10 Perennial Fruits and Vegetables to Plant Once and Harvest for Years to Come

Many home gardeners have perennial flower beds, but have you considered planting a perennial fruits and vegetables garden? While many edible plants are classified as annuals (meaning you need to replant them year after year), there are several that fall under the category of perennials, meaning you can plant them once and reap the rewards for years to come. Here are 10 of our top picks for perennial fruits and vegetables to incorporate into your own home garden.

1. Asparagus

Delicious when roasted or sauteed in butter and garlic, asparagus is a delightful companion to grilled steak and chicken. But anyone who has purchased asparagus knows these little garden gems don’t come cheap. Instead of buying them at the grocery year after year, consider allocating a little extra garden space to cultivating your very own asparagus patch. Simply choose a location with well-draining soil and full sun. Growing asparagus takes some patience (you won’t be able to harvest them the first few years), but once you’ve started, you can easily harvest the veggie for well over a decade (or more).

2. Rhubarb

Beautiful and tasty (and a touch high maintenance), rhubarb offers a lesson in patience that pays off in the second year. Like asparagus, you can’t harvest them the first year they produce, as the roots need time to establish themselves in order to return the following season. But if you can resist the temptation to dive into a first-year harvest, rhubarb plants will gladly produce for upward of 20 years. Just keep in mind that rhubarb leaves are poisonous (to humans and dogs), so be sure to plant them out of reach of pets and small children.

See more: 7 Creative Ways to Cook with Rhubarb

3. Jerusalem Artichoke

Jerusalem artichokes, sometimes referred to as sunchokes, will happily return year after year in a perennial garden. You don’t even need to baby them. These resilient, drought-tolerant root vegetables are hardy and beginner-friendly. Their sweet and nutty flavor makes them a nice substitute for carrots and potatoes, or a fun addition to a weeknight sheet pan dinner. You can even thinly slice them with a mandolin and fry them to create homemade chips.

4. Horseradish

Used around the world as a spice and condiment, horseradish is an often overlooked addition to home gardeners. It’s actually a root vegetable and can be harvested and used to warm up winter meals. Believe it or not, this perennial vegetable is in the same family as broccoli and Brussels sprouts, despite looking very different.

5. Sprouting Broccoli

Many broccoli varieties are grown as annuals, but sprouting broccoli is a perennial that produces many soft and tender side shoots throughout the season rather than a large head at the end of its growing cycle. Unbelievably hardy, these plants are willing to truck along in climates that get as cold as negative 20 degrees. If you have a cool-weather garden or live in a chilly climate, this is an easy choice for your perennial beds.

6. Blueberries

Blueberries are certainly a worthwhile perennial fruit to plant in your yard. As long as you cultivate your blueberry bushes with care and prune them correctly, they will grow more plentiful and fruitful year after year.

See more: How to Grow and Care for Blueberry Bushes

7. Strawberries

Strawberries are another perennial plant that some people treat as annuals. But if you want to grow large and flavorful strawberries, you need to overwinter the roots and allow them to return year after year. You don’t need to do anything special to see these return the following spring. The leaves will die, but the roots will often produce new shoots in warm weather. Many strawberry varieties are considered cold-hardy all the way to USDA zone 5, but you can find a few even hardier ones that can make it through the more brutal zone 3 winter weather.

8. Kale

Kale is considered a hardy annual, but with a little creativity and persuasion, you can transform it into a perennial. When the cool weather gets to be too much for this plant, cover it with mulch and let it rest. As the weather begins to warm back up in early spring, you’ll see new stems and leaves emerge from the ground. Bear in mind this will only work in no-dig gardens where you aren’t stirring up the roots.

9. Garlic

Garlic is often planted in the fall to harvest in summertime, but did you know you can actually grow garlic as a perennial? It’s less maintenance and means you never have to purchase garlic from the store again, so why not give it a go? The process is straightforward. Set aside a few garlic bulbs to plant like you would if you were growing it as an annual, but leave it in the ground for a few years. The buried garlic bulbs will send out several shoots in clustered groups that can be harvested as green garlic.

See more: How to Grow Garlic: Everything You Need to Know

10. Egyptian Onions

Otherwise known as bunching onions, Egyptian onions produce their bulbs at the top of the plant rather than underground like traditional onions. These have a milder taste, more like a shallot, and are a delicious addition to many warm- and cool-weather dishes. Make sure to give them a little room in the garden, though, because they tend to “walk” up to 2 feet per year. The mature bulbs grow heavy, sending the plant bowing down, where the bulbs land on the ground and plant themselves all over again.