Today I counted twenty different kinds of plants growing in the small kitchen garden bed closest to the house. Of the twenty different species –
19 are edible
6 are perennial
10 are self-seeding annuals or biennials
4 require annual sowing by us
The bed is four feet by seven feet, about the same square footage as a queen size mattress. As I made a quick mental inventory of the edible plants growing in the bed, I had a startling revelation: If this bed was our entire garden, we would have something fresh to eat virtually every day year-round!
The giant cress and corn salad grow through all but the coldest winter weather, and kale puts in a good appearance late into fall and again in early spring. The fresh herbs are harvested most of the year and also dried for anytime use.
Any bare soil showing in earliest spring is plugged full of pea and fava beans. You can usually cut the shoots for fresh eating once or twice without harming the plant. In May and June we chop-and-drop some buckwheat, bolting lettuce, and spent corn salad to make room for bush beans.
Here’s the full plant list –
Peas – sown annually by us
Fava beans – sown annually by us
Chives – perennial
Parsley – self-seeded annual or biennial
Kale – self-seeded annual or biennial
Bush Beans – sown annually by us
Phacelia – self-seeded annual or biennial (non-edible)
Oregano – perennial
Italian chicory – self-seeded annual or biennial
Walking onions – perennial
Perennial bunching onions – perennial
Buckwheat – self-seeded annual or biennial
Corn salad – self-seeded annual or biennial
Giant cress – self-seeded annual or biennial
Lettuce – self-seeded annual or biennial
Marjoram – perennial
Borage – self-seeded annual or biennial
Lemon thyme – perennial
Shallots – sown annually by us
Arugula – self-seeded annual or biennial
(With cherry, eleagnus, currant, and artichoke in the back.)