The only reason I have perennials in my garden is because they survived without me having to put in much work. I'm not one to baby an orange tree in my greenhouse, but if I put something in my garden and it makes it with minimal input, I'll go with it. The stars at my house are definitely the artichokes.
That's a crazy big asparagus spear in the foreground, (compare to the bottle of wine) the rest of the asparagus and all the artichokes are normal-sized like you'd see in a grocery store.
These pictures are from last spring. Several years ago I got a couple tiny artichoke starts from Sweetie and a couple from the Brother-in-Law. And they've been puttin' out ever since. All I do with them is three things:
1. Spray a mixture of dishsoap and water on the artichokes themselves from time to time to keep the aphids off
2. Knock down the stalks after they're spent
3. Give 'em a little compost in the fall after the plants are pretty much done flowering
I'm not counting the normal watering and weeding that you'd have to do for any plant. And for that little bit of effort I get LOTS - sometimes too many - of artichokes all spring and summer. I could be doing it all wrong, but it's working.
I do have asparagus - and love it - but it's a little fussier (at least in my world) and I'm still working that out. I let a few ferns grow from each crown, only harvest the spears that're bigger around than a pencil, give 'em compost in the fall, then cut the fern back in the winter. For as young as they are I think we eat quite a bit of asparagus, but they could be doing better and it may be that they need more nutrients than I'm willing to give. I'm not going to run out and buy a bunch of stuff to feed a garden that's supposed to feed me on the cheap. Frugality is one of the reasons I have a garden. If they work out, they work out. If not, I'll use the space for something else.
Then there're my birthday brambles. I got seven marionberry-ish thornless blackberry brambles from Hubby for my birthday many years ago. These suckers are awesome. I have to be absolutely RUTHLESS when cutting them back or they'd be up on the roof. But they just give and give and give.
When I'm done with pies and jam and jelly and brandy and pancake syrup and muffins . . I offer them up as U-pick on Craigslist. The best trade I ever made for some U-pick berries was for some venison backstrap. :) Grow fruit, eat meat!
Then there's the strawberries. They're the ones in the front - that's potatoes in the middle.
I don't know if they truly qualify as perennials because mine seem to be steadily declining over the last 5 years or so. Maybe I should have replaced them or fed them something beside compost, but the strawberries are smaller, the plants are less healthy-looking, and Hubby has developed an allergy to them so I'm not sure that I care (about the strawberries). We'll probably keep a few plants around for the grandkids who LOVE to run out and check for and eat the ripe berries, but I could sure use this space - maybe expand the annual garden? I've had these plants (or some of their kids) for over 10 years.
Aside from two apple trees, some blueberries and raspberries, this is the sum of my perennial garden plants. Space is an issue here - we're on 1/3 acre - so I really have to think about what we'll really use vs. how much space they take vs. how much work they require. I'm putting in a new raised bed this year and will be planting some perennial herbs there. We'll see how they do.
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