Thriving The Future Ep. 27 – Choosing the Right Plants for Your Land

Perennials and Perennial Vegetables

Continuing our site survey of a friend’s land – an off-grid property. We focus on what we would plant on this property to stabilize soil, improve “curb appeal” on the SE facing slope, and provide perennial vegetables and medicinals for animal and humans. We want things that look good at different times of the year.

For our April workshop we did a property walk and site survey on a friend’s land. His goal is to turn this into an off grid property. We include clips of some of the on-site brainstorming conversations.

Layout of the land. We want to plant perennials on the SE slope along the road and drainage ditch (red lines) to improve curb appeal while growing edible, low maintenance plants.

Background:

3 Acre lot in NE KS. Currently pasture with trees along the S side, which borders a creek/ravine.
Land slopes down to the S and SE. Most of the land is south facing slope (good for solar and gardens).
USDA Zone 6A
Land owner on-site 2-3 days a week, so need low maintenance perennials

Perennial vegetables

Perennial vegetables definition:

Living three or more years
Used as a vegetable, not a novelty crop
Use the leaves, stalks, shoots, flower buds, tubers, corms, rhizomes, roots, beans, or other above or below ground parts that are eaten raw, or cooked as a meal, or as a side dish.
Not destroyed by harvesting – harvest some, replant some (like sunchokes)

List from A Global Inventory of Perennial Vegetables

Perennials that we cover:

Asparagus
Jerusalem Artichokes (sunchokes)
Cattail
Sunflower
Showy and Common Milkweed
Ostrich fern
Perennial Leek
Wild Onions and garlic
Walking onions
Solomon Seal
Ramps – add to the oak tree area
Sea beet
Turkish Rocket
Sea Kale – perennial kale
Wild arugula
New Zealand Spinach
Maximillian Sunflower
Goji Berry
Marshmallow
Mulberry
Elderberry

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