You can grow your own food. We can help.

Have you ever let a volunteer vegetable plant grow in your garden?

amy manning
Nov 05, 2010
Follow Me on PinterestStumble Upon

This year I had the most robust summer squash plant grow in my garden, which I just posted about on my personal blog. 

 

I was curious to find out if any of you have let a volunteer vegetable plant grow in your garden and what the results were. 

 

I know that they say that with many vegetable plants, you aren't supposed to let them grow due to the buildup of disease, such as potatoes and tomatoes. 

 

What has your experience been? 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, amy manning
I'm a suburban homesteader (or at least attempting to be!).
Other posts by amy manning >>

Comments

david e kelley
Yes. I like volunteers. Most are pleasant surprises. There is a lot of discussion about volunteers throughout the Groups, forums, and blogs on this site. I posted one in Garden Pictures about a cantaloupe. Browse around the site.
amy manning
That's interesting. Very cool. Was it an OP cantaloupe or a surprise?
julieta
We had many volunteer heirloom tomato plants--in our compost! I left them to see how they would perform, and they're still producing (although we expect a freeze tonight.)
Joel LeGrand
Every year something wild comes up in my garden. I got about 200 collard seeding this year.
Jessica Still
- didn't make it to transplant size? Maybe overcrowding? given how much seed brassicas produce in one place with seed pods?
caro
This year I'm enyoying a big big number of volunteer tomatoes. They seem to be even stronger than the ones I get in the nursery. I totally agree with let them be. And like the last years, the compost is full of different kinds of cabages, pumkings and squashes.
Allotmentmanyork
I get a quite lot of sunflowers and coloured tobacco plants just appearing amongst the vegetables. Probably from seed in the compost. I let most things grow insitu, though some i do transplant elsewhere, if they are really in the wrong place.
merryj
We have a recursive patch of sunflowers that just reseeds itself each year.
amy manning
I had a similar experience with ground cherries. I planted a start one year. It reseeded itself the next year, which was great. Then I moved. Couldn't get the seed to do anything this year. Keep your fingers crossed for next year!
Jessica Still
To Roger & all, here is the "volunteer production" link I mentioned earlier in this comment. The Drupal comment box needs to be tuned to be more friendly to "cut & paste" info inserts.
amy manning
I was thinking that the squash actually looks like a zephyr squash. But hey, it's parents could have been anything, right? Maybe it was an OP variety. Too bad I had other squash plants growing not far away, or I would have saved the seed and grown it again and again.
Allotmentmanyork
I get a quite lot of sunflowers and coloured tobacco plants just appearing amongst the vegetables. Probably from seed in the compost. I let most things grow insitu, though some i do transplant elsewhere, if they are really in the wrong place.
Oregon Coast Ga...
Hi Amy, I have found that greens produce the best volunteers...
Joel LeGrand
I had mustard & collards come up from seeds. I like the move to another bed Ideal, have to try it this year. I like "LEAF" not Bush collards, they last 3-5 years, if watered in the dry summer season. I had fresh organic collards on the 4th of July, I picked them on the 3rd of July.
Oregon Coast Ga...
Hi Joel, Do you have a favorite named variety of collards? I haven't grown them lately but like them and they are so nutritious, I should plant some again...
Joel LeGrand
I get my seeds local & I think they were "Georgia Southen" leaf type. But Flash & Champion are two other kinds. I sometimes get transplants that are grown in a local greenhouse. I keep my collards for more then one season. I have been told that you should let the frost sweeten th
amy manning
I will have to let my chard go to seed then. :-)
Everett
The squash picture in your personal blog is awsome. Yes I also like volunteers and sometimes leave them to see if they produce. earlier this year I had one cantaloupe like Dave, some butternut squash other than those I planted and a sungold cherry tomato. Today I dug up a volunteer potato.
Kathis
I found something awesome about this on google [1] and I want u to check it out.[1] http://google.com

Add comment

Log in or register to post comments

Kitchen Gardeners UNITE!

We are a nonprofit community of 24,000 people from 100 countries who are growing our own food and helping others to do the same.

Join Us!

or subscribe to our e-list:

  

Praise for KGI:

"A group that can get
things done"
-Mother Nature Network

"One of the web's best sources of gardening info"
-Washington Post 

"The meeting place of the world's gardeners"
-WorldWatch Institute

more here

 

What's Growing On:

Roger Doiron blogged: 
34,000 Acres a Day

...

Read more
Dr.Sonal asked a question: 
What can I grow with very limited space and sunshine?
Read more
ca posted a status update:
Just received my copy of What’s Wrong With My Vegetable Garden? It's very informative. I would recommend it, too, especially for a beginning gardener. It is definitely a "go to" book for common problems.
Read more
SunnyBlooms asked a question: 
How do I save rape mustard seed?
Read more
rvisser blogged: 
Rejoicing in Worms
earth worms

Yesterday, while loosening the soil in one of my raised beds, I was suddenly overwhelmed with...

Read more
abondigirl posted a status update:
Any suggestions as to how to organically deter grubs and caterpillars from the tomato plants? It is frustrating when these crawlers bore into the green tomatoes and any advice would be appreciated.
Read more
FletcherFamily shared an image.
Read more
FletcherFamily shared an image.
Read more
view all

About us:

KGI is a nonprofit community of 24,000 people who are growing some of our own food and helping others to do the same.  

Join our mailing list:

 

Connect with us:

Contact us:

Kitchen Gardeners International
3 Powderhorn Drive,
Scarborough, ME, 04074, USA
info@kgi.org
(207) 956-0606