TOENSMEIER

$35 USD | Gardening

“Toensmeier’s groundbreaking guide is destined to become
the bible for this new class of edible gardening.”—Booklist
PERENNIAL VEGETABLES
“Full of surprising edible possibilities, this book ‘promotes fresh thinking as to what a vegetable
garden can be,’ says Doreen Howard. ‘This topic is presented in a thorough and engaging way,’ says
Susan Eubank. ‘It teaches responsible gardening practices without preaching,’ adds Marty Ross.”
—From the American Horticultural Society’s announcement of the 2008 AHS Book Award

“Eric Toensmeier has comprehensively filled a huge gap in the sustainable landscape. Perennial Vegetables lets
you put away your tiller, and covers everything you need to grow, harvest, and eat vegetables and greens
that will keep coming back year after year.” —Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden

PERENNIAL VEGETABLES
“Toensmeier’s knowledge of edible plants is impressive and inspiring. His excitement for a sustainable
landscape helps us focus away from buying food to harvesting it naturally. —Ellen Ecker Ogden,
co-founder of The Cook’s Garden seed catalog, author of From the Cook’s Garden

“That there are more perennial vegetables than asparagus is no surprise, but that there are more than
100 species we North American gardeners can choose from is news. Toensmeier’s Perennial Vegetables, the
first comprehensive guide to growing them, will have all of us reexamining our plans for next year’s
vegetable plot.” —Karan Davis Cutler, author of Burpee—The Complete Flower Garden From Artichoke to
“Growing perennial vegetables is a true pleasure. This fine book gives the knowledge to successfully add
‘Zuiki’ Taro, a
variety to both the garden and the table while also enhancing the home environment.” Gardener’s Guide to
—Miranda Smith, author of The Plant Propagator’s Bible and Complete Home Gardening
Over 100 Delicious,
magine growing vegetables that require just about the spring tree, and the much sought-after, antioxidant-rich
I same amount of care as perennial flowers and shrubs—
no annual tilling and planting. They thrive and produce
wolfberry (also known as goji berry), Toensmeier explains
how to raise, tend, harvest, and cook with plants that
Easy-to-Grow
abundant and nutritious crops throughout the season. In yield great crops and culinary satisfaction.
Edibles
Perennial Vegetables plant specialist Eric Toensmeier intro- Including dozens of color photographs and illustra-
duces gardeners to more than 100 species of little-known, tions, and filled with valuable growing tips, recipes, and
underappreciated plants. Ranging beyond the usual sus- resources, Perennial Vegetables is a groundbreaking book
pects (asparagus, rhubarb, and artichoke) to include such that will open the eyes of gardeners everywhere to the
delights as ground cherry, ramps, air potatoes, the fragrant exciting world of edible perennials.

Eric Toensmeier is an experi- CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING

enced advocate and teacher of
permaculture and an expert on
the world’s most useful plants.
Marikler Girón Ramirez
White River Junction, Vermont • 802-295-6300
www.chelseagreen.com
Cover design by Peter Holm, Sterling Hill Productions

Cover photos by Eric Toensmeier, unless otherwise noted. Top row, left to right: air
He is the coauthor of the potato, water lotus, papaya. Middle row: fragrant spring tree (Raintree Nursery), oca.
award-winning Edible Forest Bottom row: hyacinth bean, tree collards (Brock Dolman), sweet potato.

Gardens with Dave Jacke. Eric

Chelsea Green

ISBN 978-1-931498-40-1
writes, trains, and consults 53500
full-time in English, Spanish,
and Botanical Latin through his Web site, www.perennial
solutions.org.
9 781931 498401
E R I C TOE NS ME I ER
 Part Two: Species Profiles · 117

Caricaceae: The Papaya Family

Carica spp. • Papaya

Synonyms
• Paw paw
• Lechoza
• Mamao

Aspects
• Trees
• Edible fruit
• Edible leaves and flowers

• Sun to part shade

• Moist, well-drained soil

Papayas are well known as one of the finest fruits

of the tropics. Their mild, sweet melon-like flesh
sprinkled with lime juice is luscious and nourish-
ing. Unripe papayas, of full size but still firm and
green, are an excellent vegetable. Green fruits,
once they are peeled and deseeded, can be used in
many ways. The most famous is to grate or juli-
enne the flesh and add a spicy chili and lime sauce
to make green papaya salad, popular throughout
Southeast Asia. Green papayas can also be boiled,
baked, pickled, and used in numerous other ways.
The crisp texture is reminiscent of chayote, and
vaguely like cucumber or firm summer squash.
The fruits of both species profiled here can be
huge, of football size or larger.
Papaya trees are short-lived but incredibly
productive. Carica papaya can produce as much
as 300 pounds of fruit in a year! Both species
profiled here like full sun and rich soils. The
main challenges to papaya production are several
viruses, which can injure or kill plants. These Papaya at ECHO.
viruses have made papaya production difficult
in many areas of the tropics, including Hawaii. necessitating massive spraying of chemicals on
Conventional breeding efforts have failed to commercial papaya fields. Papayas in gardens and
develop resistant varieties with high-quality mixed planting are less susceptible than those in
fruit. In recent years a genetically engineered monocultures, although the virus continues to
papaya resistant to mosaic virus has been devel- be a problem for growers of all scales in all the
oped and widely introduced in Hawaii. While papaya-growing regions of the United States. As
resistant to the virus, it turns out to be unusu- with any plant virus, infected plants should be
ally susceptible to the papaya black spot fungus, removed and destroyed.

PV Part2 pg final.indd 117 4/26/07 3:40:39 PM

 118 · Part Two: Species Profiles
Papayas are tropical or subtropical trees. They
bear quickly after planting, sometimes maturing
in six to nine months. Fruit to be used as vege-
tables has a shorter season as well. Some garden-
ers and farmers are experimenting with growing
papayas as annuals with season extension as far
north as southern Georgia.
C. papaya (Papaya, Paw Paw). This is the wide-
spread and commonly cultivated tropical papaya,
originally from Central America. This species
loves heat. The Hawaiian lowlands and South
Florida are ideal climates. Prolonged exposure
to 32ºF temperatures kills plants to the ground.
Papaya pollination can be confusing. Some plants
have all female flowers, some all male, and some
have perfect (hermaphrodite) flowers. Some even
switch genders during periods with high temper-
atures. Papayas can be propagated vegetatively,
but are also grown from seed. Predicting the
gender of seedlings can be tricky. For more infor-
mation consult a reference on tropical fruits like
Julia Morton’s Fruits of Warm Climates or your local
tropical fruit enthusiast society. The flowers and
young leaves of papaya can also be eaten, and have
a slightly bitter flavor. Note: The common name
paw paw is also shared with a hardy fruit, the
unrelated Asimina triloba.
C. pentagona (Babaco, Mountain Papaya). The
babaco is a naturally occurring hybrid between
two wild papaya species growing high in the cool
tropical mountains of Ecuador. The trees are
dwarfed, growing only 6 feet tall, and produce
large, five-sided, seedless fruits. They are self-
pollinating. Babaco prefers cooler temperatures
than the common papaya, and is able to survive
temperatures down to 28ºF. Babaco survives the
cool, wet winters of coastal Southern California
far better than C. papaya, even growing as far
north as San Francisco with a protected location.
Despite virus problems, babacos are a good choice
PV Part2 pg final.indd 118
Eric’s Spicy Papaya Salad
This spicy salad is a great introduction to the
vegetable uses of the papaya. It is delicious
served with cubed grilled swordfish, fresh
watercress, and avocado.
1 semi-ripe papaya
1 small purple cabbage
A 1-inch piece of fresh ginger
A small bunch of scallions
A small bunch of cilantro
Roasted peanuts
Juice of 2 limes
Hot sauce or chili paste
Tamari or fish sauce
Umeboshi or raspberry vinegar
Select a papaya that is full-sized but not yet
ripe. (A ripe papaya has a little give when you
press it, like a melon or avocado, and often
a golden color coming through the green of
the skin.) It should be green or green and
orange inside, though you can use a fully ripe
papaya too. Cut the papaya in half, scoop out
the seeds, and peel the skin. Chop into bite-
sized chunks. Add shredded cabbage, grated
fresh ginger, chopped scallions and cilantro,
and peanuts. The sauce should be hot and
tangy. I use the juice of 2 limes, 1 tablespoon
of chili paste, and 1⁄2 cup each of tamari and
umeboshi vinegar.
Serves 4.
for upland Hawaiian gardens. High temperatures
and humidity damage the fruits. The enormous
fruits are eaten green but apparently only cooked,
unlike common papayas, and are also eaten ripe,
with a sweet unique flavor all their own. Babaco
papayas make fantastic container plants.
4/29/10 11:36 AM