But gardening takes so much time, right? All that watering and pest control and digging and trashing and starting over has got to be time consuming, right?
Yes. BUT you do not have to garden in that way for edible gardens. Think bulbs; plant them and forget about them. Think a bush; plant, water occasionally when needed, prune once, maybe twice, a year. Casual gardening.
Well, you can take the same approach for an edible garden. Yes indeed. It is even a trendy thing in the gardening and homesteading community. They call it "permaculture" which is a fancy name for growing stuff that comes back the next year. Heck, almost all of it comes back for many years. And that is the sweet spot!
This essay lays out the approach by type starting with herbs. This is followed by berry plants and fruit trees. And the essay concludes with herbs and night shades that reseed easily.
PERENNIAL HERBS
Herb gardening is the easiest. Most tend to be drought tolerant, but they do need water at times, so be prepared to water once in awhile. These plants last well and are very cost effective if you do a lot of cooking at home. And if you do not cook a lot at home, growing these herbs will inspire you to do so.
The top perrenial herbs to grow include rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavender, french tarragon (in certain zones), mint and chives. They can be grown "traditionally" in ground but each can be grown in a container as well. In fact, if you do not have a space to restrict the spread of the mint - it is an invasive plant - you WANT to grow it in a container.
But, well maybe you DO want to grow it as a ground cover. It will grow about 18 inches high and will choke out many weeds in the area. Creeping rosemary will behave the same way. Herbs are great in the general landscape plan and non-creeping rosemary can even be grown as a hip-high edible hedge. How about that?
Greek Oregano in a 10 gallon container, December 2022. Woody plant is an elidia basil plant being saved for seed. Jamie Slate, photo.
GROWING BERRIES
Berry plants also make a good hedge. These include blackberry plants, raspberry plants and boysenberry plants. Grow them for landscape value (edge of your yard as a natural fence, for example) and edible value. The maintenance is lowest of levels. Water when needed but let nature to it for the most part.
You can feed the plants if you want once a year to ensure decent berry size. And your pruning is done once a year in the fall. Though you could tip them in the spring, too, to make them more bushy. In short, they are not difficult to maintain. And there are thornless varieties if that is an issue. Beware, however, they too are invasive so do not plant them where you do not want them to spread.
Can you use berries as a ground cover? Absolutely. Get your strawberry patch going and voila, a flowering ground cover that is also edible! Strawberries are low maintenance as well. You do have to keep them from spreading too far and must replace them every 3-5 years, but otherwise, they are just there doing their thing.
THE ULTIMATE SPECIES FOR PERMACULTURE
And then, of course, are fruit trees. Many folk in the suburbs have a new house built or buy one from a developer that lacks any fruit trees. Options depends on your location, of course, but it is worth the research to fine a variety that is easy to grow in your area, which means you are not trying hard to grow something meant for another growing zone.
Fruit bearing trees include the crabapple tree, which is native to North America. My father had one of these and I never understood why until I got older. The fruit is small, not like a typical apple. But you can use them still to make jams and preserves and even cider. I know, that is "maintenance" of a different sort. So let us move on to less time consuming fruits to deal with once harvested.
Perimmon Trees are also native to North America. The fruit is about the size of a golf ball. They are sweet with a hint of caramel when ripe and soft. Good stuff if you like that.
Other trees native to North America include the paw paw, the mulberry, the cherry, the plum, and the elderberry. Too, though not actually trees, grape vines are low maintenance (annual pruning and spring feeding, but watering if necessary) and blueberries are a no-brainer if you live in optimal areas of North America.
Bruce Plum Tree in Spring of 2020. Jamie Slate, photo.
EASY MAINTENACE RE-SEEDING ANNUALS
Now a lot of folk do not fool with edible gardens because of the time needed to tend to the crops. And I fully understand that. Busy folk need down time not more chores to do once they get off of work or for the weekend. But there is an approach you can try to deal with annuals. And that is to grow only things that reseed easily.
For herbs, this includes cilantro, dill and basil. For nightshades this includes tomatoes, hot peppers and sweet peppers.
Annual herbs can be grown inground or in a container. For a container garden, simply plant your initial seeds in the container and go. Dill seeds and cilantro seeds should be planted in two week intervals to stagger your harvest.
You can save the dill seeds and cilantro seeds through out the season for staggered planting the next year. Stick them in a paper envelope, mark them and keep them in a cool dry place, like a sock drawer or a desk drawer. Nothing fancy.
At the end of the season scrape the remaining seeds into the container mix and cover with leafs or some type of loose mulch. Keep the container wet during the next spring and they will come back. Sow the dill and cilantro seeds you saved as needed.
Ground Grown elidia basil in spring 2022 sewn by the seed scraping method in fall 2021. Jamie Slate, photo.
A similar approach can be taken with tomatoes and peppers. Also, nurseries provide many cultivars intended for container gardening. You can lower your bending by growing these in containers, and preferable on a deck or platform of some type. This makes everything easier to do, including watering. These plants need even water. Simply walk by, stick a finger in the dirt a few inches and you will know immediately if water is needed.
You can also purchase hybrid plants that are resistant to pests, which can cause you time and heartbreak. Just go with the hyrbids if all you want is the pepper or tomato. Heirlooms may taste better but they require a lot of time to "baby" as they grow. You want hybrids if you are trying a passive gardening approach and including these in your passive gardening plans.
But what about reseeding? At the end of the season let the fruit dry on the vine and bury the seed in the container. The best tomato to use for this approach is the cherry tomato. Simply let some drop and rot or help them into the pot near the end of the season. We grow the Sweet 100 this way and have had the"family" growing since 2018. For hot peppers, cayennes are your choice. For sweet peppers go with the banana pepper. Just let some dry out on the vine and braek the pods above the soil then work them into the soil. Easy.
Note: Open pollinated hot peppers will cross with other hot peppers and sweet peppers. So, if you are growing banana peppers and cayenne peppers keep them as far apart as possible. Else you will bite into a banana pepper and burn your tongue on next year's fruit. :) On the other hand, you might enjoy finding a Frankenstein pepper next year, to each their own.
Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato Returning for the New Season, Spring 2021. Jamie Slate, Photo.
OTHER PASSIVE CROPS
As a side note, onions, garlic and shallots are passive as well and they grow easily in containers. Radish, carrots and beets are passive too and can also be grown in containers.
Detriot Red Beets grown in a produce crate as a container, Spring 2022. Jamie Slate, photo.
THE NON-PASSIVE CROPS
Things to avoid if you wish to keep it passive are okra (daily harvest load once they come in); bush crops (lots of bending) unless in a container; beans (daily harvest load once they come in); squash, cucumbers and melons(too much time dealing with pests and polliation issues); corn (heavy nitrogen needs, lots of feeding); potatoes (moisture and pest issues, bending required) and anything that is not really suited for your growing area. The above crops require a LOT of time and can be backbreaking and hard on the knees.
FINAL THOUGHTS
How about a New Year's Resolution to start a passive garden for the year? Become a passive garderner! Your age does not matter. To make it easy simply start with the herbs. They are the best way to get started! And if you already garden and do not grow herbs, shame on you! Just kidding, to each their own.
Happy Gardening!
Jamie
Tabasco Pepper Ready To Harvest, Fall 2022. Jamie Slate, photo.
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