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Welcome Volunteers

November 19th, 2015

Last summer I let overwintered carrots go to seed in the garden, the result was welcome volunteers here and there this spring. I left all the carrots seedlings that sprouted up here and there throughout the potager. Yesterday, I harvested a few of them to make soup.
Carrot harvest
There are a few things I allow to go to seed because I enjoy not having to plant them again. Cilantro, parsley, dill, kale, lettuce, and fennel are all things that sprout up here and there every spring. Sometimes I pull them up, most of the time I let them grow as they wish. The result is a lot of wonderful things that I didn’t have to plant myself.

What sorts of edible volunteers do you have in your garden?

4 Comments to “Welcome Volunteers”
  1. Laura @ Raise Your Garden on November 19, 2015 at 8:14 am

    Awww. My carrots look just like yours! I’m so glad I checked your blog today. And I will probably do the same with mine. Soup. I let almost the same herbs come from seeds. I have a heavy duty composter which I love, but sometimes I chuck the compost straight in to the garden when I’m lazy. And guess what!! I got several honeydews, cateloupes and eggplant that I didn’t intend to plant. They were good! Cute post.

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  2. Kyle on November 19, 2015 at 12:02 pm

    I am encouraging cilantro and parsley to reseed in my getting-wild herb garden. I would love it if I had a messy bed of volunteers that would keep me in fresh supply most of the year. I have borage reseeding under one plum tree, which, combined with some clover, is starting to make a nice living mulch. I would really like it if I could get some flowers reseeding, but they have been eluding me.

    Reply to Kyle's comment

  3. Jennelle on November 20, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    What a nice surprise in the spring! I love volunteers!

    Reply to Jennelle's comment

  4. Nebraska Dave on November 25, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    Susy, finally I found a way to get to your blog posts. If I click on Chiots Run I go to “Gifts from Readers” but if I click on the actual name of the post it will bring it up.

    I intentionally planted carrots one fall and the next spring they grew and were the best carrots ever. I’m not sure why I haven’t tried that again.

    Have a great carrot harvest day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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