Planting a home garden: Perennials.

Planting a home garden: Perennials. Almost everyone can grow some of their own foods. By choosing perennial vegetables for your garden you can guarantee a steady and reliable supply of vegetables with practically no effort. Once planted and established, most perennials require only the seasonal rain and occasional trimming. The best reason to establish a perennial garden is basic laziness. Once planted, most perennials will live so long than any period of neglect will only mean that when you return to your plants they will have grown bigger and stronger. By planting a wide variety of perennials you can substitute your diet with anything from your garden and avoid over harvesting. Establishing a sustainable perennial food 'forest' is probably the single best way one can avoid rising food costs and inevitable market failures that lead to starvation and malnutrition. Not only do personal gardens supplement ones food source they can, in times of dire need, supply nearly all of the food one needs.

As I live in a temperate zone (USDA Zone 5-7), a good website on perennial vegetables can be found here: Perennial in all of the Cold Temperate zone but there are links to other zones on this page.

Here is a giant list of plants I have done work to encourage and propagate even though some are grown only as potted plants: All of these plants are used as food medicine or support for the community of organisms that make a food forest possible. 

Angelica
Anise Hyssop
Apple (varieties)
Apricot**
Artichoke
Arugula
Asian Pears****
Asparagus
Avacado
Basswood
Bee Balm
Borage****
Bunching Onions
Burdock
Cardoon
Catnip (Nepeta Cataria)
Chestnut
Chinquapin*****
Chives
Clover
Comfrey****
Contorted Filbert***
Corneilia cherry
Daylilies
Dogwood (cornus cousa)
Echinacea
Elderberry
Elecampane
English Thyme
False Indigo
Filberts
Foxglove
French Sorrel
French Terragon****
Garden Sage****
Globe Mallow
Good King Henry
Grape Vine (varieties)
Hardy Chicago Fig**
Hazelnut
Hollyhock
Horseradish
Hyssop (Hyssopus Officinalis)
Jereuselam Artichokes or Sunchokes*****
Juniper
Kiwi (hardy kiwi)
Lady's Mantle
Lambs Ear***
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis)
Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon Citratus)
Lemon Verbena (Aloysia Triphylla)
Licorice
Linden
Lobelia
Lovage (Levisticum Officinale)
Lupine***
Magnolia**
Malabar Spinach (tropics/annual self seed)
Manzanita***** (find native variety)
Marigold (perennial variety)
Marjoram
Mashua****
Mexican Oregano (Poliomentha Longiflora)
Mint (misc)
Mint Marigold (Tagetes Lucida)
Mormon Tea or Ephedra
Mountain Mint
Mullien
Nanking Cherry
Nasturtium***
New Zealand Spinach
Onion Chives (Allium Schoenoprasum)
Oregano (Origanum Vulgare) and varieties
Ostrich Fern
Peach**
Pear
Pennyroyal (Mentha Pulegium)
Peppermint (Mentha X Piperita)
Plum
Plums**
Poppies***
Potato
Queen Anns Lace
Raspberry
Red Vein Sorrel or Bloody Dock
Rhubarb
Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis)
Sage (Salvia Officinalis)
Salad Burnet (Poterium Sanguisorba)
Salsify
Scarlet Runner Beans
Scented Geraniums (Pelargonium Spp.)
Sea Kale
Skirret
Sorrel
Spearmint (Mentha Spicata)
Stinging Nettle
Sweet cherry
Sweet Woodruff (Galium Odoratum)
Tansy (Tanacetum Vulgare)
Tarragon (Artemisia Dracunculus)
thyme
Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris)
Turkish rocket
Valerian
Walnuts
Winter Savory (Satureja Montana)
Wormwood (Artemisia Spp.)
Yakon or earth apple
Yarrow