Potato Growing in the Compost Bin

When we had some red potatos sprouting in kitchen recently, Alex tucked them carefully in the corners of our backyard compost bin.

They are now over a foot tall.  It used to be pretty shady back there but American Electric Power recently hacked away some tree branches and the plants may get more sun than before.

I see no reason to disturb the tubers.  Having something rooted gives us another excuse to be lazy composters and not turn the bin this summer.  When the leaves go brown, we'll dig around and see if there are any spuds to harvest.

Last year we had an abundance of volunteer tomatoes and sunflowers but they seem to have not reseeded so well this year. Do you have any volunteers making their home in your yard?

Volunteers

We started veggies from seed, we planted seedlings and saplings, and now we are tending volunteers?

Yes, I can't resist a plant that reseeds itself!  There is something exciting about tending plants that put themselves in the ground when we don't know exactly what might come from the volunteers.  Above are sunflowers that grew from dropped birdseed.

When we moved the compost bin earlier this spring,  we didn't consider all the seeds lurking in the dirt below.  Tomatoes and squash are popping up now. The sunlight isn't great, but if the tomatoes and squash can survive we'll add to our harvest without adding to the cost of start up.

Two potatoes couldn't wait to grow and now have happy homes in the garden.  One is an errant potato that was never harvested last fall.  The other is a sweet potato that started sprouting in the potato bin and Alex just couldn't help but find a spot for it.

The most surprising find was some chamomile flowers that popped up among the grass.  We can't keep them all but moved some into a flower bed.

Do you have any volunteers in the garden this year?