by Texas Homesteader ~ 

There are some plants that work perfectly for a lazy gardener. You know the ones – you plant them once and they provide you with food year after year? I’m sharing some of my faves in my Homestead Garden. 

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)

Easier Gardening With Prolific Plants

I love my veggie garden. It’s just something deep down in my bones – I have to grow a garden.

But I’m also a fan of the mantra ‘Work smarter, not harder’. So I’m always on the lookout for the lazy-gardener ways to provide food for us with very little (and sometimes NO) input from me. 

Growing Plants In Planting Zone 8

Our homestead is located in NE Texas – in hardiness zone 8. So your lazy-gardener plant list may be slightly different than mine depending upon your typical weather conditions.

I previously shared what I can forage for free around our NE Texas Homestead including pecans, plums, persimmon and more. I urge you to check out the post on Foraging Food For Free as well.  

But following is a list of things that I – for the most part – planted once in the garden and then pretty much just forgot about.

And some of these things have provided food for us for several years so far, with several more years to go.

Everbearing Strawberries

I heard about something called *‘everbearing strawberries’ and thought I’d give ‘em a try. I planted them in a galvanized trough as part of my edible landscape plan. 

They provide strawberries in the spring and then again in the fall. I’m typically picking and enjoying strawberries by late April.

I mulch the strawberries for the winter months with a nice thick layer of dried leaves and they come back every year.  

I’ve grown those same strawberry plants for about 5 years now. They actually spread and made themselves into beautiful productive groundcover. 

I harvest the strawberries every morning. We like to enjoy them as part of a delicious yet healthy dessert using my homemade yogurt sweetened with honey or preserves, layered with strawberries and sprinkled with some Homemade Granola.

Asparagus

My parents gave me a small crown of *Asparagus several years ago. I’ve read that a crown can produce continuously for years and mine is still producing heavily for me each spring. 

I harvest fresh asparagus spears each morning.

If we’ll be enjoying them for supper that night I’ll simply put them in a cup of water like a little asparagus bouquet and place them in the fridge. This will keep them fresh and crisp all day.  

But if I’m harvesting so much asparagus that we’re tired of it (I know, but believe it or not, it happens!) I’ll either Pressure Can The Asparagus, or place asparagus spears into a freezer bag for enjoying later.

That way even in the summer I can pull out a couple of servings of asparagus and lightly steam them with a small pat of butter. The freezer changes the texture to more of a cooked texture anyway so it doesn’t take long at all to steam them until tender.

Concord Grapes 

Over 10 years ago I decided to try growing grapes. I picked up a start of *Concord Grapevine from a local farm store and placed it in my garden.

It grows along a fence that supports the long vines. MAN that grapevine is productive! 

I’ve never done much other than to tie the vines to the fence & prune it back in late winter. 

I use the grapes to make a family fave – Grape Jelly. 

Cilantro Volunteer Plants

We love *Cilantro and I’ve only planted it once, several years ago. I allowed that original plant to go to seed and I’ve had cilantro in the garden ever since!

There are several reasons I allow the cilantro to bolt, bloom and seed.

Our honeybees love cilantro blooms 

It assures volunteer cilantro plants for next year’s garden 

I’m able to harvest coriander after allowing the seeds to dry  

Coriander is an ingredient in my Homemade Breakfast Sausage. So I’m happy to let my cilantro plant provide coriander for me each year for FREE.

Hardy Mint

I asked my aunt for a start of the mint they have in their garden and she shared starts of her *Spearmint with me. 

I don’t water or fertilize this mint bed. It’s on its own against the harsh Texas summer sun. And it’s even planted at a west-facing wall with heat radiating from the bricks in those hot summer months.

I made a specific Mint Planting Area so it would play nice and not take over. 

Here are my favorite things about mint:

The bees love the blooms

I enjoy harvesting the mint for a Cool Sugar-Free Mint Beverage in the summer, or to steep the mint leaves in hot water for a delightful caffein-free Hot Herbal Tea to sooth and comfort on a cold day.

Homemade Morning Motivation Mint soap is made with harvested mint! 

Blueberry Bushes

I’ve planted and lost blueberries so many times in the past. But I love them. Then one day at a plant fair the merchant told me about this miniature blueberry plant that works well even when grown in containers.

So I made an adorable Galvanized Blueberry Container where it’s grown ever since. 

I enjoy being able to stroll to the back porch and pick those ripe blueberries.

Thornless Blackberry

A new addition to my garden is a thornless blackberry. 

Previously I only had a wild dewberry vine growing along my garden fence. 

So I planted a thornless blackberry. The canes on a blackberry bush grow up instead of growing in a vine like the dewberries. 

And harvest is much easier since I won’t have to work around any thorns! It’s already producing blackberries and I can’t wait to harvest those juicy berries year after year for my family’s favorite Blackberry Cobbler.  

Chives

My chives reseed easily so they grow each year. I planted the *Purple Blooming variety as I’ve read that the pollinators love them most. 

I also planted some *Garlic Chives in another bed. They both come back year after year with no prompting from me!

Walking onions

I also grow *Egyptian Walking Onions. And they are a ‘plant it and forget it’ kind of onion for the lazy gardener.

They produce small onions (like green onions, not the large slicing onion size.) But they’re prolific, let me tell ya! They reproduce by growing bulbules on the flowers, which then get weighed down and touch the ground. There they’ll root and make new plants. 

They just keep producing, y’all! A nice plant-it-and-forget-it allium.

Rosemary

I love my rosemary bushes more than any other of the fresh herbs I have growing. I planted rosemary on the north side of our home because I could see it from our main living area windows.

With all the brown dreariness of winter, that evergreen rosemary was a delightful sight. 

And each time it rains they pop with little purple blooms that our honeybees go crazy for!

I use much of that fragrant rosemary in cooking or in Making Homemade Soap.

Sage Is Beautiful

I love cooking with fresh herbs. And I love to grow plenty to harvest and dry at the end of the season too. There’s a Handy Herb-Drying Station set up in my kitchen to make it easy to dry and use those herbs.

I planted a sage plant in a southern-facing ‘flower bed’ at my front porch years ago. I was thrilled when it came back year after year. It’s now about 5-feet wide, y’all! 

And the blooms! Oh those gorgeous purple blooms. I’d never seen a sage ‘bush’ all abloom until this one. The pollinators love it and so do I. What a gorgeous edible plant for my Edible Landscape plan!

Oregano

I use oregano in my edible landscape too. I’ve had the plant for several years now and I usually allow it to bloom for the pollinators. 

All season long I harvest those fresh leaves for cooking and it’ll be ready for me to take at the end of the season to dry too.

Basil

I’d always heard that if you want your basil to last you should keep it cut back and not allow it to bloom. And I always followed that advice. Until I didn’t.

As with much of my edible landscape I wanted to leave some blooms for the pollinators while allowing me to eat the actual leaves of the herbs. 

It didn’t seem to negatively affect the basil plant. I had plenty to harvest even after allowing the plant to bloom.

And at the end of the season I left the ugly-isgh dead bloom stalks because I found the birds used it as a food source during the winter months when food was scarce. Then I found yet another benefit…

The next spring I had no shortage of basil volunteers! They popped up prolifically. I typically dig several up and relocate for other edible landscape/pollinator garden options.

And I relocate several to plant with my tomatoes in the veggie garden since they’re great companion plants. Of course I always have a fresh (volunteer) planting of basil for use in cooking for the year too.

Stevia

I Planted Stevia for my own home-grown sugar-free sweetener several years ago. 

I harvest it all season to sweeten RancherMan’s Sun Tea and to also sweeten my Sugar-Free Mint Beverage.

During the cooler late spring & early fall months I’ll hack it back about a 3^rd and dry the leaves before grinding them into a powder. 

I’ve used that home-grown sweetener when making my favorite Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Brownies since RancherMan prefers a sweeter brownie but I didn’t want to add sugar. I’ve also sprinkled it onto my homemade yogurt to sweeten it for him.

But like my basil above, I allow it to flower and go to seed. Low & behold several stevia plants sprout up each spring!

I relocate several the same as I do with the basil to use in my edible landscape plan. I also shared several plants with friends & family too.

What About You?

Those are a few of my lazy gardener’s crops to provide food year after year for us. What are the favorites in your garden? Be sure to note your location so others can learn about what works best in their areas too.

~TxH~

This post categorized in

Where To Find Items Mentioned In This Post:

• *‘Everbearing strawberries
  
• *Where To Find Asparagus
• *Buying Concord Grapevine
• *Where To Find Cilantro
• *Sources For Spearmint
• *Where To Find Egyptian Walking Onions

My Favorite Garden Hacks

Raised Bed Shopping

• *Where To Find A Higher-Quality Durable Raised Bed!

Garden Planning

• Easy Garden Planting Plan Spreadsheet
• How To Make Your Own Garden Soil

Seed Planting

• Planting Seeds In A Milk Jug Mini-Greenhouse
• Using A Clear Tote As An Indoor Greenhouse
• Repurposed Cardboard Seed-Starting Pots

Soil Health

• Easy Compost For A Healthy Garden
• How Leaves Benefit Your Garden

Garden Styles

• How & Why To Use Raised Beds In Your Garden
• Planning & Planting A Fall Garden To Extend The Harvest
• Where I Found The BEST Raised Bed!
• Planting A Blueberry Bush In a Small Rustic Tub
• Creating A Vibrant Pollinator Garden

Garden Plants/Harvest

• Stevia – Growing Your Own Sweetener!
• My Simple, Zero-Waste Herb Drying Setup
• The Lazy Gardener’s Plant List – Plant Once, Eat For Years!
• How To Tell When Watermelon Is Ripe
• Tips To Plant & Grow The Best Tomatoes

Water/Irrigation/Drought

• 3 Rainwater Collection Systems We Use
• Cheap (or FREE) Wood Mulch For The Garden
• Using Vining Plants For Living Mulch
• Surprising Use For Empty Clay Pots In The Garden

Garden Tips

• How To Save Outdoor Plants Even During A Hard Freeze
• Growing A Sustainable Garden: Eco-Friendly Practices
• Tricking Birds AWAY From Your Strawberry Plants
• What To Leave In Your Garden To Help Wildlife Survive Winter

MORE Gardening Posts

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