volunteers

I am trying to help out at the boys' school as much as possible this year. Maybe if I make myself indispensable, they'll want to hire me someday.

If I'm valued, I'll be kept. That's the rule in my yard too. I have some volunteer plants every year. Maybe our compost doesn't "cook" long enough and spreads seeds. Maybe the birds poop a lot. Regardless, here are some of the volunteers who have not been pulled. I can identify very few, so if you know who my visitors are, please share.

This first is a vine which grew from the compost pile itself. One year we had three pumpkins ripen in August, last year we grew gourds. Nothing wrong with a lovely gourd, but you can't eat them.


I was hoping for cucumber, but I'm guessing pumpkin for this volunteer.

There are two of these, probably sown by birds since they're so near my feeders. Small, yellow blooms, but reminiscent of a sunflower plant.

I know this one, but I leave it to grow and provide tasty strawberries to birds and other critters. If I feed them treats like this, won't they leave my other plants alone?

This lone swiss chard plant grows in a bare area I reserved for... chard and lettuce. I planted those seeds in early spring but here is one small plant that just began to show itself in August. Not enough for a meal, and yet I can't seem to get any to grow when I want it. I'll sow another attempt to see if I can give this plant some neighbors. And if I can get a meal's worth.

Some of my volunteers are much loved. This one was transplanted from the front lawn along with four others of different varieties. All five accepted the move, but I only wanted one. This red maple is now nine years old. I hope someday it will have a swing tied to it's branches. I have so many trees and yet none near the house and none with good swinging branches. It is hoped that this one will provide fun to my grandchildren. It is already taller than a two story house.