Starting a permaculture garden is exciting and fulfilling! Still, I know what it’s like to plant a young lychee tree knowing we won’t get fruit for several years; or to have a tree’s first and only mango stolen by a squirrel.  Like a new forest, a permaculture garden can take many years to be at the level of production you are aiming for.

However, there are many species you can plant to get a relatively quick harvest, are easy to grow, and can help you start feeling satisfied by your garden sooner.  Here, I’ll talk about what plants or trees we have found to be the most immediately productive here in USDA zone 9b in Melbourne, Florida.  Even if you are not in a subtropical climate, hopefully you can learn something new from this page.  The focus of this post is on perennial (or perennial-like) plantings;  I’ll share our favorite annuals for pots or raised beds in a separate article.

There are also many native edible species that can provide food for both you and local wildlife. I’ll cover our favorites of these in a separate article as well.

In no particular order, here are the plants that have quickly earned permanent spots in our permaculture garden. 

Papaya

Quickly reaches maturity. It took just over a year from the time we planted our papaya (which was already about 3 feet tall) to the time of starting to harvest fruits.

Likes sun. Papayas like sun, so they are perfect for areas that are too sunny or hot to grow much else when starting a food forest.

Easy to manage. Papaya stems are actually hollow, and this means they are not as heavy as they look.  When our papaya got too tall to easily access the fruit, we topped it, and this encouraged secondary shoots to grow.  Even the root system is relatively shallow (papaya plants can be susceptible to falling over when the tops become laden with heavy fruit; we had to prop ours up with a wood board).

Easy to propagate.  Once you get even a single fully ripe fruit, you’ll be able to grow tons more papaya plants from seed.  Our front yard slopes towards the west, and that means it gets extremely hot.  Although we have other trees in our front yard (lychee, coconut, sweet sop), they are much slower to grow.  So, in the meantime, we have started planting more papayas.  They’ll help shade the ground, give us lots of food, and lots of biomass to use for composting.  In a few years, we can scale back the number of papayas to just a few as needed, as the other trees get larger and more established.  Permaculture is all about using the tools and opportunities at your disposal to develop a system that encourages and expedites growth of the system.  Papaya trees happen to fit that bill very nicely in subtropical climates like ours.

Versatile fruit.  Ripe papaya is great in smoothies, salads, and more.  Add some other berries, honey, cinnamon, and seeds for a delicious fruit salad.  Mix it with cayenne powder, lime juice, onion, avocado, and cilantro for a savory side-dish.  Papaya is also easily dried or frozen to preserve for long-term storage.

Additional Information

Papaya trees can be male, female, or hermaphrodite. Female trees will need male trees nearby for pollination, so planting multiple trees is helpful. Hermaphrodite trees have flowers with both male and female flower anatomy, so they are able to self pollinate and produce fruit very easily. Papayas are also known to change sex under certain conditions. For example, a male tree can become hermaphrodite and then self pollinate.

https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/papaya_ars.html

Katuk

Easy to manage. Katuk is a small understory tree with edible leaves, flowers, and fruit, that normally grows in the tropical lowland rainforests of southeast Asia. However, it is perfectly happy in our Florida yard and, with our slightly drier climate, doesn’t grow so fast as to get out of hand.

Easy to propagate.  I have been able to propagate cuttings by simply sticking them in the ground and keeping them watered (with more success in slightly cooler, wetter months than in the hot and dry ones).

Can harvest right away. You can immediately nibble on the foliage, though I have refrained from harvesting too much too early in order to let the plant grow bigger, and to use cuttings for propagation. Still, after only a couple years in the ground, our first plant finally is big enough to get consequential harvests. In fact, we harvested 56g (about 2 oz, or 0.12 lbs) of it just recently.

Versatile leafy green. I find katuk to have a slightly nutty, almost peanut-like flavor, and the seeds in the fruit taste like almonds. Add a few raw leaves to salads, or cook them in stir fries, curries, and other dishes.

Additional Information

Excessive consumption of katuk can cause lung problems, but one would have to eat several ounces a day for a long time, or consume extract. We eat it every now and then in small amounts: nibbling on leaves while walking in the garden, or adding some to cooked dishes. Deane, author of Eat the Weeds, writes about katuk, the studies on how much is too much, the reasons, as well as its many nutritional benefits on his website.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/edible-katuk-sauropus-androgynus-2/

Banana

Easy to manage. Banana plants can get pretty tall, but there are many dwarf or semi-dwarf varieties that are suited for smaller landscapes, while also producing delicious, sweet fruit. We keep the leaves cleaned up for aesthetics, but bananas are relatively low-maintenance. As long as they have lots of sun, water, compost, and mulch, they will grow and produce for you.

Easy to propagate. Banana plants only produce fruit once, and then need to be cut back. However, the parent plant will produce new pups at the base during its lifetime, which can easily be relocated, leaving some to replace the parent after it has fruited.

Likes sun. Banana plants thrive in full sun, so they are perfect for Florida and can handle the hot summers.

Quickly reaches maturity. A banana can start fruiting after only a year, more or less. Depending on how happy the plant is, it may fruit earlier or later. Either way, you’ll get fruit relatively quickly, and soon have multiple plants all from one original plant, quickly increasing your yield in subsequent years.

Versatile Fruit. Bananas are more than a lunchbox snack. They can be used in smoothies or pancakes, dried or frozen for storage, or fried while green for a savory snack. I definitely have a sweet tooth, so having a fast growing fruit is absolutely necessary in our permaculture forest.

Additional Information

There are so many cultivars of bananas. Some of our favorite are Ice Cream, Goldfinger, Double Mahoi, and Hua Moa. Talk to gardeners in your area or look in your local nurseries to start. Soon you’ll be trying to collect all sorts of banana varieties.

Pigeon Pea

Grows quickly. Pigeon peas are perennial plants that grow pretty quickly and can produce in less than a year.

Easy to propagate. Once you get fully matured and dried seed pods, you can let them self-seed easily, or collect them to plant later on your own time.

Likes sun. Pigeon peas are also sun-loving plants. So where many annual veggies may struggle in the Florida sun, pigeon peas will thrive.

Low-maintenance. I planted some pigeon peas in our front yard, which is a western facing slope that, in the summer especially, is extremely hot and dry. The soil is very sandy and often dry, but the pigeon peas are still thriving, even when we don’t water for days. As they get bigger, not only will they start to give us food, but they will help shade the soil.

Short-lived. Pigeon peas plants can live up to around five years. So they are a great addition to a beginner permaculture garden. They have so many benefits, but are not a huge commitment design-wise. You’ll be able to plant new ones in new locations, and cut down the old ones to use for mulch if you want!

Versatile fruit. The peas can be eaten fresh and green, or dried and then cooked like other dried beans.

Additional Information

Pigeon peas do well in many soil types. Additionally, like all legumes, pigeon peas fix nitrogen because of a symbiotic relationship with bacteria on its root nodules. So its role in a permaculture system is more than just a food source; it is a soil-builder. We can prune the trees to easily get some greens to add to compost, or to use as mulch.

Moringa

Grows quickly. Moringa is an extremely fast growing tree native to South Asia, perfect for difficult hot and sunny areas that could do with a little more shade.

Low-maintenance. Like our pigeon peas, our moringa tree has tolerated our dry and hot front yard really well, with little watering other than rain. Also, despite the fact that it is a fast-growing tree, it can easily be topped or pruned to harvest.

Easy to propagate. Our moringa tree flowered and fruited only months after planting. We decided to let these fully dry, and then I planted the seeds. I had very high success rate and now I have plenty of moringa seedlings to share with friends. It can also be propagated with cuttings.

Likes sun. Surely you’ve noticed a trend by now. Starting with sun-loving plants is the way to go with permaculture in Florida, and moringa is yet another tree with that trait.

Versatile edible tree. Moringa has many uses. The leaves can be added to salad, dried and ground into powder, or cooked in dishes. The green seed pods can be eaten raw or cooked like other vegetables.

Additional Information

The roots and bark do contain toxic compounds, and certain compounds in the leaves may interfere with certain medications. As with any new addition to your diet, make sure you read up on multiple sources about its safety, and introduce slowly in small amounts.

Turmeric, Ginger, Galangal

Harvest after a year. Once you plant the first small rhizomes in the spring, it only takes around a year for the rhizomes to grow bigger and become a harvestable size.

Low-maintenance. Once you have these plants in good rich soil and a warm, shady spot, the only care they will need is water. Our turmeric and ginger share a pot on our front porch. They get some late afternoon sun without getting too hot and dry.

Easy to propagate. Once you harvest your first batch of the rhizomes, all you have to do is keep some of the smaller pieces for replanting. After only one year, our first harvest gave us enough to dry for making powder, plus enough smaller pieces to grow more plants than we started with.

Versatile. The rhizomes can be cooked fresh, or dried and ground into powder to preserve. The leaves are also edible and often used in cooking.

Additional Information

Check out my blog post on growing, harvesting, and processing turmeric and ginger, and watch the full video on YouTube.

Blue Butterfly Pea

Grows quickly. Blue butterfly pea is a perennial legume native to tropical and subtropical Asia. It can quickly climb a trellis, making a beautiful wall of green and blue to use on an archway or along a fence.

Low-maintenance. In our garden, it has been very low maintenance. We cut ours back once to remove dead, woody sections, and it easily grew fresh new leaves and soon produced a new batch of flowers.

Easy to propagate. Blue butterfly pea plants can self-seed, though I find most don’t make it, so it has not shown any invasive potential. I can still collect the dried seeds, however, and easily plant them so that they will grow if I want.

Edible flowers. Blue butterfly peas are amazing. Although they don’t have much flavor other than a mild sweetness when eaten raw, they are full of antioxidants and other beneficial compounds. The flowers can be added to a salad or as edible decorations. They can also be dried and used for tea. Another part of their appeal is their vibrant blue color. The flowers can be used as a natural dye. Blue butterfly pea flower tea is bright blue; adding an acid like lemon juice makes it pinkish purple, while making it more basic turns it green.

Additional Information

Again, like other legumes, blue butterfly pea plants fix nitrogen. Prune them to add green clippings to your compost! I have also noticed that the flowers are popular with many pollinators, including monk skipper butterflies and bumble bees.

Longevity Spinach

Grows quickly. Longevity spinach is an edible vining green found in Asia and Africa. It grows pretty quickly and you’ll have more than enough to eat.

Hardy. This plant has survived our hot and dry weather, as well as our colder months, with little to no extra care from us.

Easy to propagate. To propagate, simply take a cutting and stick it in the ground and water occasionally.

Can harvest right away. You can immediately start munching on the raw leaves from the plant. I like the newer leaves best, as they are more tender and have a more appealing texture.

Versatile leafy green. Snack on the leaves while walking in the garden, use them on salads or sandwiches, or cook them into soups or other dishes.

Tolerates heavy pruning. Because it does grow relatively fast, I will heavily prune it to keep the plant a manageable size. Even if we aren’t planning on eating it, I simply compost the cuttings so they still have a purpose. Plus, with the occasional heavy pruning, more new growth of the tender, tastier leaves is encouraged.

Additional Information

Although longevity spinach is highly nutritious, it is not my favorite to eat texture-wise other than as a light snack or in the occasional salad or sandwich. Still, its existence in our garden is reassuring. It grows so well that I can count on it as a food source in our permaculture system.

Mulberry

Produces fruit quickly. Mulberries are small fruits produced from a number of tree species in the genus Morus. Just a few months after we planted our dwarf-ever bearing mulberry, we started getting berries! It is always a good feeling to get food right away, because you know each year will only get better.

Low-maintenance. Mulberries do great in Florida with little extra care. We give ours some compost every now and then, and usually just depend on the rain for water.

Easy to propagate. Mulberries are so easy to propagate. Simply take a stem cutting, or even just a leaf, and place it in water until it gets roots. Then, you can place it in a pot with some soil, caring for it closely until its strong enough. Once it’s big enough, you can plant it in the ground or in a bigger pot as needed.

Likes sun. Mulberries like full sun so it is another great tree to plant when making an empty, sunny lawn into a food forest.

Additional Information

Enjoy the ripe berries right off the tree, or use them in baking or preserves. Avoid eating green or unripe mulberries, as they have a laxative effect.

Morus rubra, or red mulberry, is the species native to North America. There are many other species and cultivars, including the black mulberry, white mulberry, dwarf everbearing mulberry, Pakistan mulberry, and more.

Oregano

Grows quickly. Oregano grows very well in Florida, especially in the spring months. Our Italian oregano came from a small start from a nursery, and now it is a decently sized, but manageable, planting.

Hardy. Florida can be a tricky place to grow certain herbs like cilantro, but our oregano has lasted multiple seasons with little care from us.

Easy to propagate. Oregano is so easy to propagate. Clippings from pruning can simply be placed in the soil.

Can harvest right away. Perennial herb plantings are great, because you don’t have to wait for a huge tree to grow or fruit to set before enjoying.

Versatile leafy green. Eat the leaves while walking in the garden, use a couple sprigs for cooking, or collect and dry the leaves to make your own seasoning.

Tolerates heavy pruning. When I noticed dried woody stems on our oregano, I cut it back as much as seemed right, and within a few days new growth was sprouting.

Additional Information

There are a few varieties of oregano, like Greek oregano, as well as other similar plants like Cuban “oregano”, technically a succulent in the mint family but that is just as easy to care for and harvest from.

Basil

Grows quickly. There are many varieties of basil. Although most are annuals, many can be grown as perennial plantings because they reseed easily. Our Thai basil, once planted, grew very quickly into a nicely sized planting.

Hardy. Several varieties of basil are able to handle the variety of weather and temperatures of Florida. Our Thai basil has been there for over a year now. Even when it died back shortly during some cold weather, the seeds it had dropped were soon sprouting.

Easy to propagate. Basil seeds can be easily collected and planted, or let them fall naturally.

Can harvest right away. Harvest some leaves soon after planting. Pruning basil regularly encourages branching and new growth.

Versatile leafy green. Much like oregano or other leafy herbs, you can eat the leaves as a garden snack, use the leaves for cooking or garnish, or collect and dry the leaves to make seasoning.

Additional Information

Florida also has a native wild sweet basil, Ocimum campechianum. It is native to the most southern portions of Florida, but can be grown as an annual in other areas of the state.

https://hawthornhillwildflowers.blogspot.com/2012/05/wild-sweet-basil-ocimum-campechianum.html

Garlic Chives

Hardy. We planted our garlic chives almost a year ago. It survived the few cold days in winter and the long, hot summer. Unlike other Allium species such as leeks, which we struggled to grow, garlic chives have been a mostly hands-off planting.

Easy to propagate. Garlic chives can be propagated by seeds that form after the flowers have been pollinated. It can reseed quite readily so take care that it doesn’t become a nuisance or invasive in your yard. Simply cut the flowers before the seeds form (after letting the pollinators enjoy their fill of course) to prevent spread. You can also propagate by thinning the clumps of bulbs and transplanting elsewhere.

Can harvest right away. Take some clippings right away and enjoy the vibrant aroma and flavor.

Versatile leafy green. Garlic chives are great for adding that onion and garlic flavor to a variety of dishes.

Additional Information

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/garlic-chives-allium-tuberosum/

This list is by no means complete. We are only a couple years into our own permaculture journey, and there are so many plants that are still on my own wish-list, many of which I’m sure would also be quickly beneficial. I’ll be back to add any plants to this post as we continue to expand the diversity of our food forest. For now, I hope this leaves you inspired and eager to start growing your own food as soon as possible!.

Written by Heather Martin, 09/12/22

Photos by Heather Martin