Edibles with a long harvest period?

As the title says, what edibles have a nice long harvest period?
Going into a clay-y soil not too sheltered, Sun most of the day.
And the second location is in shade from 12 in the afternoon...

What can I grow? I don't want something that'll grow and I'll have a glut of the edible for one short period of the year.
I'd like to try a few things that I can go up to the garden and just pick it for the meal that evening fresh, and still have others left for later.
I grow chillies, about 4-6 month of the year I can pick them almost daily, but my greenhouse is stuffed and Will be next year too!
I haven't had much luck with tomatoes, as they all came at once or never ripened, although a good few dwarf cherry tomato plants could be nice?
Ideas please :D

 

What about a nice long storage period?

I think we sent a Butternut Squash with our daughter to her first year at uni and she still had it in perfect condition about 9 months later, can't remember just how long it lasted.

My early sown leeks were ready to eat some time ago, and will last until April, but Leaf Beet (AKA Perpetual Spinach) has a very long cropping season if making successional sowings, Spring Onions will overwinter and 'clean themselves up' in spring.

 

Winter cabbage or savoy will give you a long harvesting period.

Parsnips will stay in the ground all winter. You can harvest them from first frost right through to March.

Beetroot can be sown in April, you can thin them out and use the thinnings as 'baby beet' from July onwards, those left to mature will keep in the ground right through winter.

Staggered sowings of sweet corn, from late April to early June should give you cobs ready for picking from about late July right through to late September/early October.

 

Kale can be pickable over many months.

And the leaves can be used in salads.

 

Alpine strawberries for the shady site. Mine are still going strong and have been in fruit since early summer. They are short lived perennials (and don't produce runners) so re-grow from seed every 4 years or so.

Try a few rocket plants in the sunny site. My plants are 3 years old and have been moved twice but are still going strong. They have deep roots. Their flavour depends on how much moisture there is; when it's dry in summer they are much stronger. These days there are plenty of varieties to chose from, but yes, watch out as they are brassicas so can get caterpillars in summer. I'm a whimp for heat so just cut mine to the ground and started again. Will produce salad leaves from spring through to later autumn.

 

I've grown collards for the first time this year - I just go out and harvest leaves as I need them -hoping they go on till Christmas. Last year I grew red butternut lettuce outside and was still picking it in March - it bolted though as soon as it warmed up a bit. Swiss chard, eat the leaves eat the stalks - looks great too. Like @Scrungee said leaf beet for sure - they say to pick the leaves when they are small but I think the great big leaves taste better. In shade - have you thought about Good King Henry?

 

I know that you are looking for edibles with a long harvest period but what is wrong with freezing.
In my opinion fresh veg that is dropped into boiling water for 15 seconds or so to kill bacteria and is then dried and frozen tastes just as good as when it was freshly picked. You don't have to go out in inclement weather to pick it either.

 

I just like the idea of it if it's frozen I may as well get a bag from asda! I know it's home grown and all that, but I think the adventure entices me more than the actual produce.
Also, having bbq's in the garden where you can cook your cow, pop it in bread with a freshly picked charred chilli, slices of freshly picked tomato and freshly picked leaf. It's more exciting than removing something from the freezer and saying to your guests. I grew that...
I'm taking lots of notes for next year! I can't wait.

 

I know where you are coming from. We grow stuff that is either best picked fresh (eg herbs, salad leaves) or is not readily available in the shops (eg mangetout peas, courgettes picked small - use instead of cucumber).

I would definitely second the idea of rocket (we grow the "wild rocket" which has yellow flowers - sharper flavour than some of the commercial varieties, the ones we have tried had white flowers?). A handful of rocket leaves jazz up a salad, like nothing else! The plants go on and on, and often self-seed around as well. We also grow beetroot, just for the leaves to go into salad. Alpine strawberries are pretty enough to go into a flower border, and the tiny fruit pack a punch in your breakfast bowl. You won't get a glut, but just one is a flavour explosion!

One or two cherry tomato plants are worth growing. We will definitely repeat Tumbling Tom, a cherry designed to grow in a pot or hanging basket, and Yellow Pear, a heritage mini tomato. The plant grows and grows - we grow it on a trellis on a warm wall, zig-zagging the plant up, and it is still cropping now, 4 months on. Again, not a groaning yield each week, but a real conversation-starter.

 

What about the amount of money you're saving?

I was going to recommend Raspberries but I usually get a glut and freeze these but that's because I don't really eat them fresh and use them only for jam making. These fruits have one of the longest cropping periods I have seen.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you should look at it in a slightly different way. See the adventure as one of planting seeds, reap what you sow. If you don't want a glut, don't sow a lot.

That way your harvest adventure is even greater with more choice, sow some coriander and add it to salads, grow some rosemary and use a rosemary brush to baste your meat on the bbq.

Sow a dozen beetroot one week, then a dozen more the next, no glut, perpetual crop. You can do this with most veg and keep a steady supply of interest without a glut.

Steve...

 

I second Good King Henry, called Mercury where I come from( Lincolnshire). Very early crop, which just keeps giving.

 

Mmmm..
Or should I say mmmm-ooo