It is still March. The last frost in NE Kansas is still over a month away. It is encouraging to see the perennials – walking onions, bloody dock sorrel, and plantain already prominent and harvestable in modest amounts. I plucked some Narrow Leaf plantain (perennial) and some mustard that overwintered and fed them to my chickens.
These pictures are from late April last year. The perennials are going full speed. I planted annual Black Seeded Simpson lettuce between them and had cut and come again lettuce throughout the Spring.
Last year I converted some of my garden, the peripheral parts, into perennials, with annuals in the middle.
The Benefits of Adding Perennials to Your Garden
Regular greens in my garden bolt quickly when it gets hot in early summer.
- Options to augment those with perennial greens – dock, sorrel, lambs quarters, both narrow leaf plantain and a wider leaf plantain. Perennial are more bitter than annual greens. Dock and sorrel have a slight lemony after taste.
- Hazelnut, goji berry around the outside, walking onion, Solomon seal, plantain, dock, with annual lettuce in the middle. A mix of perennials and annuals.
- Milpa garden or regular annuals in the middle.
Perennial Garden Beds
More info on how I am using Milpa gardening to start new beds, cover crop with produce in the first year. I used my Meadow Creature broadfork to turn over grass, spread Milpa seed, covered with a layer of wood chips. It leaves a natural mulch and builds soil.
