All Volunteer Army....of Plants!

All recruits unconditionally accepted and no signing bonuses to pay. You have to love a volunteer! The first time I heard the term was in Papa's little victory garden. Nana and I were taking a look around and she pointed to a very healthy looking tomato plant and said, "and that's a volunteer tomato". I had no idea that it had sprung up on it's own, but instead thought it was the name of the tomato variety.


The top left photo is of red chard and parsley, all from plants that went to seed last November. I was very happy to plant them along an old Victorian iron fence that sits between the cherry tree and the raised beds in the garden. That space has gone unused for far to long. It's heavily shaded but both plants should do fine there.

The top right photo is of a radicchio I planted last summer, but never harvested. It became tough so I just left it to die back; it did along with several others. Now they're all resprouting, so I may be investigating a Tuscan and radicchio soup very soon.

The Yellow chard grew back after it was cut all the way to the root. The most surprising volunteer on the bottom right is a purple potato from last year. I dug that patch up so well I can hardly believe I overlooked 3 potatoes, but 3 there were, since I now have 3 volunteers.

Not all volunteers are rough and ready recruits. These delicate tulips were planted 3 seasons ago. Last year they only leafed out, so I had planned to replace them this year, but never found the time. Lucky for me that I didn't. They're called Pink Impression. I'm certainly impressed.