I'm Done Growing Annual Vegetables: An Elegy for Classic Gardening and Landscape Design

I love vegetables. I love to eat them. I’ve eaten them on porches and back steps, under summer light and winter cloud. I’ve pulled them from soil I amended by hand. I’ve bent to weed them in heat that wrung the salt from my skin.

And still—I don’t grow annuals.

Mix of annual and perennial vegetables in the OCS garden. Zone 8b. Pacific Northwest gardening at its best.

As a permaculture designer, I’m often asked to build out classic vegetable beds for clients. And I do, because it's what they expect. But if they give me even an inch of trust, I ask them to consider another way. A slower way. A way that remembers.

Over the past decade of design and digging, I’ve moved almost entirely away from annuals. My reasons are plain: time, money, labor—and if I’m honest, the heartbreak of watching something you’ve nurtured vanish with the frost.

If you're after a landscape that sustains both itself and you, start by scaling back the annuals. Better yet, eliminate them. That isn’t a loss—it's a liberation.

Over this series, I’ll walk you through how to build a perennial system that won’t cost you in flavor, diversity, or nourishment. One that rewards your presence in the garden instead of punishing it. You’ll grow more joy, and a lot less resentment.

Avoiding the Most Comment Mistakes in Edible Landscape Design

We’ll get into the species soon. That’s the fun part. But first, let’s talk about the ways people get this wrong.

No Defense in the Design

Know your enemies. Know your allies. Everything wants to eat before you do—deer, birds, slugs, your neighbor’s dog. You’ve probably already fought that fight, and you’re tired. Good. You’re ready. Go read the article I wrote on defensive design. This is not optional.

False Starts: Wrong Ecosystem

Have you ever pulled up a plant, full of frustration, because it just wouldn’t take? Of course you have. We all have.

Too often, people fall in love with a plant that doesn’t belong. They’re told it’s “hardy to Zone 8” and forget that there’s a difference between surviving and fruiting. You can grow a banana in Seattle, technically. But you won’t eat from it without serious climate hacking.

So go buy a banana. And stop setting yourself up for disappointment.

False Starts: Wrong Spot

The story always starts the same: “Well, I had a little space left…” and ends with a sun-loving herb in deep shade or a dryland plant drowning near a runoff swale.

That’s not design. That’s wishful planting.

Know the needs of the species. Respect them. If you love cilantro but put it in full sun, don’t act surprised when it bolts in June. If your asparagus crowns rot in soggy soil, it’s because they begged for drainage. You ignored them.

Would you thrive in the desert if you were born to the coast?

Other hidden killers:

• You planted in a winter drainage path

• Or in the path of migrating deer

• Or on nutrient-poor fill soil

• Or under a cedar—where juglone poisons everything slowly

These aren’t mysteries. They're observable. Which is why I always say: observe a full season before you commit to anything.

More Missteps Worth Mentioning

• You started too big (hint: don’t)

• You didn’t plan irrigation (hand-watering sucks, ask your spine)

• You ignored root spread or invasiveness. I'm talking to you, raspberries!

• You planted stuff nobody in the house actually wants to eat

• You planted too far from Zone 0 (aka, too far to bother harvesting)

• You planted on a hill and now hate the hill

• You planted in dead land sprayed with Roundup, and now wonder where the pollinators are

Your First Assignment to Create a Low Maintenance, Perennial Landscape

Start observing. If you know your land already, do it again—with sharper eyes. If it’s new to you, give it time. One season minimum.

Your Task:

• Site Analysis

  • Soil: Get it tested. Know your depth and composition (clay-heavy? amend accordingly).

  • Sun: Full, dappled, morning only? Track it. Sketch it. Limb trees if you must.

  • Water: Can you get reliable water to this spot without dragging 100 feet of hose?

Anything else—slopes, pests, drainage—you’ll handle in your defensive design.

Next time, we’ll get into species. That’s where the magic happens. You might be surprised to learn: some “annuals” are actually perennials in disguise. You just haven’t met them in the right context yet.

Until then, start listening to the land. It’s already telling you where to plant. Pendragon Landscape Design is here for landscape design consulting. Get in touch.

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