Volunteers You Can Count On

[Dahlia]

In the garden it's edible weeds like bittercress and lamb's quarters and I let a few grow every year because I harvest and eat them. Curly and Red Russian kale produce enough volunteer seedlings that I haven't had to plant either variety for three years and of course there's the occasional volunteer tomato.

But the one thing that has really awes me is a morning glory that sprouted in an old planter my first husband's grandmother had made out of an old metal lunch can. She passed in 2012 and had been in a nursing home for 4-5 years prior so I have no idea how long that planter had been in her shed. I helped clean her house out the following year to be sold and was told to help myself to anything in the shed, so I grabbed everything garden related as that's one thing she and I both loved and often talked about. So the next year I set the planter out intending to dump out the soil and plant something in it but life got in the way and it wasn't long until a morning glory seedling sprouted and grew. Fast forward to two years ago and the same morning glory pops up next to the house, doesn't appear the next year, and this year it is back again. I believe it's Heavenly Blue, and a volunteer of that original morning glory as I haven't planted them in over twenty years.

Have you ever tried hairy bittercress? I think it is one of the cresses that grows on river banks but not in the water.
I have always wanted to try lambs quarters, but have never come across it when foraging.

 

[flowerbug]

...
I have always wanted to try lambs quarters, but have never come across it when foraging.

that one grows in most of my gardens here, i don't always pull every plant to let it reseed. unfortunately it also attracts the groundhog into some gardens so i'm not letting as much of it go very far. i do like it as a cover crop and grow and cut mulch. it will reroot and grow from cuttings but eventually they get buried anyways... worms can sort it out then...

 

[digitS']

@Dahlia ,

the edge of a cultivated field may be a good place for you to look for lamb's quarters. Springtime.

They are known as goosefoot and the name lamb's quarters probably also refers to the shape of the leaf as a leg of lamb. I am willing to think of them as growing in the "lambs quarters" of the corral, after the lambs have gone to market. The fertilizer that would be left behind would be a likely place to find the plants.

Steve

 

[Dahlia]

@Dahlia ,

the edge of a cultivated field may be a good place for you to look for lamb's quarters. Springtime.

They are known as goosefoot and the name lamb's quarters probably also refers to the shape of the leaf as a leg of lamb. I am willing to think of them as growing in the "lambs quarters" of the corral, after the lambs have gone to market. The fertilizer that would be left behind would be a likely place to find the plants.

Steve

Thank you digitS! I have heard that. I do know of a couple sheep pastures around here. I will look next spring! Finding goosefoot is on my bucket list!

 

[Alasgun]

This year I’m noticing numerous Comfrey volunteers coming in some odd places, obviously from seed.
They are always welcome as something I encourage and use.

 

[ruralmamma]

Have you ever tried hairy bittercress? I think it is one of the cresses that grows on river banks but not in the water.
I have always wanted to try lambs quarters, but have never come across it when foraging.

It's actually hairy bittercress that pops up in my garden in the spring. I love it! Has a bit of a brassica flavor to it.

 

[ruralmamma]

that one grows in most of my gardens here, i don't always pull every plant to let it reseed. unfortunately it also attracts the groundhog into some gardens so i'm not letting as much of it go very far. i do like it as a cover crop and grow and cut mulch. it will reroot and grow from cuttings but eventually they get buried anyways... worms can sort it out then...

I just started using it for a mulch this year too as I try to keep it topped off to delay seeds forming as long as possible. We're having a year of record drought so I'm trying to utilize everything for mulch. The tougher woody stems are getting set aside to run through the chipper later

 

[ruralmamma]

This year I’m noticing numerous Comfrey volunteers coming in some odd places, obviously from seed.
They are always welcome as something I encourage and use.

I have the sterile varieties as well and an constantly taking root cuttings to increase them. Unfortunately deer love comfrey which is why I have to grow it inside of the fence if I want to harvest any for mulch or fertilizer.

 

[Branching Out]

Last year I allowed Green Wave mustard greens to go to seed, and now I am finding the occasional beautiful volunteer in the garden. This one has such a striking form with swirly ruffled leaves. It's almost too pretty to eat!

 

[flowerbug]

Last year I allowed Green Wave mustard greens to go to seed, and now I am finding the occasional beautiful volunteer in the garden. This one has such a striking form with swirly ruffled leaves. It's almost too pretty to eat!

looks delicious to me!