Does anyone have experiance with biannuals living more than two years? I’ve got a few parsley, chard and brussel sprouts that went to seed in their second year and are now coming back for a third year. I’ve also got a single celery coming back for a fourth year. I’m in northern Michigan zone 6a/b.
Is this something that happens occationally? Are these plants learning to be perennials?
I just got done reading a book called “Teaming With Microbes” by Jeff Lowenfels. It states that annual crops prefer soil that is bacterially dominated and perennials prefer fungally dominant soil. It doesn’t say much about biannuals so I assume they are somewhere in between.
My garden is in an old oak forest. I’ve never had the soil tested for microbes but I’m assuming the native soil is very much fungally dominated. I’ve added loads of compost but don’t till which supposedly increases fungi and I use half broken down oak leaves as mulch which also increases fungal activity.
My theory is that my biannuals are adapting to the available soil microbes and creating long lasting relationships with the fungi. As opposed to the shorter term relationships that most annuals form with soil bacteria.
It has always been my intention to move more towards perrenial/permaculture type gardening so I’m quite pleased actually. Just curious if I’m in a unique situation or if this is common.
Any thoughts or experiences would be much appreciated.
I don’t know about the other two, but I’ve had chard attempt to be at least a short-lived perennial. In fact, I had a chard overwintering this year after two really DEEEP cold snaps (in the single digits both winters!), it was still quite healthy after all that cold and flowering last year. Unfortunately, something took it out at the roots (vole?) Still, I’ve had this happen before… in the past I just pulled the rest of the plant in spring like an idiot, instead of seeing how long it could go and whether it would flower repeatedly. I saved a little seed from it, so if one of the offspring tries to go for a third year, I’ll let it and see where it goes.
I’m curious, do you till or mulch? Have large trees nearby? What variety(s) of chard? It looks like we’re in the same zone. I’ve got a little seed from my chard as well. It is a green Fordhook chard, very tastey cooked or raw. Let me know if you’re interested in swapping a little seed. Thanks!
I don’t till, and while I do mulch sometimes, the vole-struck plant was not mulched at all because I had to abandon gardening last fall before frost due to a surgery. There is a tree nearby, but it doesn’t provide any real winter protection. As for variety, I have no idea… I had some older chard seeds (all heirloom types) that I mixed up and threw all around the empty spaces in my raised beds. It may have been Fordhook, thick white vein and large green leaves. I know it wasn’t one of the rainbow varieties.
Flat leaf parsley can live longer than two years, particularly in a sheltered spot. The perennial kales can live for several years. This year I have acquired seed of the Homesteaders Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Mix and will be planting it soon. I think that plants that produce large quantities of seed are your best prospects for lifespan extension projects. My guess is that many plants possess latent abilities which in human cultivation have been selected against, but the genome still contains the genes. Especially when genetic diversity is intentionally fostered by the gardener.
My parsley that’s coming back for a third year is actually a curled parsley. I picked up some of the kaleidoscope kale as well. Got it started in my greenhouse now. Hoping to cross it with my dwarf siberian kale that does well here and produced a ton of seeds last year. I think you are correct about the ‘latent abilities’. I’m hoping my soil conditions and gardening practices are helping to coax out their perennial abilities.
We’ve had chard and various brassicas come back multiple years. I don’t know how long they would go because they end up getting too big for the spot they’re in so we cut them out.
Thanks! I guess like most things in nature, the lines between annual, biannual and perennial are quite blurred. Anyone have any annuals last more than a year? I know there are true annuals and there are plants grown as annuals in certain climates.