Eric Toensmeier, author of Perennial Vegetables, tours his perennial root crop.

The garden that never stops giving.

There is a fantastic array of vegetables you can grow in your garden, and not all of them are annuals. In Perennial Vegetables the adventurous gardener will find information, tips, and sound advice on less common edibles that will make any garden a perpetual, lowmaintenance source of food.

Imagine growing vegetables that require just about the same amount of care as the flowers in your perennial beds and borders--no annual tilling and planting. They thrive and produce abundant and nutritious crops throughout the season. It sounds too good to be true, but in Perennial Vegetables author and plant specialist Eric Toensmeier (Edible Forest Gardens) introduces gardeners to a world of little-known and wholly underappreciated plants. Ranging beyond the usual suspects (asparagus, rhubarb, and artichoke) to include such "minor" crops as ground cherry and ramps (both have found their way onto exclusive restaurant menus) and the much sought-after, antioxidant-rich wolfberry (also known as goji berries), Toensmeier explains how to raise, tend, harvest, and cook with plants that yield great crops and satisfaction.

Perennial vegetables are perfect as part of an edible landscape plan or permaculture garden. Profiling more than a hundred species, with dozens of color photographs and illustrations, and filled with valuable growing tips, recipes, and resources, Perennial Vegetables is a groundbreaking and ground-healing book that will open the eyes of gardeners everywhere to the exciting world of edible perennials.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• tuber
• mint
• artichocke
• squash
• weeds
• polyculture
• ground
• nut
• gardening
• fruit
• perennial
• food
• garden
• victory
• chelsea
• green
• environment
• low-impact

[thinguyen03]

artichoke is a very good medecine for kidney and liver.... antioxidant....

Cook one artichoke flower with one litre water and boiling about 45mn

thank drink about 6months... you will see doctor with good result...

[EatTheWeeds]

Sorry, I meant Paul.

[EatTheWeeds]

Eric: The video is right on. I think I can clear up your confusion. Dioscorea oppositifolia (the "Chinese") has small tan round bulbils. The D. bulbifera has large tan bulbils, generally not edible.) Two different species with two different edibilities (more explained on my website.) Complicating the larger issue is there are, I think, varieties of D. bulbifera, some of which have edible bulbils after processing, and some that do not.

[ytoobpg]

"this site", in the previous post, was intended to refer to this url:

bit.ly / hz2wy9

[ytoobpg]

Eric, I could use some clarification on your video wrt another natural edibles expert on the same subject. At his site he refers to The Chinese Yam as something quite different from the Bulbifera (air potato). If I'm correct in assuming that the "bulbils" are the "air potatoes", then his entry suggests that the air potatoes are not considered edible. Not "considered" can mean many things of course. Any clarification on these two points? Thanks

[ytoobpg]

Eric, Will any 2 of those 3 plants create a synergy with each other, or does the magic only happen when all three are together?

[Wepinealed]

Interesting polyculture of the Jerusalem artichoke, groundnut, and chinese artichoke. Was it successful and worth duplicating? It looked that way in the video but its hard to tell.

[ThePrepSchoolNegro]

I went to High School with Eric. He has always been amazing.

[UrbanHomesteadFL]

Great work Eric, the Perennial Vegetable book is a masterpiece.. every gardener should own it.

[711shamn]

anyone know how to grow goji berries in the midwest?