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About 1985, when my mama, daddy, and I lived in town we didn't have enough room for a garden. Mama and daddy and I loved homegrown beefsteak tomatoes so daddy planted a couple of vines at the corner of the porch. The next year, he didn't plant any but a vine volunteered and grew even taller than the one the year before. It had to have been 6 feet tall, as daddy fixed a trellis of sorts for it. A sweet memory for me because daddy passed away in 1988 at 64 when I was only 23. The year before his passing he planted daffodil bulbs for me, and they were in bloom when he passed on March 1. So daffodils always remind me of daddy.
We haven't bought garlic, cherry tomato or butternut squash/(never planted - came from compost) plants for years because they come up every year somewhere! We also occasionally get romaine lettuce and dill, and (although never planted) pumpkin and watermelon plants came up one year. This also happens with many flowers, bushes and trees that come up in mulched areas, especially black walnut trees. It is a lot of fun and wonderful to see all the plants grow without the work of planting them!
Thank you for your comments, Kay, Michelle, Julie, Sharman, Luann, and BC Gardener. I love hearing from far-flung members of my tribe--lovers of the natural world in all its wonder. Keep spreading the love!
I store my potting soil in my garden shed which keeps everything dry but by no means keeps out the mice who like to pass through. I repotted some house plants last fall and was surprised a few weeks later by dozens of pea shoots coming up in the pots. Seems the little creatures had gleaned some dried peas left behind after harvest from the garden and stored them securely in the garden shed in those convenient tubs of dry potting soil. We enjoyed that trendy gourmet addition of pea shoots in our salads and stir frys. Thanks to our mouse friend.
My little garden helpers are the squirrels. Two years ago I notice a pumpkin scaling my tomato trellis and joking told him that if he didn't smother my tomatoes he could stay. The tomatoes actually engulfed the poor pumpkin so I did pay much attention after that. At the end of the season I notice a flash of orange in my tomatoes and found the most perfect 45 pound pumpkin I had ever seen in my life!
Beautiful. This year I had volunteer broccoli and several varieties of flowers. I never totally clean out my garden so every year I get something. It's like I give myself a surprise gift. Nature is wonderful. We just have to be on the lookout for the presents..... Thanks for the story.
Beautiful...how my husband and I love the country, the natural wonder of God's creation and the constant surprises to be found if only we have eyes and ears to discover the gifts! Thank you...!
Mine was leaf lettuce... I grow my veggies in pots.. and always prepare them (add compose, fertilizer, coffee and eggshells) a month before I plant.. when I went to look.. I had lettuce growing.. smile.. nice to see.. had lettuce a whole month early this year.
Enjoyed your post, you are living the life I sorta had growing up on a farm...loved it. I have had volunteer plants grow in my compost pile this year, a butternut squash that had more and bigger squash than the ones I planted, and some tomatoes came up also. I live in a subdivision, have a raised garden 12'x24', but yearn for the farm life. Keep posting,
Thanks,
Kay Coleman Wells
