Calling in the volunteers

Calling all Vounteers! Calling all Volunteers!

I like to think that it is a sign of a healthy yard and good biology going on in the ground that I am able to get healthy strong plants popping up with no planting or assistance from me. I guess I like to think of it this way so that I don't have to accept the fact that the yard is just a little chaotic and things are in a slight case of disorder at all times.

The first picture is a pumpkin plant with a bit of history. Two years ago, I tried to have a compost pile in that area. It was an open pile that got started a bit too late, and never really got "cooking" like I had wanted it to. Long story short; the next spring, after the pile had decomposed quite a bit over the winter, I tilled the whole lot into the ground to finish off and was going to leave it like that for a while. A couple of weeks after tilling it, I noticed a bunch of sprouts that seemed to look like some sort of squash. Turned out that the pumpkins that we had chopped and put into the C-pile were still viable and very robust. Last year we had a ton of pumpkins that grew wild in this area. Seems I still had some seed in the ground there. That with the fact that my compost tumbler is right above it and leaks a little has made this the best pumpkin plant in the yard.

Here's another volunteer. This little guy is growing quickly, despite having only partial sunlite. You see this tomato plant is under the overhang of my kitchen. facing east. It only gets direct morning sun. It is flowering though, so I have hopes for a 'mater, later. The strange thing is, this area has never really been used by me for anything. I certainly never planted seed there. I can only assume that a bird dropped a package for me with some fertilizer and seed together. Or perhaps my kids had a little too much fun cleaning up the garden with me last year.


Do you keep your volunteers? Have you had any luck with them? If I get good fruit from these, I am going to save some of the seed for next year I think. They earned it after all.

P~