|
| There has been some discussion lately about volunteer plants and how they are so often the strongest, most productive plants in the garden. Anyone know WHY this is? Also, interested to hear what your best volunteers of the year were. Always want new ideas of what I should be allowing to go to seed :) Here's my list of best volunteers for 2014, in order of productivity: Mache -- Most of the beds had some. Great salads anytime the snow melted in Feb and March Kale -- it's even growing in the pathways. Has been feeding us all summer and fall, and I'll cover for winter eating. Arugula -- it's all over the place! Lettuce -- always a nice surprise where it decides to plant itself. Parsnips -- I can hardly get seed from a package to germinate, but the volunteer patches do great. Turnips -- using the greens mostly. Tomatoes -- got a few newly hybridized cherries Potatoes -- let a few grow, got some nice earlies from them Peas -- they're growing now in the old pea patch-turned-fall greens row. Maybe get some tendrils for salads from them before they freeze? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 15:18
| The only volunteer I got this year (and every year) was bronze fennel. Parnsip seed has to be really fresh as they lose their viability quickly. And you can't get fresher seed than what has dropped directly from the plant(s). Rodney |
|
- Posted by little_minnie 4 (My Page) on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 19:51
| Yes I had lots of volunteers and some things that surprisingly overwintered. I had 3 melon plants sprout up and 2 were purebred varieties, not crossed; I found that interesting. I also had a Sungold seed volunteer and it was more like Sungold than any "OP" grow out I have ever tried. Also lots of ground cherries and tomatillos! Some of the volunteer lettuce was very heat tolerant so I save seed from it. I also had a volunteer 2 year old radicchio I must have thought was lettuce last year. It flowered beautifully and I saved seed. Lots of volunteer cutflowers too. And I always let sunflowers grow all over. |
|
| I had several ground cherry plants and Malabar spinach vines. The Malabar spinach plants were way better than the one I intentionally planted last year. And so much cheaper. :) -Anne |
|
- Posted by sweetquietplace 6 WNC Mtn. (My Page) on Tue, Sep 30, 14 at 1:00
| A LaRatte potato plant grew on the other side of the potato patch from where it had been planted the previous season. Was it the wee folk or chipmunks playing games with me? One of the tubers was a curved 12" long and so thick that I couldn't wrap my hand around it. |
|
| They are thriftier for the same reason that direct-seeded crops (when sown in a timely fashion) often do better than transplants: germinating at the best time to get well-established and vigorous root systems. Lack of the special care that is often bestowed on transplants means the weaker plants get out-competed by stronger ones. Same as what happens with weeds. |
|
| Pat, thanks for that explanation. Sweetquietplace -- definitely the wee folk! |
|
| I got about 10 big pumpkins this year I did not intend to grow this year, I did grow last year. |
|
| Volunteers make me happy. Even a dandelion coming up in a crack of cement. I think that something in me respects their strength and adaptability. |
|
| Year after year I appreciate volunteer cilantro, dill, ground cherries, and amaranth. I had a surprise large fruited pumpkin grow in a flower bed. I will save the seeds since this is a tough plant. I love volunteers and make my garden around them. |
|
| Because I grow in small beds , mostly tomatoes, thats all I get, tomatoes. But they are always too late when they emerge. So I just pull them. Plus, I wouldn't know what variety they are. I also believe that it is better to plant systematically and by intention (where, when, what) to get much better results. |
This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 10:26
|
| Year after year I appreciate volunteer cilantro, dill, ground cherries, and amaranth. I had a surprise large fruited pumpkin grow in a flower bed. I will save the seeds since this is a tough plant. I love volunteers and make my garden around them. |
|
| A lot of my crops are self-sown, so my gardening habits are not systematic. Controlled chaos is more like it. |
|
- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 17:34
| I had a Spaghetti Squash volunteer and I hadn’t even bought seed for that. But I did buy one at the grocery store and probably added the peel and seeds to the compost. I read that I should not expect it to be any good, but it was great! So that was fun. Also had volunteer Sunflowers in the perennial bed. My problem is that some of the plant I left to go to seed, like Bok Choy from the spring have germinated now. What a shame, they will freeze soon and not sure I will get more next spring. Same thing with Dill and Cilantro. Although I did collect seed from those for next year. |
|
| after years of struggle I have eradicated cilantro and sunflowers. I currently have celery, parsnips, salad chicory and mustard greens (reds?), plus some arugula, string beans and komatsuna, coming up every year on their own. Thousands of plants really, when all is said and done. |
|
| All my chard and red Russian kale is 'organised volunteers'. I cut the seeding branches and lay them out in rows in the garden, often as protection for seed rows of other crops such as peas. By the time I cut down the peas I have a row of kale or chard seedlings coming up in their place. Parsley also volunteers and I leave that where is decides to place itself. I've not yet had dill or lettuce despite leaving them to flower. |
|
| Floral, that's a brilliant idea ! |
|
| Yeah, Flora that is clever, I'll have to try that one! |
|
| I discovered it by accident when I was thinking of how to keep the wood pigeons off my pea seedlings. I didn't have any wire netting or twiggy branches about so I used bolted kale stems. |
This post was edited by floral_uk on Mon, Oct 20, 14 at 13:38
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Vegetable Gardening Forum
Information about Posting
- You must be logged in to post a message. Once you are logged in, a posting window will appear at the bottom of the messages. If you are not a member, please register for an account.
- Please review our Rules of Play before posting.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review your post, make changes and upload photos.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- Before posting copyrighted material, please read about Copyright and Fair Use.
- We have a strict no-advertising policy!
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
Learn more about in-text links on this page here
