The Garden of the Future: Food From Your Backyard

What would a garden of the future look like? In a future clouded by climate concerns (that could be now), how might our vegetable gardens look different? 

Professional gardener Roxanne Kapitan had a chance to ponder this basic question while planting just such a garden. In her future garden on Martha's Vineyard, edible fruits and vegetables grow back every year without sowing seeds or planting seedlings each spring — a garden of all edible perennials rather than annuals. After the application of an initial layer of live compost, this garden avoids trucking in plastic-bound seedlings and bags of compost or fertilizer each season, saving resources, materials, and energy (and your own energy). 

Roxanne has been heading in this direction for a number of years. Building on her expertise as Garden Manager at Oakleaf Landscape for the past 13 years and her longtime local advocacy of organic gardens and local composting, Kapitan spent her Covid year getting a certificate in permaculture. Permaculture is the harmonious integration of plants, animals, and human systems in a closed-loop system with little off-the-farm inputs. “You start noting how you can use everything on your property to your advantage,” Kapitan explains. “If you cut a tree, you use the wood chips; if it rains, you collect the rainwater.” Out of permaculture comes examples like food forests — seven layers or heights of recurring edible plants, from fruit trees and bushes to herbs and greens  — and Roxanne’s perennial garden idea, adapting about five of those layers.  

One day about three years ago, out of the blue, a supportive client asked Roxanne, “How would you like to create a garden that is your garden? Any garden —  I trust you.” The client then gave her the resources and land to do this. 

This was her chance to put her ideas into practice, without worrying about the immediate outcome or whether a client would be satisfied.  She called the offer “a dream come true.”

“I immediately thought, I want it to be all edible, I want it to be a source of food for pollinators, and I also want it to be like a medicine chest with herbs I could use,” Kapitan says. “I knew I wasn’t going to be growing tomatoes, for example. I would do a really different garden than what I would call a traditional vegetable garden.” She began her research that winter, cozy inside her Oak Bluffs cottage near Lagoon Pond. She found plants like Myoga Ginger, a perennial ginger from Japan. The Japanese harvest young pink flower shoots before they open, and pickle or cook these shoots which have a zesty ginger taste. From her own work, Roxanne knew about some of the perennial edibles she might plant, like sorrel (she planted three types) and amaranth, an ancient grain with stunning sprays full of magenta-hued seeds. These seeds are smaller than quinoa but equally high in protein, minerals, and vitamins. 

She chose the shape of an octagon for the garden, because it represents a new beginning. “If you look it up, it represents starting over,” she explains. She named it the Octagonal Seaside Garden, located on private land in West Tisbury not far from the South Shore. She brought in five yards of live compost. “What that means is it is filled with microbial activity, millions and billions of organisms working together. One cup of live compost has more organisms than people on the earth,” she says.

She defined the paths and growing areas, and mulched with eel grass and seaweed. “The reason why you would want your surface area, your growing surface, to always be covered is because the rain and wind erodes the nutrients in the soil.” It also protects the carbon which the soil has collected. “The whole idea of what’s called regenerative gardening, or permaculture gardening, is that the soil is a carbon sink — keeping the carbon and microbes in — not a carbon detriment. When you rototill, the carbon goes out into the air.” Or as Kapitan describes it in lectures about her experimental garden: “It’s like a well-baked lasagna. When you rototill, it’s like putting the lasagna into a blender.” 

She focused heavily on edible greens, like sea kale or Turkish rocket, another word for arugula. “I love arugula, but it’s an annual. I found this perennial arugula; it’s a lot more sturdy.” And after the tender young leaves shoot up, this arugula plant produces edible flower buds, similar to broccoli rabe. 

There’s also Perpetual Spinach. It’s a cross between spinach and Swiss Chard, but not as tough as Swiss chard. 

“It is delicious. And it comes back every year, that’s the part I love — the whole idea of perennial. Instead of starting from scratch every year, these things are going to pop up every year.”

“I also want a garden where I’m not going to labor so hard,” she says. “I just want to go out my back door, go into my garden in my bare feet, and forage. I want a garden that’s going to feed me, and to learn about plants by not interfering with nature. Getting out of the way of nature is what I learned to do.” 

Kapitan’s experimentation extended to different kinds of berry bushes, beyond the known blueberry or raspberry. There are black currant bushes, and also mulberry bushes, an old European variety that produces sweet black berries over several weeks in the summer. She calls these fruits “underrated,” especially the currants. There’s a Justaberry, a cross between a currant and a gooseberry, and she planted three of these. “They’re fabulous, no thorns, sweeter than currants.”

There are some interesting plants to experiment with in the kitchen, like shiso, an herb in the mint family native to China and India and used in Asian dishes. Or plants for your health, like meadowsweet, a medicinal herb with sweet-smelling white flowers used in teas and extracts. It contains salicylic acid, the main component of aspirin, and is said to help rheumatism and arthritis.

Many of the medicinals sport flowers, attracting bees, moths, and other beneficial insects, and can be appreciated just for the beauty they add to a garden of edibles. Kapitan calls it “color therapy,” since they often come in her favorite shades — purple and orange. “These two colors heal me. Something happens in my brain, and I feel like I’m going to be alright.” 

As she grows and harvests, Kapitan experiments in the kitchen. A good cook, she wants to see how some of these unusual perennials fit into a menu or diet so that she can talk to other future growers about their uses or benefits. With the shiso, for example, she made – and liked! — shiso pesto, tried shiso leaves in salads, and even dried it for winter. (It turned to dust apparently.) 

Some plantings were not very successful, or were even complete flops, she says.  Sichuan peppercorns, something she liked and hoped could lessen her carbon footprint if she grew them herself, were supposed to produce berries by the second year, but failed to produce even one. Three Siberian seaberry bushes, also known as buckthorn, expected to bear light orange-colored berries full of Vitamin C, did not survive two winters here, despite projections that they’d do well in our zones, 7a and 7b.  

She takes it in stride. “Remember,” she says, “It’s an experiment.”

By mid-summer of that first growing season in 2022, Kapitan recalls a “Shangri-La” of quite enormous plants, of varieties known and unknown. She celebrated with a garden opening. If there can be art openings, she mused, why not a garden opening? Friend and musician David Stanwood came to play, wheeling his piano down a ramp from his truck into the open wooded garden area, to the delight of the gathered group.

Now, in her third Octagonal Seaside Garden summer, Kapitan continually notes how vibrant the plants are without the addition of any fertilizer other than the initial mounds of live compost. And she glories in how big the yields are. The abundance of edible greens and production of berries has surpassed her expectations.

The second biggest benefit — a “gift” — is how many times she is able to divide a single plant as it grows in size each season.  She’s given away hundreds of perennial plants to friends and at community plant swaps, and used them for other projects, noting again that it all adds up to a reduction in the carbon footprint. In 2023, she received a grant from the Cedar Tree Foundation to create a public version of her perennial garden, finding a home for this new experimental garden at the Charter School in West Tisbury. About 20 percent of the perennials planted there this past spring came from the Octagonal Seaside Garden. How long does she expect the perennials in her garden of the future to produce? “It’s a little different for each plant, but honestly, I think it goes on forever.” 

People don’t always understand this type of garden or what she’s trying to achieve, Kapitan says. What do you mean there aren’t going to be any tomato or basil plants in it?, they ask. Or, after Kapitan describes the perennials, they say, I’ve never heard of those things. She sometimes questions herself, wondering if she’s perhaps ahead of her time.

“It’s a new idea behind edible gardens,” she says. “It’s going to take some getting used to, just like making changes for climate change is going to take getting used to. It requires doing things differently, and that’s a challenge for people who don’t want to change. That’s going to be one of the hardest challenges of the future  — doing things differently.” 

Perennial Vegetables, Fruits, and Pollinators in the Octagonal Seaside Garden

Myoga Ginger  (Zingibur mioga) is a perennial ginger from Japan. Small flowers form at the base of the leaves — harvest the young pink flower shoots before they open. Delicious pickled or cooked to provide a zesty ginger taste.

Amaranth  is an ancient, gluten free grain high in protein, vitamins, and minerals. All parts of the plant are edible. The seed heads can be collected in the fall, dried, and stored for up to one year. Cook with rice to make a complete protein. The leaves can be sliced fine and added to salads or cooked like spinach.

Sea Kale  can be grown anywhere, not just by the sea. It is a perennial brassica with edible leaves, flowers, and florets – like broccoli. It’s quickly becoming a cult classic in permaculture gardens. 

Skirret is a perennial vegetable in the carrot family. It was brought from China to the British Isles by the Romans. It is a sweet starchy root like a carrot. Harvest biggest roots, divide (see a video here: bit.ly/skirret-division), and replant. Tolerates part sun.

Sansho Japanese pepper is a dark green shrub that can grow to the size of a small tree. The peppery leaves are used as a spice for flavoring rice and fish. Pollinates with Szechuan (female) to produce peppercorns.

Sechuan Pepper is a unique shrub that produces the peppercorn used in Chinese cuisine. 

Sweet Cicely is a perennial herb in the parsley family. The roots, stems and leaves are all edible and impart a sweet anise flavor. Prefers dappled light

Sorrel is an herbaceous spring green that can be eaten raw or cooked. Cut back seed stalks for a continuous supply of lemony flavored greens.  

Okinawa Spinach is a deliciously mild spinach from Indonesia in the Gynura genus. It boasts a nutty flavor with stunning purple and green leaves. Tender perennial. Easy to propagate with leaf cuttings. 

Turkish Rocket is easy to grow and establishes quickly. Edible leaves are tasty like arugula when young with edible flower buds forming later in the season like broccoli-rabe. The yellow florets attract a host of beneficial insects, but readily self-seed so dead head as blooms fade if you want to contain the patch. 

Oyster Leaf (Mertensia maritima) is native to many Atlantic northern coastlines. With a briny oyster taste, its leaves are coveted by chefs in the know for a vegan oyster culinary treat.  

Good King Henry (Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus) is a perennial spinach analogue. Leaves can be harvested and cooked like spinach. It is a dynamic accumulator with a long tap root and comes up early in the spring like dandelion. GKH will bolt during the summer months, but the flowers are edible as well. The seedheads can be harvested in the fall and cooked like quinoa.  

Shiso is an herb in the mint family native to the mountainous regions of China and India, and now can be found around the globe. Shiso is commonly used in Asian dishes with sushi, as a pickling agent, dried into colorful flakes, and added fresh to soups and salads.

Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) has a deep tap root that can be grated to make a peppery condiment. Take a long thin shovel and slide off up to half the taproot; clean and fine-grate into a paste. It is hardy to zone 3 and difficult to eradicate, so plant it where you want it to remain. 

Meadowsweet (Filipundula ulmaria) is a medicinal herb with white, sweet-smelling flowers that are used in teas and extracts. It contains salicylic acid, the main component of aspirin. In addition to pain relief, it has been used to treat gout, rheumatism, and arthritis. Plant in part sun.

Native Pollinators

Blue False Indigo (Baptisia Australia) is a dependable nitrogen fixer and especially helpful in new gardens to build soil health. This deep-rooted prairie species is drought tolerant and makes an excellent companion plant to fruiting trees and shrubs.

Vervain is a strong late season pollinator traditionally used by Native Americans as a relaxant, as a cure for insomnia, for expelling worms, and for repairing a damaged liver. 

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia Cardinalis) attracts hummingbirds and swallowtail butterflies with its scarlet flowers and plentiful nectar. Allow seeds to have soil contact in the fall to form larger colonies. Grows best in moist soil.

Anise Hyssop (Agastache) is a powerful pollinator attracting native bees, moths, and butterflies. The anise-flavored medicinal flowers, used in tea, can soothe and heal congestive aliments.

Calendula is a flower historically used for magical purposes such as attracting fairies, for deciding between two paths, and for adorning Hindu deities. Currently, Calendula flower is commonly used in healing salves, as a natural dye, and to soothe inflammation.  Sprinkle the petals on top of a salad and let the magic work for you!

Fruits

Crandall Black Currant, sometimes called clove currant, is a hardy fruit-bearing shrub. Easy to grow, it sports showy yellow trumpet-shaped flowers in spring that produce large, sweet fruit in August.

Salal is a small, mounding evergreen shrub that produces delicious dark blue berries at summer’s end. 

Siberian Splendor Seaberry (Buckthorn) (Hippophae rhamnoides)  is a productive cultivar that yields a heavy crop of light orange, sweet berries in September. An excellent source of vitamin C, the shrubs will bear fruit in two to three years after planting.

Wellington Black Mulberry is an old European variety that will produce sweet black berries over several weeks in summer.

RECIPE: Sea Kale Salad

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• Author: Roxanne Kapitan

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Ingredients

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• 1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup good quality olive oil, divided
• 6 to 8 sea kale leaves, washed and sliced thin
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 pound feta cheese
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup cooked wild rice
• 3 dashes smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons minced live sauerkraut
• Salt, to taste

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Instructions

1. Lightly saute the shiitake mushrooms in a bit of the olive oil. Set aside to cool. 
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Add the cooled shiitakes and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. 
3. Toss the mixture again, and serve.

RECIPE: Pickled Myoga Ginger

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Add a tangy taste to your favorite foods by sprinkling pickled myoga ginger on top of such dishes as fish cakes and scrambled eggs, or tuck it inside your favorite sandwich.

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Ingredients

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• Myoga ginger flower buds (about 25)
• 1 to 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 6 peppercorns
• 2 rosemary sprigs

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Instructions

1. Cut the mature Myoga Ginger flower buds at the base of each stalk at the end of August. Wash well in a bowl of cold water, drain, and pat dry. 
2. Slice each bud on the diagonal into thin pieces and drop into 1 to 2 cups of apple cider vinegar. Add 3 fresh bay leaves, 6 peppercorns, and 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary to the vinegar/ginger mixture. Liquid should cover the ginger. 
3. Cover and refrigerate. The ginger is ready to use after 2 weeks and will last approximately 6 months refrigerated.