a layered compost pile that will enrich your new garden bed. The third step is to add a thick layer of mulch on top, to keep new weeds from getting established. I have had great results

with sheet mulching, although sometimes the first year is a bit rough on delicate species, until the raw materials break down. you can use sheet mulching to turn lawns or weedy waste areas into gardens in just a few hours, or even to build soil from scratch inside built frames for raised beds. sheet mulch can range from just a few inches thick to 2 feet or more, depending on how bad your soil is and how much raw material you have avail-able (it will cook down and settle quite a bit). For more information see Patricia lanza’s Lasagna Gardening, or Edible Forest Gardens.

Jonathan Bates enjoys the results of our first year of sheet mulching. This garden has just gotten better each year. Note the fantastic growth of hyacinth beans!

The author’s Massachusetts front yard before sheet mulching. The soils are very poor fill from new construction.

Addition of rotted leaves below thick paper bags as a weed barrier with a layer of compost and mulch on top—just a few hours of work.

By mid-summer the garden is thriving with sweet potato, taro, edible hibiscus, and hardy bananas (yes, they over-winter in Massachusetts, but they don’t fruit here).

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�0 · Part One: Gardening with Perennial VegetablesSimple Steps to Sheet Mulching

1. Mow or cut your lawn, weeds, or other vegetation right down to the ground.

2. Plant any crops that will require a large planting hole (including woody plants, perennials in large pots, and large transplants).

3. add soil amendments (as determined by your soil test).

4. Water the whole area thoroughly. you are going to be putting a layer of cardboard or newspaper over it, and rain and irrigation won’t soak through very well until that weed barrier breaks down. Water also helps the decomposition process get going.

5. If you have compost materials that may contain weed seeds (like fresh manure, leaves, or hay), spread them in layers on the ground. Put a dry, carbonaceous layer of hay or shredded leaves below any manure layer. avoid thick layers, and make sure to get a good carbon-to-nitrogen ratio just as if you were building a compost pile (see Start with the Soil or other gar-dening books for details). Water this layer well.

6. lay down a weed barrier. I prefer to use large sheets of cardboard from appliance stores, because these last longer and are quicker to lie down. you can use layers of wet newspaper too. Make sure to have a 4- to 6-inch overlap where sheets meet so buried

weeds can’t find a route to the surface. If you have already planted crops, or have other preexisting plants, don’t mulch over them. cut holes in the card-board to make some breathing space for each plant (or leave some room around each plant when laying newspaper).

7. now you can add your weed-free organic materi-als. I like to keep it simple, and just add a nice layer of compost. you can also do some sheet composting here, alternating layers of nitrogen-rich materials like fresh grass clippings with carbonaceous materials like weed-free straw.

8. now you add your final top mulch layer, at least 3 inches thick. Water the whole bed thoroughly once again. your sheet mulch bed is complete.

9. you can plant right into your bed if you like. To plant tubers or potted plants, just pull back the top lay-ers until you get to the weed barrier. cut an X in the cardboard or newspaper. If you are transplanting a large plant, peel back the corners of the X. Throw a double handful of compost in the planting hole and then put in the plant. Pull the layers and top mulch back around the plant, water well, and you’re all set. Planting seeds is easy too. Just pull back the top mulch to the compost layer and plant your seeds. you may want to cut through the weed barrier below first, de-pending on weed pressure below the barrier. If you are planting seeds, be sure to water regularly, as com-post on top of cardboard can dry out quickly.

Cross section of a newly sheet-mulched garden bed showing layers of material.

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Techniques · �1

article). You may also have other microclimate modifications in mind, like cutting trees to allow in more sun, or planting a windbreak. All of these steps are much more easily achieved before planting.

Planting and Establishment

Plant your perennial vegetables with love. Give each one the time and tenderness that you would give a cherished fruit tree that will live for 100 years. Planting perennial vegetables is usually not an act of mass production. Instead of seeding out 100 annuals, you may be plant-ing only a few plants. Follow these tips and you will be repaid with years of kindness.

Give your plants room to growI am always planting my perennial vegetables too close together. I am usually working with

tiny seedlings or small mail-order plants, and it is just hard to imagine that in a few years my Turkish rocket is going to be as big as a mid-sized shrub. This means that I am always digging plants up and moving them later—a disturbance that some of them resent heavily, and often delays growth in even the most resil-ient. I have also lost some plants that were too close to neighboring giants. The silly thing is that I know better: The rules for plant spacing are quite simple.

Space clumping plants at “crowns-touching” distance at a minimum

Clumping plants are plants that stay put, perhaps growing a wider clump each year but not spreading aggressively. Space your clumpers so when mature they will not be touching any other vegetation. This helps to increase airflow, preventing diseases and competition for light. Note: Lower groundcovers may touch the base of

Table 6: Materials for Sheet Mulching

High-Nitrogen High-Carbon High-Nitrogen High-Carbon

aquatic weeds & algaecoffee groundsaged, seed-free manuregrass clippingsseaweed

sheet mulch can be as simple as three layers: cardboard, compost, and straw. But compost isn’t cheap, and it can be fun and thrifty to add layers of organic materials that will break down to make compost on their own. When doing so, you want to alternate layers of high-nitrogen material (greens) with high-carbon material (browns), just like the recipe you use to build an ordinary compost pile. you want to have more carbon materials than nitrogen: The ideal ratio by weight is 30 :1 carbon to nitrogen, which translates roughly to two to three times as much carbon bulk as nitrogen. keep these layers thin (3 inches at most) and they will break down more quickly. some items should be shredded first—leaves because they mat, and large items like cornstalks so they break down more quickly. Remember also that some materials must be kept below the root barrier because they may contain viable seeds.

aged but seedy manurefresh manurelegume hay (e.g. alfalfa)vegetable kitchen wasteweeds

dried leaves dried plant stalksgrass hayNote: You can use

seed-free carbon sources if these are not available

pine needlessawdustshredded newspaperstrawwood chips (top mulch only)

Below the Weed Barrier: Above the Weed Barrier: Seed-Containing Materials Seed-Free Materials

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