Many fresh, healthy vegetables offer detox benefits and these hardy, resilient plants are easy to grow and look after. Yet a surprising number of gardeners avoid planting fruit and veg altogether, believing that growing your own food is too much work for the resulting yields. The fact is, it needn’t take more effort than any other kind of gardening. Chances are you already put time into soil preparation, planting, watering, weeding and pest control – so why not reward those efforts with not just a garden full of beautiful flowers and shrubs, but also some delicious home-grown vegetables?
Green leaves – Leafy veg make a tasty and versatile ingredient, delicious in salads in the summer and soups and stews in the winter. Consider varieties such as Daubenton’s kale, peppery wild rocket, or sorrel with its unique, subtle citrus flavour. Nine star perennial broccoli is also worth growing, offering both robust cauliflower-like heads and leaves that can be shredded and used in coleslaw… or even stir fried.
Onions and other Alliums – How can you say no to a year-round supply of onions? From salads, coleslaws, soups and stews to curries, quiches and everything in between, few veggies are so versatile. As well as the common onion (Allium cepa) other worthy relations include leeks, garlic, spring onions and chives – each uniquely flavourful..
Root crops – Various delicious but unusual perennial root vegetables out there that will add remarkable flavours to detox dishes. Skirret (Sium sisarum) offers a white, sweet potato-like root that’s ideal for boiling or roasting. More exotic tuber crops include South America yacón, which have a sweet, almost fruity flavour, and tangy oca (Oxalis tuberosa, also known as the New Zealand yam) which provides edible leaves as well as the tasty root. And then there’s celeriac, sweet potatoes, turnip, swede and even purple carrots as regular staples.
Fig trees – Once planted against a sunny wall, or in a large container, a fig tree is a crop that keeps on giving and are great for healthy bowels..
Applying a polyculture approach – Such as companion planting to help soil fertility, attract beneficial insects and confuse pests – will help keep your edible perennials healthy throughout the year, ensuring good crops of tasty veg in all seasons.
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