Have you ever wished your vegetable garden could be a
little less work and a little more rewarding?
Well, today we're digging into one of the smartest and tastiest
ways to grow food in Minnesota, edible perennial vegetables and
some of the wild perennial foods that nature loves to provide for
free. If you've ever stood in front of
your cart full of plans at the garden center thinking, OK,
which one is the thriller again, you're not alone.
Because somewhere along the way, container gardening turned into
casting a Broadway show. That one's the star, that one's
the backup dancer, and this one just hangs out the stage
dramatically. Today we're talking about the
plot method, our signature way of designing containers that
actually look like you knew what you were doing all along.
Hello and welcome to the Pedal and Plot Pod, a seasonal plant
stories and garden tips podcast. Where are your hosts?
I'm Anissa. And I'm Eric.
Like annual vegetables like tomatoes, beans or lettuce that
need to be planted every year, perennial vegetables come back
on their own season after season.
Plant them once, care for them well, and they'll be feeding you
for years. And in Minnesota, where our
growing season is short and winters are long, perennial
vegetables can be especially valuable.
These Hardy plants wake up early in spring, often before annual
gardens are even ready to be planted.
They anchor the soil, support and create reliable harvests
with less yearly effort. And beyond the garden, Minnesota
Woodlands, meadows and hedgerows are filled with edible perennial
plants, many of which you can cultivate in your home garden,
too. Let's start with one of the most
well known perennial vegetables, asparagus.
Asparagus is a fantastic crop for Minnesota gardeners.
Once established, an asparagus patch can produce for 15 to 20
years or more. The catch, though, is patient.
It takes about two to three years before you can harvest
much, but after that, every spring, you get those tender
shoots with very little effort. And after the third year, during
warm weather, you can check daily as the Spears grow so
rapidly. And after every harvest, the
plant grows into feathery bright green fronds that turn bright
yellow in the fall. It will definitely add texture
and beauty to your garden. Eric, do you grow asparagus or
have you seen it in the wild accidentally?
No, no, to both of those. I feel like, you know, the only
thing time I've seen asparagus is that you know, the garden
center when it's in the pot still.
I feel like only or it's on the grill already for me.
Yeah, asparagus is one of those plants that will often escape
cultivation and jump out of the garden into the wild.
And so I've often gone foraging for wild asparagus.
But it's so fun to see it in the fall because if you're like
hiking through the woods, there'll suddenly be this like,
look what looks like a bright golden 3 foot high shrub that is
like a burning Bush. Like it's so bright and so fine.
Like it's feathery and really fine textured.
It's so pretty. Yeah.
Another classic is rhubarb. Rhubarb is one of the toughest
edible perennials you can grow. It shrugs off harsh winters and
can thrive for decades in the same place.
Those red stalks are one of the earliest spring harvests,
perfect for pies, sauces and preserves.
Just remember, though, only the stalks are edible.
The leaves are toxic and should not be eaten.
Eric, I know we were talking earlier about how fun it is to
see the little rhubarb brains come up because it's one of the
first plants you can see come out of the ground.
Yes, I know. Super cool, I think.
Yeah. Yeah, and it's getting to be
about ready to eat now. They're still small, but
technically ready to eat. Do you have a favorite way of
eating rhubarb? Yeah, I mean, ever since I grew
up, I feel like jam was my favorite because I feel like I'd
have it every morning on toast, which is always enjoyable.
And then some pies, I feel like, or bars, as we would obviously
have here in Minnesota. Yeah, I feel like it's a
classic. In my family it was always pies
and crumbles. So my mom, my grandma, my
sister, they are all pie makers. And so that was like my great
grandmother. And so rhubarb pie was always a
really popular one. Me personally, I'm not a Baker,
but I do like making jam. So I like making rhubarb jam and
I like making it with brown sugar instead of white sugar.
So I has a little bit more of a pie taste to it.
Yeah. Yummy.
Yeah, Yum. And then, of course, we have our
alliums. Chives are one of the most
popular perennial vegetables that people have in their
gardens. And there's also walking onions,
which are Hardy onions that produce little bulbs at the top
of their stalks. And when the stalks bend over,
the bulbous roots begin to grow in a new place, so the plant
walks through the garden overtime.
We have our native wild onions in Minnesota, Allium stilette,
the Prairie onion, and allium sternum, the nodding wild onion.
Nodding Wild Onion actually volunteered in my garden, so I
got that little gift, probably from a neighbor, so that's fun.
Very fun. As I say, the only ones I have
of that are just regular chives, which I love.
Yeah, I mean 1-1 to have as like a herb or whatever to use.
But also I feel like I think it's pretty.
I don't know, I like that it adds that texture into the
garden. So you know me, I feel like
anything I'm going to have that's like edible or whatever
has to also be like pretty it. Also has to look good.
Yeah, yeah, all alliums are edible, but a lot of people only
use them ornamentally, like those big Millennium alliums and
stuff like that. Yes, yeah, absolutely.
I've even seen and have thought about creating a hedge of chive,
which I think would be really cool.
I've seen it before in someone else's garden and it actually
looked really good and you can easily trim it.
You know what I mean? As well as needed.
Maybe once in the in the season, it grows back so quickly, so
well, that's. A great idea.
Yeah, every part of the allium is edible, so you can eat the
bulbs, the stocks and the flowers.
So if you ever want to add a fun little pom pom element to your
salad, you can throw the flowers on as well.
And then there are sun chokes, also called Jerusalem
artichokes. These tall sunflower relatives
produce edible tubers underground with a nutty, sweet
flavor. They're productive, hearty and
thrive in Minnesota, but they spread aggressively, so plant
them where they have lots of room.
And one that I have a personal love hate relationship with is
horseradish. I went a little buckwild
planting horseradish in my yard back in the day.
And maybe you shouldn't have planted it everywhere because
once you have horseradish, you will always have of horseradish.
It is very hard to get rid of. But also all of the parts of
horseradish are edible. The leaves are kind of like a
spicy green kale. And it's really fun to make your
own horseradish sauce or wasabi. Did you know that most wasabi
you get in restaurants is made out of horseradish mustard and
green dye? That real wasabi is actually
really difficult to cultivate and pretty.
Expensive. I mean, I knew it was made of
that, but I didn't know like the expense of it and how much it
cost to actually create. Yeah, I think I've only had real
wasabi once, and it was about $25 for a hefty tablespoon of
it. Yeah, so DIY your wasabi, folks.
And there are a bunch of perennial herbs.
Sorel is 1. It has lemony leaves that emerge
early in spring, often before the rest of the garden has woken
up. That bright tartness brings life
to soups, salads and sauces at a time when fresh greens are
pretty scarce. Lovage is another cold Hardy
perennial. It tastes like bold celery,
grows tall and dramatic, and provides flavorful leaves, stems
and seeds Year after year. Both use and ornamental.
I feel like you would have maybe lovage in your garden because it
has that celery stock look. Yeah, I have grown it just
actually just in my vegetable garden alongside all my salad
greens and other things before. Yeah.
So yeah, yeah, it was pretty. Paragon will also grow into like
a 2 foot high shrub in Minnesota, which I learned on
accident because I did not think it was a perennial, but now I
have a tarragon shrub so that's fun.
Kind of fun. I don't know.
I think that's fun. Yeah.
There's somewhere you didn't want it to be.
Right. I did move it when I when I
realized what was happening. I know there's probably so many
other herbs. Are there any off the top of
your head that I missed? There's so many herbs and things
that we could add to that, but. Yeah, I mean, I usually get my
time to come back every year. I I, I feel like I have to put
in a little bit in a slight protective spot.
But usually that comes back every year for me, which I love.
I feel like I have a lemon thyme that's been back every the last
five years or so now. Yeah, I love that.
I also, well this isn't perennial, but I also keep like
Rosemary in a pot. So like a 20 inch pot that I
bring in and out, but I have Rosemary all year long.
Yeah, my parents used to have a really big one that they did the
same thing. Now let's step beyond the garden
fence and into the woods where one of spring's most celebrated
wild foods appears. Fiddleheads.
Fiddleheads are the tightly coiled young fronds of certain
ferns, especially ostrich ferns. For a brief moment in spring,
before the Fern unfurls, the curled shoots can be harvested
and cooked or pickled. Their flavor is often described
as a cross between asparagus and green beans, with a fresh
woodland taste that feels like the very essence of spring.
Foraging fiddleheads is a seasonal ritual for many people
in northern climates, a celebration of the first wild
green growth after winter. But many people also have
ostrich ferns in their yard. I know I do, and fiddleheads are
one of my favorite perennial vegetables to harvest from my
yard. In fact, I need to thin mine
out, so if anybody wants some, hit me up.
But caution matters here. Not all Fern fiddleheads are
edible, and some can be toxic, so proper identification is
essential. Another beloved Minnesota Wild
perennial is ramps, or wild leeks.
Ramps emerge in shady Woodlands in the spring, sending up tender
green leaves with a pungent onion garlic aroma.
They are treasured by foragers and chefs alike, but because
they grow slowly, overharvesting can wipe out local populations.
And that's been a huge issue around here.
And many people are working at educating people about this, and
some people are even cultivating them at home to then reintroduce
them into their wild habitats. Wow.
Interesting. Yeah.
So cultivating ramps at home is going to be a more sustainable
way to enjoy them. Wild violets are another
overlooked edible perennial. These tiny spring flowers spread
through lawns and woodland edges, returning every year with
cheerful purple blooms. But the flowers and leaves are
edible. The flowers can be candied or
added to salads or made into jam, while the leaves can be
eaten fresh or cooked. They're delicate, beautiful, and
completely edible, a reminder that food can be hiding in plain
sight. In fact, there are many edible
perennial flowers that can be tossed into salads or made into
jellies or fried up into fritters.
Dandelion. All parts of the dandelion are
edible. Steamed with wild geranium.
Let's see, there's also Maple Flowers Day.
Lovely flowers, peonies, Columbine, chamomile B bong and
assistive calendula, echinacea. The list goes on.
Wow, that was a list. Yeah, and I didn't even name
them all. And don't even get me started on
tea. I'll have to do a whole other
podcast about. Tea.
Agreed. Yes, we need to have a tea
conversation. Spill the tea, please.
Yes, and of course this is not an exhaustive list by any means,
but I want to end with one of my favorite ones.
Any guesses on what it might be, Eric?
I would have thought it would have been the fiddlehead ferns,
but no, I don't know. It's stingy nettles.
It's. Stingy nettles lady stung.
I've been stung, yes. Which I also grow in my yard. 10
out of 10 would recommend. Stinging nettle might look like
an unfriendly plant at first, but once cooked it becomes a
nutritious green rich in minerals and flavor.
You just need to either dry it out or cook it to neutralize its
stinging hairs, So you may want to wear gloves when harvesting
it. But stinky nettle is a nutrient
dense superfood containing more protein than many other green
vegetables. It is high in vitamins, AC and
K, as well as B vitamins, and it is a rich source of calcium,
iron, magnesium and potassium. It's high in antioxidants,
contains phylophenols, ferritinoids, flavonoids that
all protects cells from damage caused by free radicals, and it
is considered very high in protein.
For a leafy green with dried leaves containing 30 to 40%
protein, suppressing many other vegetables and even some meats
by weight. It provides a complete protein
source containing all nine essential amino acids, making it
one of the most nutrient dense perennial wild foods in
Minnesota. Name a better plant, Eric.
You can't. Sticky milk for the win.
I feel like you just did a whole speech for it, you know, Like if
it didn't win the election, it definitely just did.
Yep, and they're coming up right now.
They're about four or five inches right now, so you can go
find them. They're ready.
Nettles can be used like spinach in soups, pestos, or sautees.
One of my favorite things to make with them is Hispanicapita.
Basically any recipe you would use spinach in, you can use
stinging nettles and it is way more filling because it is so
high in protein. And of course, I also really
like making it into tea. Perennial vegetables and foraged
foods invite us to think beyond one season.
Instead of planting and harvesting in a single cycle,
they teach patience, stewardship and attention.
They remind us that abundance can be built over time.
And in Minnesota, where the seeds are dramatic and winter
feels endless, those first returning greens, whether
asparagus Spears in the garden or fiddleheads in the forest,
carry a kind of promise. A promise that food returns and
that the landscape provides if we care for it.
All right, so today we're talking about garden design and
we're going to talk about a method that's a little more
intuitive, a little more design forward, and honestly, like a
lot more fun. We're going to talk about the
plot method for creating your container designs.
So plot PLOT stands for pot layers, outlook and texture.
And this is how we like to design containers from like the
ground UO before you even think about plants, your container is
doing a lot of the heavy lifting in design.
And so the size, the shape, the placement, if you think about
where is this going to be placed by my front door on a patio, out
in the blazing sun, in the shady area, all of that matters.
And your pot really sets the stage before a single plant even
goes in it, right? And he said, do you do container
gardening or do container design?
I don't. Really do much besides like the
big flower troughs and pots in front of my house and those they
usually theme just in like red, pink and Peach begonias with
some kind of green that cascades over the side.
Usually coleus, sometimes other things.
Yeah, yeah. And then I mean, pots can be
anywhere. I use one as like a focal point
in the garden. So it's not traditionally, if
you will like on a patio or front door entrance situation.
I also have them there as well and they have a really large
window boxes and you sick and attest to.
So I have lots of containers that I use, but I think the
biggest thing I've learned over the years is to really think
critically of like the container you're going to use.
I think one from aesthetic standpoint of like, does this
container fit within my garden or connect to my home or style?
And then I think the biggest thing is size.
And I get it because you go to go buy a pot that you want to
crate in and you might be like, oh, I don't know, I don't want
to spring the extra $100 for this really big pot.
Like that's expensive. I'm just going to go with this
one. But the reality is you might be
a little disappointed because that pot may really not fill the
space that you're planning to put in it.
So if it's like a full 10 feet of open space that just feels
like the pot should go here, You really need to think that the
pot needs to take up at least 1/3 of that total space.
Think like the vertical or width space of that kind of gives you
an idea of like what kind of pot you might need.
And not to say there are places for tiny pots or medium sized
pots, but you do have to take a little bit into perspective the
scale, right? And to make it feel like it's
substantial enough to be there and hold its ground.
And then obviously color matters because you have to think what
color is this pot and how does it, you know, work with the
types of plantings I may put in there or work with the
surrounding area? I've actually made this mistake.
I thought I had really great pots and for whatever reason, I
chose all green pots that I was putting throughout my garden.
And I was like, well, that was silly, Eric.
Like I can't even see the pots. They just blend in with all the
other green, right? So learned a lesson.
And so now all my pots have more of a coppery rusty theme because
that pops within my garden, but it also marries with the other
colors that are happening, you know, on my patio or colors on
my home. Next up is L for layers.
So think height, mid layer, edge, trail.
And so it's about creating movement and balance.
So turning your container as you plant it is also important.
So if it's viewed from many angles, you have to consider how
you're using that space up. If it's up against a wall, then
it might be very straight on or in a corner.
So I think it's interesting to think of like how layers need to
represent themselves. And so not every container needs
a thriller. Sometimes the drama is
restrained, right? So you can have maybe one tall
item and then maybe it's just like low edge, like trailers on
the bottom. Like maybe you have so much else
going around around this pot that you need a little more
restraint, less chaos happening. But like, simplicity is also
important so you don't have to follow a rule of, you know, it
needs to have a thriller, a filler and a Spiller always.
And actually might look better if you restrained.
And maybe you just have something with tall height and
something that just spills over the edges.
That might be the planter itself.
And you see, you talked a little bit about what you plant in your
containers and things in the front, but have you ever planted
something like huge or high in those containers before?
Yes, one time I decided to put Cosmos in there.
A big mistake. I do not go.
I thought it would be just like, really fun.
It looked terrible. Oh.
No. Maybe it needed a little friend
to hold it up. Yeah, I.
Tried to sort of stake it and then it just, you know, never
again. I do like to layer because
they're right up against the house.
I put the taller ones in the back row and then the medium row
and then the short row in the front.
Kind of a situation, right? Yeah.
Yeah, I always like to think of like what's my, if I have a
large pot, like what is the big element in that pot that maybe
is like, it doesn't have to be a thriller, but it could just be
something that holds the ground. So like I've used small
evergreens. I feel like I've done vining
pieces. So if you really create a little
trellis in that and have something vining up, Mandavila
is great to do that, obviously as an annual, but I also love
adding perennials. So many times we think just
annuals, but perennials are great to use.
And then after you're done with the container for the season,
they can go into your landscape and you just added some new
plants. So that's maybe a great way to
like get double your money out of it.
I've also done house plants, so I know there's tropicals, but
sometimes we don't always think of literally like the house
plants like philodendrons or hoyas or other things that you
could utilize. And I found some really cool
ways to kind of utilize large house plants.
Even taking some of the ones I've kept inside my home and
then replanting them in this container for the summer has
worked out well. That's a great.
Idea. I also really like the delicate
way that curly Willow functions as a tall piece.
Like, yeah, A. Little understated.
But really elegant looking, yeah.
You make a really good point. It doesn't have to be an actual
plant either, right? Like you could just use the
twigs, you could use an obelisk structure, you know what I mean?
That just gives you height. OK, we're on the OO is for
Outlook or kind of like our color story.
So this is honestly probably where the magic happens.
And this is your color story, your mood, your vibe, right?
We're thinking about are we doing soft and romantic, bold
and tropical, high contrast and modern?
Like what is kind of my mood story theme here that I'm
putting together? And it is, it really is, you
know, and I get inspiration in so many different ways.
I, I change it up, you know, year over year where some years
I'm feeling hot and spicy and other times I'm feeling like
cool and mellow, right? I feel like I.
Never know what to expect from your containers because they're
always like a totally different vibe every year, which is I
love. That's awesome, yeah.
And I think this is probably where some people maybe miss a
beat a little bit is like, they have actually like color
problems. And I think some of it's because
you didn't come in with a plan and a a color story to start
with. So you show up the garden center
and you're like, that looks cool.
And then you're like, oh shoot, now I was anticipating, you
know, something really like soft and Pasteli, but now I've got
this like bold Canna Lily or something like that that's like
screaming for more attention. And so I feel like it's
important to pick like 2 to three main colors and like stick
to them. Too many colors or visual chaos
and, and just not the good kind, right?
And so this is not the time to say I I just loved all of them.
That's how we end up with a container that looks like a
clearance rack, right? So I know like this year, I feel
like in more of my front containers, I'm thinking more of
this like limey yellow, white, pastely blue, like soft color.
Like it's kind of like this Little Mix of just like
softness, but like kind of staying thin these greens a
little bit and not being too over the top in bright oranges
or Reds or things that maybe I've used in the past.
Subtle. Subtle.
Yes, I have the party in the back, right, like on my patio
that's going to be bright and loud, but in the front of the
house I'm in being inviting. All right, so then the last one
T is for texture. And you say, I know, you know, I
love some good texture, if you like, in all my designs, I'm
constantly doing that, and probably in my own garden.
Yeah, you have a. Really good eye for texture for
sure. Yeah, I.
Really like to, you know, play and contrast with, you know,
different, you know, bold leaves versus fine foliage, you know,
that soft versus structured, matte versus glossy.
You kind of almost have to take the mindset of eliminate the
flower and just, you know, the foliage in itself or the
structure of that plant in itself.
Like how does that hold up? If you were to put them
together, can you distinguish one from the other or do they
kind of just meld all together and you'd only have the flowers
that distinguish it? And I think that's an important
difference. Sometimes your flowers can like
slow down in the summer months and then you're really kind of
left with foliage. So having that texture and that
richness just really helps add like another level, I feel like
to a container that sometimes we forget about.
So if everything again is like the same size and leaf shape,
your container is really going to kind of feel kind of flat no
matter how pretty the flowers are.
And textures really that basically the difference between
like a good outfit and one where people stop and look at you and
say, Oh my God, where did you get that right?
Are you a bold texture person in in some of the things that you
plant Anissa you know to be. Honest texture isn't my first go
to thought so I feel like probably because listening to
you talk about your gardens more is kind of something I've been
more recently thinking more about and having those layers of
texture. But yeah, having something
that's feathery next to something that's broad Leafs
because it breaks up the space when you're looking at it.
I mean, I think I definitely error on the side of think
considering color first, right? But texture is so important as
well. Yeah, I mean.
I love a good Carricks. You can throw a little Carricks
into a container, like, I'm in love, right?
Let it spill over the edge. Let it just, like, be spidery or
whatever. Like, yeah.
Yeah, that's a fun texture. So let's talk about kind of the
big shift here. So we're talk about thriller
filler Spiller, which is a great starting point, right?
It really is. But it can also kind of box
people in and makes you think I need one of each check the box,
right? Done.
And so the plot method is really thinking of it starts with the
container, not the plant. It focuses on design principles,
not just the plant rules and kind of gives you flexibility
instead of like rules that you have to follow.
So you have, you can have multiple thrillers, you can have
no spillers and you can break the rules and still end up with
something that's beautiful. So we're not firing thriller
filler, Spiller, we're just giving it a promotion into
something more sophisticated. So when you're standing in the
garden center this spring, cart filling up quickly, no plan
insight, just remember, PLOT. Pick your pot first, build your
layers, choose your outlook, mix your textures, and suddenly it
all comes together. Anissa, do we have a garden
question today? Well, yes we do.
Let me see here, OK? Jasper writes in and asks.
I get a ton of volunteer Elm trees in my yard.
I try to pull them up when they're young, but sometimes the
risk gets so long I can't get them out and it just returns.
How can I get them under control?
Oh my God, I feel. Like I mean, it's always
frustrating when you when you have them.
I feel like my first impression is like, I would never allow it
to happen in the 1st place, but as soon as I see anything, I'm
like, I'm ripping those things out, right?
Because you know what's going to happen.
Yeah, so. Prevention is the best medicine
with weed trees, but I know in my gardens they they get away
from me and I when I'm like trying to clean up a space,
sometimes I do the big mistake. This is the worst mistake of
just cutting them with my pruners so they go away, which
actually encourages growth. It does.
That's. A great thing to help for
people, yeah. So that now that weed tree is
studying them, like fight for survival, I'm putting all my
energy into growing back. And you know, I have found
sometimes when they're too big to pull with my hands, I'll get
out like pliers and like wrap them around pliers and then get
that extra leverage to pull it out.
But then I've also, this particularly happened, I think
in my Blvd. where they got so sick and gnarly that nothing I
was doing could work. I couldn't dig them out with a
shovel because they were too close to other things that I
would have disturbed. And so I ended up putting like I
cut some of a black garbage bag and then wrapped the top of it
with that black garbage bag and secured it with like, I don't
know what I did if I tied it somehow and then buried it and
so basically smothering it to death.
And that worked pretty well when it when they just got so big I
couldn't get the root out anymore.
That worked pretty well. I know I've.
Done because my neighbor had some of those growing up against
the house, which is never great, right?
And I know they cut them all down and then obviously it
pushed new growth to just keep going.
And I it's not a obvious ideal for everyone, but I mean, in
that case, like the stump was painted with like a concentrated
herbicide that helps kill the plant as some like, I feel like
there's some other things by Bonnide that they have that I
believe are organic to use but also will kill like suckers.
And I'm curious if that would work at all in that space too.
But I feel like in some cases you have to be extreme or you
end up hiring someone to come out and literally dig it out,
you know, and get all the roots and everything out of it.
Because I get sometimes if you've just bought a new home
and that's, this is what you've inherited and it's already like
established itself too, which is hard.
Yeah. For sure.
Yeah, yeah. So get after it early if you
can. If not, you're definitely going
to take some other measures. But at least I like the ones
that you shared, as well as some other ways that might work that
maybe seem a little less invasive with herbicides and
things too. Stitching time saves 9.
If you have a gardening question you'd like us to answer, please
write to us at pedalandplot@gmail.com.
And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone you
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