I would like to plant some root edibles (is it correct to call these vegetables?) near my house which will either remain a viable food source for longer than a season, or propagate so that there will always be a viable source of food in the area. I have read that yams grow fibrous after the first year and some onions don't last long in the wild. Could you give me a list of plants that could fill this purpose?
I live in the south eastern united states, zone 7/8.
You could plant sunchockes, otherwise called Jerusalem Artichoke, earth apple, topinambour. This was widely used during WW2 in remote campaign places in France at least. And it will grow beautiful flowers.
If you leave nearer to the equator (e.g. the Peruvian Andes), you may simply grow potatoes!
Yams may grow fibrous when getting old, but I recon you can select the young ones at the edge of the plant.
Most likely you can grow root vegetables all year round where you live. However, there may be a problem with burrowing rodents etc that might eat your crops.
Traditionally people did not leave their vegetables in the ground though, but pulled them out and kept them in a cold cellar to preserve them. This freed up the ground to plant another crop, using crop rotation techniques.
