Joyfirst
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:45 pm
Location: Southern California

Perenial vegetables - how do you like them and where to buy

I am interested to try growing oca, air potatoe and some other perenial veggies. Have you tried any, how did you like them. And where to buy them.

rkunsaw
Senior Member
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:01 am
Location: Clarksville,Arkansas

The only perennial vegetable I grow is asparagus.

I have a Territorial catalog in front of me and it has oca in it.

MObeek
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Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:22 pm
Location: Northwest Missouri

You could almost consider Jerusalem artichokes as perenial. If you don't dig them all out of the ground, they will grow back up the next year. To me, they are almost too invasive.

Joyfirst
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:45 pm
Location: Southern California

rkunsaw wrote:The only perennial vegetable I grow is asparagus.

I have a Territorial catalog in front of me and it has oca in it.
Thank you, I will check them out.

Joyfirst
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Posts: 361
Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:45 pm
Location: Southern California

MObeek wrote:You could almost consider Jerusalem artichokes as perenial. If you don't dig them all out of the ground, they will grow back up the next year. To me, they are almost too invasive.
Actually I am gardening in 17 by 17 foot community garden plot, and those feet include paths, compost and tool bench, so jerusalem Artichoke is out of question -it wouls shade out my own plot and my neighbours. Nothing extremely tall or invasive. :(

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I grow peppers, eggplant, kale, chayote, green onions (biennial), strawberries, NZ hot weather spinach ( it can be invasive), asparagus, and herbs.

Although, not perennial, I like to grow long season crops like jicama, and crops I harvest all at once like beets, Asian greens, and daikon. Bears lime, meyer lemon and calamondin can be kept fairly short by pruning.

veggiedan
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Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:18 pm
Location: Central TX 8b

Don't forget that peppers of all kinds are somewhat perennials. They just aren't frost tolerant, so you have to protect them in the winter if you get a freeze. Here in central Texas, I have a stand of banana peppers that is going on for a third year. The trunks are almost woody, about 1/2 inch thick, but they're going great guns. I've been harvesting peppers all winter (though the flowering shuts off when it gets really cold).

So they're not only perennial, if they don't freeze, they don't even go away and come back. They just keep going!

We had a couple freezes down to 26F this winter, and I just threw a tarp and sleeping bag over them for a day or two. Lost one or two stems, but no big deal. I've heard that old peppers are less productive, but I have seen no evidence of that.

Joyfirst
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:45 pm
Location: Southern California

veggiedan wrote:
So they're not only perennial, if they don't freeze, they don't even go away and come back. They just keep going!

.
Wow. That is cool. I should try raising banana peppers then. It freezes very rarely here at all, and since my garden is about a block from the ocean, even less.

Joyfirst
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Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:45 pm
Location: Southern California

imafan26 wrote:I grow chayote.
IT seems like chayote is quite remarkable plant - all the parts of it are edible. It has long vines -so I could put them on some sort of support. Thank you for sharing.

veggiedan
Cool Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:18 pm
Location: Central TX 8b

[quote]Wow. That is cool. I should try raising banana peppers then. It freezes very rarely here at all, and since my garden is about a block from the ocean, even less.[/quote]

Now I think that's true for ALL peppers, so don't assume you need to do bananas. But my experience has only been with bananas. My new gardening strategy is to plant my peppers all together, so if I have a freeze, I just have one clump to protect, instead of many.

I must say that I've raised a few eyebrows around here, harvesting peppers in February, when a summer garden for most people is something they've just sketched out on paper.



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