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Imagine your table loaded with fresh, flavorful asparagus that makes the grocery store asparagus taste like cardboard; strawberries bursting with juice; grapes with rich, wine-like flavors like you've never tasted before. All this is possible through the practice of home permaculture.

Permaculture sounds like a hot new trend in gardening, but its simply the ages-old practice of growing food -producing plants that regrow each year without having to be planted from seed and without having to disturb the soil. Perennial crops range from herbaceous plants like asparagus, to fruit-bearing trees. Done properly, permaculture supports a healthy soil food web and reduces work for the gardener. The soil should be prepared before planting by amending it with plenty of compost. Let the soil rest before planting, then after planting use compost, shredded leaves, or wood chips as a mulch to feed the soil microbes that in turn feed the plants. Be careful to walk only on pathways through the garden to prevent soil compaction. Add a couple of inches of fresh mulch each year, and you won't have to disturb the soil at all.

Permaculture crops can be divided in to four general categories: herbaceous perennials, vines and canes, shrubs, and trees.

HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS
Asparagus is perhaps the most popular herbaceous permaculture crop of all. Preparing an asparagus bed involves quite a bit of work, but a well-prepared asparagus patch pays off with an abundant crop early each spring. Shoots that are allowed left uncut turn into tall, feathery, fern-like plants that are a beautiful backdrop to perennial flowers and herbs.

Artichokes require quite a bit of room, but these huge members of the thistle tribe are a gourmet's delight. The plants themselves can provide a prickly screen along one side of your property as you wait for the globe-like heads - actually flower buds - to mature.

Rhubarb is a perennial plant that produces thick, juicy, tangy leaf petioles that are sliced up for pies, jellies, and juices. Once established in full sun, it will continue to produce year after year so long as the gardener stops picking as spring draws to an end and lets the leaves produce food for the root.

A strawberry patch is a perennial source of juicy berries. Plants older than about three years don't bear as well as younger plants, but they can be removed, letting the younger offshoots take over. Also try the tiny Alpine strawberries, which do not form runners. These bear tiny berries with the full flavor

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