Perennial Vegetables

Chives, Allium schoenoprasum

Vegetables are really difficult to grow in this garden, largely because of the slugs and snails. However, I have managed to grow a number of perennial vegetables and, of course, herbs and they are really good value. 

One of the most useful is the chive. I've always had one but this time I've spread it to five, at the front of the border which it edges well. They are good in salads and lots of cooked meals and have very pretty little purple flowers. 

The most valuable of the perennial vegetables has been the Daubenton's Kale that lasts about five years. It tastes delicious, can  be used in salads or cooked in soups or as a separate vegetable and can be eaten all year round. My main worry with it has been slugs and snails, but I put down Slug Gone wool pellets and that seems to have mainly done the trick. Last autumn I took two cuttings which have both succeeded. You can also bury a low stem in the ground and it will grow from that.  

Two Daubenton's kale growing in pots

Another perennial vegetable I've grown successfully is Hablitzia tamnoides or Caucasian spinach, a climber which doesn't take up much space but is really good in salads. It disappears in autumn to appear again in spring. 

Hablitzia tamnoides appearing in spring 

And there is also red veined sorrel, a handsome plant with a sightly lemony taste. I've been growing one plant in the garden for several years and this year it has sown itself all over the garden. The leaves have a high oxalic acid content so don't use too much and  avoid if you have issues with kidney stones. But a few  do make a salad look interesting. 

Red veined sorrel 

And there is, of course, the Babbington leek, which can be cut in spring and eaten, but the bit left in the ground will grow again. They can emerge any time from late winter to early spring, go dormant in summer and emerge again in autumn. Bulbils grow on top of the stems.     

                                                

                                                                      Babbington leeks

Lastly, a book I think everyone should read, Sapiens, a brief history of humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. This is the story of humans in history and it is absolutely fascinating. It is also available as a graphic novel, but I haven't seen that.