PERENNIALLY YOURS

by Barry Ballister

Issue 41 (June-July 08)

[Copyright © 2008, The Valley Table]

When we think of seasonal vegetable gardens we usually picture annual plantings started from seeds or seedlings--every season is a new beginning. Along with beans and tomatoes and carrots and beets, however, there are edible perennials that are planted only once and harvested for a lifetime, even generations. The Hudson Valley growing zone is well suited to planting several perennial vegetable and berry plants that will yield year after year: rhubarb, raspberries, cardoons and asparagus.

The subtle flavors and textures of asparagusssavors and textures of asparagussparagus make it an epicurean delight. The truth is, however, that as soon as asparagus is cut it begins to lose its unique, succulent, sweet flavor. Asparagus harvested from your own garden will taste so much better than anything you could ever buy in a market.

But a permanent, bountiful asparagus bed is not going to happen overnight. In fact, it can take up to four years to develop a good, sustainable crop. The first year is for getting the seeds (or root stock) started. After the first year planting, allow the bed to set for a year, adding manure and compost and heavy straw mulch to keep it weed free. In its third year you'll be able to pick a few spears for a special dinner once or twice. After that, stand back and enjoy the best asparagus you can imagine for the rest of your life--and for generations after.

There are many, many varieties of asparagus, but they fall into three major categories: color, length and thickness. Asparagus may be green, green/white, white, white/purple, purple/green and deep purple from root to tip. Spears range from four inches to over a foot in length. Thickness can be anywhere from three-quarters of an inch in diameter to thinner than a pencil. Within the size and color categories are all the combinations.

An asparagus bed can be planted from seed or root. The seed process requires germination, transplanting to a temporary bed, then re-transplanting to a final growth bed. Seed planting adds another year to full production, but it allows you to choose a specific variety. Root planting is an easier process, saves a year of maturation and, with proper weeding and feeding of the bed, will multiply and produce for generations. The downside of root planting is that not all of the root stock will produce asparagus the second year and your yield will be spotty until the bed fills in with new root growth. Root stock offers limited variety choice, since it requires digging up productive beds to harvest roots for sale.

An asparagus bed is dug, or loosened, to a depth of 18 inches. A 100-foot row or a 200-square-foot patch will provide a family of five with a constant supply of fresh asparagus in season with sufficient amount left to can. For each 100 square feet of bed, mix in 20 pounds of pulverized limestone and 3 pounds of super phosphate. Fireplace or woodstove ashes are excellent soil additives, as well. Heavy clay or hard-packed soil needs additional lime, ashes and/or sand.

Rhubarb is a flowering perennial indigenous to Asia and Southern Siberia and a long-time home garden favorite. Usually planted at the edge or far corner of a garden, the rhubarb plant can grow up to six feet tall and fan out just as wide. The large leaves are dark green and fan shaped. The stalks can range from a pale green to a very bright, iridescent red. (The leaves have a reputation for toxicity, but actual fact would require the consumption of over ten pounds of leaves to even approach a harmful level of the oxacilic acid produced by the plant.)

To plant rhubarb, pick an area of sandy loam soil that is well-drained and supplied with significant organic matter. The sub-soil should be well loosened to help the roots stretch down into the moist sub-layers. Plants can be produced from seed or transplanted from cuttings of an existing rhubarb plant rhizome.

The stalks can be cooked in a variety of ways. Stewed, they produce a tart/sweet sauce. Fresh rhubarb can be used as a pie filling or in tarts or crumbles. Mixed with strawberries and/or apples rhubarb becomes a sweetened companion to ice cream, whipped cream or sponge cake. It makes an excellent jam and has even been used to make a sweet wine.

Cardoon is a large plant of extra-long stalks with a medium fan leaf. Also called the artichoke thistle, it is native to the Mediterranean and became a common vegetable in Colonial gardens, where perennial plants were generously planted and cultivated by necessity.

The stalks look like extra-long celery stalks. They're sometimes covered in small, nearly invisible spines, so careful handling is recommended. Cardoons are highly nutritious, with high amounts of minerals (especially magnesium) and Vitamins B5, B6 and B9.

The thick, silvery stalks may be eaten raw like celery or fennel and offer a spicy celery-artichoke flavor. The plant is considered a delicacy in Italy, where it is used in soups, stews, salads and as a crudite' for lemon-garlic dip. It can be prepared as a vegetable on its own and adds fiber, nutrition and a unique taste to any meal. It is also an excellent leftover with eggs or sausage.

Cardoons can be planted from seeds or seedlings and grow like a celery. The plant produces large, slightly ribbed, ivory-white stalks up to 36 inches long. It is harvested by cutting the plant off at its base. Cut the leaves off the stalk and pull apart the fleshy stalks, clean them well and remove any stringy fibers running down the back of the stalk.

Cardoon seeds should be sown after all danger of frost is past in hills two feet apart, then thinned to one per hill. They require good soil and need be watered only if the soil gets exceptionally dry. In mid-August, tie the leaves together and wrap burlap around the plant to bleach the stalks. Harvest after five or six weeks. To maximize the potential of your Cardoon plant, heap compost mulch over the plant base, cover with burlap and soil to prevent severe winter freezing.

Raspberries must be the easiest and sweetest crop to add to your garden. Red, black, purple and gold varieties require little care beyond pruning to keep the plants to a maximum four-foot height. Raspberry plants produce non-bearing branches (called suckers) one year that bear fruit the following year and die the next. The simple spring chore is to cut off the dead branches.

Raspberries of any color fruit twice a year in our area: June and September. They are a delightful addition to your kitchen garden--keep fertilizer application to a minimum, mulch the plant roots each fall, trim dead growth and pick many sweet pails.