Perennial Edible Garden
An 8×6 plant-once bed: asparagus, rhubarb, artichokes, sorrel, strawberries, and walking onions that return for decades.
About This Template
Plant this bed well once and it feeds you for twenty years. The north line establishes the long-term royalty: six asparagus crowns — an investment that pays a spring dividend of spears for decades — beside Jerusalem artichokes whose knobbly tubers return no matter what you do. The centerpiece row carries two rhubarb plants and a dramatic globe artichoke, flanked by the perennial support crew: horseradish, lemony sorrel, and lovage, the celery-flavored giant that seasons a lifetime of soups. The lower rows are the returning dessert-and-seasoning section: a strawberry row with alpine strawberries below, walking onions that replant themselves, chives, mint, and lemon balm. Nothing here is resown — the work of year one becomes the harvest of every year after.
Benefits
- 1One planting season buys decades of harvests — no annual restart
- 2Asparagus delivers gourmet spring spears years before most fruit trees bear
- 3Deep perennial roots find their own water after establishment
- 4Harvest calendar runs from April rhubarb to November sunchokes
- 5Soil improves every year because it is never dug up
Growing Tips
- 1Resist cutting asparagus for two years — patience doubles every future crop
- 2Contain the sunchokes and mint or they will run the whole bed
- 3Mulch generously each autumn; that is most of the annual maintenance
- 4Divide rhubarb and renew strawberries every 4–5 years to keep vigor
Included Plants (13)
Asparagus×6
Asparagus officinalis
Spacing: 45 cm · 18 in
Jerusalem Artichoke×2
Helianthus tuberosus
Spacing: 45 cm · 18 in
Rhubarb×2
Rheum rhabarbarum
Spacing: 90 cm · 35 in
Artichoke
Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus
Spacing: 120 cm · 47 in
Horseradish
Armoracia rusticana
Spacing: 45 cm · 18 in
Lovage
Levisticum officinale
Spacing: 60 cm · 24 in
Sorrel
Rumex acetosa
Spacing: 25 cm · 10 in
Strawberry×6
Fragaria x ananassa
Spacing: 30 cm · 12 in
Egyptian Walking Onion×4
Allium x proliferum
Spacing: 20 cm · 8 in
Alpine Strawberry×4
Fragaria vesca
Spacing: 25 cm · 10 in
Chives×4
Allium schoenoprasum
Spacing: 15 cm · 6 in
Mint
Mentha spicata
Spacing: 45 cm · 18 in
Lemon Balm
Melissa officinalis
Spacing: 30 cm · 12 in
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