Growing Perennial Foods

Growing Perennial Foods

$24.95

Acadia Tucker’s long love affair with perennial foods has produced this easy-to-understand guide to growing, harvesting, and eating them.

A regenerative farmer and gardener deeply concerned about global warming, Tucker believes there may be no better time to plant perennials. Sturdy and deep-rooted, perennials can weather climate extremes more easily than annuals. They can thrive without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. And they don’t need as much water, either.

These long-lived plants also help build healthy soil, turning the very ground we stand on into a carbon sponge.

In this book, Tucker lays the groundwork for tending an organic, sustainable garden. She includes practical growing guides for 34 popular perennials, among them, basil, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, artichokes, asparagus, garlic, radicchio, spinach, and sweet potatoes, and wraps in a recipe for each of the plants profiled.

Growing Perennial Foods is for gardeners who want more resilient plants. It’s for people who want to do something about climate change and the environment. It’s for anyone who has ever wanted to grow food, and is ready to begin. (See book excerpt.)

Peek inside Growing Perennial Foods.

ISBN: 9780998862354 (paperback); Pages: 280; Size: 6 x 9

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PRAISE & PRESS

This is the best book about growing perennial vegetables I've seen.

—Cheryl Spencer, Simple Smart Gardening


 
 

Tucker helps us tap into the deeper meaning of gardening and grow good food at the same time.

—Anne Biklé, co-author, The Hidden Half of Nature


Acadia doing some regenerative gardening!

Acadia doing some regenerative gardening!


This book lays the groundwork for the beginning organic gardener interested in regenerative methods of growing food. And eating it.

—Todd Hess, BBOG


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Included in Two Thirsty Gardeners Gift Guide.


I love this book. An easy-to-read, down-to earth guide to regenerative gardening, Growing Perennial Foods provides a blueprint, and the inspiration, to start planting your own.

Virginia Aronson, Director, Food and Nutrition Resources Foundation


Acadia Tucker is on a mission to get more of us thinking about the power of regenerative agriculture. By the end of the book, you'll feel inspired enough to start your own Climate Victory Garden.

—Jes Walton, Green America


How to build compost for a healthier soil, An Organic Conversation with Acadia Tucker

How to build compost for a healthier soil, An Organic Conversation with Acadia Tucker


Right from the beginning of the book, you really get the idea that not only does Acadia know what she's talking about, she is passionate about it. This book isn't technical, but also doesn't talk down to readers. Acadia is right there with you, explaining everything, encouraging you, and giving you all the info you need on growing various perennial foods.

My favorite part is the section on the challenges you might face. As anyone who has ever grown a plant can tell you, one cannot simply plant and expect to have a successful harvest. I found it very refreshing to have an author write about pests, diseases, and growing problems. I also appreciate that she covered tips on how to overcome them.

Acadia approaches gardening much the way we do at the National Gardening Association—organically, and with an eye toward working with nature rather than against it. We are very impressed and excited to see more of Acadia's work.

-Trish Whitinger, COO, National Gardening Association


How to be a backyard carbon farmer, by Acadia Tucker, Sustainable America

How to be a backyard carbon farmer, by Acadia Tucker, Sustainable America

Read this book. If we don’t get together and take care of the soil, our atmosphere is toast.

— Tim LaSalle, The Regenerative Initiative, CSU


This is a must-have resource for home gardeners looking to take their conservation efforts to the next level. With hard-earned knowledge and conversational clarity, Tucker demystifies the concepts of regenerative agriculture, translates them to the garden level, and guides the reader both philosophically and practically.

– Stephanie Anderson, author, One Size Fits None


Beautifully written and illustrated, Growing Perennial Foods will be a well-thumbed addition to your gardening library.

-Patt Grub, The Northern Light


In North America, we tend to think of perennials as primarily ornamental rather than food-producing. Regenerative farmer Tucker believes that taking cues from how plants grow in the wild will allow for cultivated gardens that produce bountiful harvests while addressing concerns about global climate change.

This guide to creating a regenerative food garden starts with addressing the existing soil and moves through all the steps needed to create a healthy, nurturing bed. Tucker then recommends a variety of perennial herbs, fruits, and vegetables, including information for how to plant, grow, and harvest each, along with potential challenges specific to each plant. One recipe is included for each plant, with most of the recipes vegan or vegetarian.

— Anne Heidemann, Booklist at American Library Association


Acadia Tucker takes a break with Nimbus, who gets free rein of the farm. Image source: Micheal Winters Photography

Acadia Tucker takes a break with Nimbus, who gets free rein of the farm. Image source: Micheal Winters Photography


Great for new and experienced gardeners alike, Growing Perennial Foods is worth the purchase for the recipes alone. The book provides a short primer on general gardening topics, including composting and organic pest control, along with individual plant profiles for a wide variety of herbs, vegetables, and fruit. But, more than the academic knowledge, you will experience the love and passion Acadia Tucker has for the earth and making it a better place for all to enjoy.

–Denise Pugh, Gardening Products Review


This is a book that should have lots of dirty fingerprints on it by the end of a growing season. There are plenty of gardening advice books, but the focus here on perennials and on carbon capture gardening sets this one apart.

Ivan Emke, Book on the Coffee Table


I highly recommend this book, and Growing Good Food, to anyone seeking to grow healthy food in a more ecological and sustainable manner, while also helping to address climate change.

Kyle Neugebauer on Seed Money


Acadia Tucker’s favorite thing about perennial plants is that they create amazing ecosystems for soil microbes, bugs, beetles and earthworms to live around. “It’s like Epcot for bugs,” she says.

—Acadia Tucker, from an interview with Joe the Gardener


Written by Acadia Tucker, a Rodale Institute Ambassador for Regenerative Agriculture

Written by Acadia Tucker, a Rodale Institute Ambassador for Regenerative Agriculture

 
 

A U T H O R   &   I L L U S T R A T O R
 

 
 
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Acadia Tucker is a regenerative grower, climate activist, and author. Her books are a call to action for citizen gardeners everywhere and lay the groundwork for planting an organic, regenerative garden. For her, this is gardening, as if our future depends on it.

Before becoming an author, Acadia started a four-season organic market garden in Washington State inspired by farming pioneers Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier. While managing the farm, Acadia grew 200 food crops before returning to school at the University of British Columbia to complete a Master's in Land and Water Systems.

Since moving back to her home State of Maine, Acadia has grown hops to support locally sourced craft beer in New England and cultivated sugar kelp in the cold waters of Frenchman Bay. She works as a Product Review Coordinator for the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). Acadia is a Rodale Institute Ambassador for regenerative agriculture and has been recognized as the 2023 Emergent Communicator from Garden Communicators International. 

In her free time, she grows food in her backyard with the help of her farm dogs, Nimbus and Pico, and a flock of runner ducks. She is also the author of Growing Good Food: A citizen's guide to climate victory gardening and Tiny Victory Gardens: Growing good food without a yard. 

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Krishna Chavda is an illustrator and surface designer based in Hoboken, NJ. Inspired by her childhood in Tanzania, nature, and her Indian heritage, Krishna's illustrations and patterns are vibrant and playful.

Learn more at Nanu Illustration.

 
 

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