9 Plants You Must Grow Now to Feed You for 10 Years

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Replanting your vegetable garden every year is exhausting work for a harvest that's over before you know it. But there's a better way. These nine perennial vegetables come back stronger every season, some for 20 years or more.

[00:00:13]Plant them once, learn a few simple tricks, and let them do the rest.

[00:00:20]Asparagus. The 20-year investment. First on the list is the undisputed king of perennial vegetables, asparagus. When you plant asparagus, you're not just planting for this season. You're making an investment that can pay you back with delicious spears for 20 years or more.

[00:00:35]It's not uncommon to find gardeners whose asparagus beds were planted by their grandparents and are still producing. That's what an incredible return looks like. Now, the secret ingredient with asparagus is patience, especially in the first couple of years.

[00:00:49]It's usually grown from one-year-old dormant plants called crowns. Planting crowns is way faster than seed, letting you harvest a year or two earlier.

[00:00:58]You'll want to plant them in early spring in a dedicated bed that gets full sun because they really don't like to be disturbed. They need well- drained soil.

[00:01:06]So, if you have heavy clay, it's worth mixing in some compost or just using a raised bed. Here's the hard part. For the first year, you can't harvest a single spear. You have to let all the shoots grow up into their tall fern-like foliage. These ferns are like solar panels, sending energy down to the roots to build a strong foundation. In the second year, you can take a very light harvest, just a few spears. But by year three, you're ready for a full-on 8week harvest season every single spring. When it's time to harvest, just snap or cut the spears at ground level when they're about 6 to 8 in tall and the tips are still tight. The flavor of homegrown asparagus picked just moments before cooking is unbelievably sweet and tender. It's something you will just never find in a grocery store. After the harvest window closes, let the rest of the spears grow into ferns to recharge the crowns for next year's crop.

[00:01:57]Rhubarb, the indestructible pie plant.

[00:02:00]Next up is a plant that's practically indestructible and can be productive for 20 years or often much longer. Rhubarb.

[00:02:07]It's so hearty, it can survive down to -50° F or -45° C, making it one of the very first signs of life in the spring garden. Rhubarb is best planted from crowns in the spring or fall. It's a hungry plant, so give it a spot with rich, moist soil and feed it with compost or aged manure every year. Just like asparagus, it asks for a little patience. You shouldn't harvest at all in the first year and only lightly in the second to let the plant really establish itself. When it's time to harvest, the technique is key. Don't cut the stocks. Instead, grab a stock near the base and give it a firm twist and pull. This actually stimulates more growth. Only take stocks that are 10 to 12 in long or more. And never harvest more than about half the plant at once.

[00:02:56]And remember, the leaves are toxic due to high levels of oxylic acid, so they go straight to the compost pile, never on a plate. The main harvest is in spring and early summer. If you see a thick, round flower stock shooting up, cut it off right away. This forces the plant to put its energy into making more delicious stocks instead of seeds. A well-ared for rhubarb patch will give you all the stocks you need for pies, jams, and sauces for decades.

[00:03:24]Horseradish, the pungent powerhouse.

[00:03:26]Number three is a plant you need to be a little careful with, but the reward is immense. Horseradish. If you love that spicy, pungent kick, there is absolutely nothing like grating your own fresh horseradish root. The heat is so much more vibrant and fresh than anything you can buy in a jar. Horseradish is grown from root cutings or sets planted in early spring. It's not picky about soil, but does best in loose, fertile ground.

[00:03:54]Now, for the warning, horseradish can be incredibly invasive. Its roots spread aggressively, and any tiny piece of root left in the soil will sprout a new plant. To stop it from taking over your garden, a lot of people plant it in a deep buried container, like a big pot with the bottom cut out. You can start harvesting in the first year, but the flavor gets even better after a few frosts in the fall. To harvest, just dig up the main plant and take the large primary root. You can then replant the smaller side roots, and those pieces will grow into next year's plants. This annual harvesting process is actually the best way to keep the plant contained. To prepare it, just scrub the root clean, peel it, and grate it. The flavor compounds are only released when the root cells are crushed, so the heat builds as you grate. Mix it with a bit of vinegar to stabilize that heat and you'll have a condiment that will clear your sinuses and wake up any dish.

[00:04:50]Jerusalem artichokes, sun chokes, the prolific tuber. Coming in at number four is a plant with a bit of an identity crisis. The Jerusalem artichoke, also known as the sun choke. It's not an artichoke and it's not from Jerusalem.

[00:05:05]It's actually the tuber of a native North American sunflower. Sun chokes are one of the easiest food plants you could possibly grow. You plant the tubers, they look a bit like knobbyby ginger roots in almost any soil and they just go. They're so lowmaintenance that they can become invasive if you're not careful. So, it's smart to give them their own dedicated bed where they can't escape. The plants grow super tall, up to 10 ft, and get these beautiful yellow sunflower-like blooms in late summer.

[00:05:34]But the real magic happens underground.

[00:05:36]After the first frost in the fall, once the flowers have faded, you can dig up the tubers. They have a crisp, crunchy texture when raw, like a water chestnut with a nutty, slightly sweet flavor. You can slice them into salads or cook them just like potatoes, roasted, mashed, or tossed in soups. The best part about harvesting sun chokes is that you will never ever find all of them. Any little tuber you miss will sprout into a new plant the next spring, guaranteeing you'll have a harvest year after year.

[00:06:06]Just be sure you want them for the long haul because once you plant sun chokes, you will always have sun chokes.

[00:06:12]Perennial kale, the year round green.

[00:06:15]Number five on our list is a total gamecher for anyone who loves leafy greens. Perennial kale, unlike the common kales you plant every year, some varieties like taunt Dean or Dobington are true perennials that can live and produce for 5 to 10 years, sometimes even longer. These kales often grow into huge shrub-like plants. People sometimes call them tree kales that can get as tall as a person because they develop a deep woody root system. They're incredibly resilient and often more resistant to pests than their annual cousins. For example, a single ton kale can give greens for 6 years straight.

[00:06:55]Totally unfazed by winter cold or summer heat. You usually grow them from cutings, not seeds. Since many varieties don't flower, you just take a side chute, pop it in a pot of compost, and it'll root in a few weeks, giving you a whole new plant for free. Harvesting couldn't be simpler. Just pick the outer leaves as you need them all year round.

[00:07:16]This continuous haircut actually encourages the plant to produce more.

[00:07:21]The flavor is often richer and nuttier than annual kales, and it gets even sweeter after a frost. Having a perennial kale patch means you can walk out into your garden any day of the year and grab a handful of fresh greens. It's the ultimate cut and come again crop.

[00:07:36]Okay, we're halfway through the list and hopefully you're already feeling inspired to create a garden that works for you, not the other way around. If you're getting some good ideas from this, do us a quick favor and hit that subscribe button. It's really a huge help and you won't miss out on future tips. All right, let's get back to the perennial powerhouses. Garlic, the perennialized patch. Number six might surprise you because most people grow it as an annual, but garlic, especially the hard neck varieties, can easily be grown as a perennial, creating a self- sustaining patch that you might never have to replant. Here's how it works.

[00:08:13]Plant your garlic cloves in the fall like you normally would. The next summer, you can harvest some of the bulbs, but you just intentionally leave several in the ground. Each clove from that unharvested bulb will then sprout and grow into a brand new garlic plant the next season, forming a dense clump.

[00:08:30]Alternatively, with hard neck garlic, you can let the flower stocks or scapes fully mature. Instead of a flower, they produce a cluster of tiny bulbles at the top. If you let these drop to the ground, they'll root themselves and start a whole new generation of garlic plants. A perennial garlic patch gives you so many different harvests. In early spring, you can snip the tinder green shoots and use them like chives. A little later, you can harvest the delicious scapes for pesto or stir fries. And in summer, you can dig up some mature bulbs, always leaving plenty behind to keep the patch going. Over a few years, you'll have a permanent everexpanding supply of garlic that requires almost zero work. Welsh and tree onions. Next up at number seven, we have more aliiums that truly live by the plant once harvest forever philosophy.

[00:09:21]Welsh onions and Egyptian walking onions. Welsh onions, also known as bunching onions, are perennials that don't form a big bulb, but grow in clumps. You can harvest them by simply pulling a few stems from the outside of the clump, leaving the rest to keep multiplying. They give you a continuous supply of green onions for salads and stir fries basically year round in many climates. But even more fascinating are the Egyptian walking onions. These incredible plants don't make seeds.

[00:09:50]Instead, they form a cluster of tiny bulbs at the top of their stocks. As these get heavy, the stock bends over to the ground, and the little bulbs plant themselves, literally walking across your garden. Over time, you get three different harvests from this one plant.

[00:10:06]You can take the green shoots in the spring, the shellot-like bulbs underground in the summer, and the top set bulbless in late summer, which you can either eat or replant to expand your patch even faster. They're incredibly hearty and a fantastic, loweffort source of onion flavor. Swiss chard, the bianial that keeps giving. Number eight is another plant we often treat as an annual, but it can be a reliable multi-year producer, especially in milder climates, Swiss chard. As a biianial, its natural life cycle is two years. But if you harvest it right, you can often get several years of production from one planting. The key to making chard last is the harvest method.

[00:10:45]Never pull the whole plant. Instead, use the cut and come again technique.

[00:10:50]Harvest the outer leaves when they're a good size, always leaving the central growing point and the smaller inner leaves alone. This encourages the plant to constantly push out new leaves from the center. You can take a few leaves from each plant every single week. Chard is way less likely to bolt or go to seed in the summer heat compared to spinach, making it a super reliable summer green.

[00:11:13]It's also quite cold hearty. Charred plants can often survive the winter with just a bit of mulch, and they're one of the first things to pop back to life in the spring. It's an incredibly versatile green. The tender leaves are great raw in salads, while the larger leaves and crunchy stems can be sauteed or tossed in soups just like spinach or kale. By planting once, you can enjoy harvest for two or more years with almost no effort.

[00:11:38]Strawberries, the sweetest ground cover.

[00:11:40]Rounding out our list at number nine, we have a perennial fruit that everybody loves, strawberries. But for a long-term decadel long harvest, the trick is to choose the right type. While June bearing varieties give you one massive crop, it's the everbearing and day neutral varieties that are the true marathon runners. Everbearing varieties will typically give you a big crop in late spring and then smaller waves of fruit throughout the summer and fall.

[00:12:06]Day neutral varieties like se-scape or albian are even better. Fruiting steadily from spring right up until the first hard frost. This gives you a continuous supply of sweet berries for months rather than one giant glut you don't know what to do with. Strawberries also make a fantastic living mulch at the base of taller plants like asparagus. They spread using runners and to keep the original plants productive for years, it's a good idea to trim some of these runners off. Of course, you can also let some of them root to create new plants and expand your patch for free. A well-maintained bed of everbearing strawberries can easily remain productive for 5 to 10 years before needing a refresh. By choosing the right variety, you can be picking fresh, sunripened strawberries from your own garden for a huge part of the year. And that's the list. Nine of the easiest, most productive perennial plants to create a garden that truly sustains itself. As you can see, by choosing plants like asparagus, rhubarb, and artichokes, you can step off the yearly treadmill of tilling and replanting. You invest a little patience up front, and in return, you get a resilient, lowmaintenance food system that provides harvest for a decade or even a lifetime.