This is a bit of a short post, but a fun one. We have been gardening in some form for the last 12 years. When Kurt and I first moved in together, we were renting a house with the worst back yard. There was no fence, no landscaping, and like our current house, had a weird slope to it. If we had owned it, we would have done some landscaping to make it a better space, but when renting, that isn’t always an option.

Since the yard was a disaster, but we were expected to take care of it, we built our first, very small garden bed in the lower area, and used the upper area as our hang-out area since the grass was a little nicer. It was our first experience with some gardening. It was ok, but not great. We couldn’t do a lot with it and didn’t want to invest a lot since it wasn’t our place and we may have to take it out when we moved, which we had planned to do as we were looking to buy our own place.

Fast forward the years that we have been in our house and all the different temporary garden setups we have had while we landscape the yard. We have learned a lot about growing fruits, vegetables and plants. We have tried lots of different techniques and still continue to explore. We have had plants creep out of their beds, like our strawberries. We now have a strawberry patch in our driveway, and we recently noticed that the strawberries in our tower in the back are also setting down roots in new locations outside of the tower. I have had some of my herbs come back in the spring, not re-seeding itself, but the plant itself coming back to life and growing again.

This last year we have finally experienced the phenomenon of random seeds growing in locations. In the fall, as we were building our newest wall we noticed that one of the weeds on the hillside behind the shop wasn’t actually a weed, but a tomatillo plant. We had tomatillo’s the first year that we did tomatoes on that slope, 5 years ago. Haven’t grown them since, but somehow there was a seed that was biding its time. It was too bad that it was fall when it finally started flowering, but I guess we can’t choose when and where these scallywags will form.

I was recently checking in on our asparagus patch and what should I find but a rapscallion rooted in where it doesn’t belong. I am unsure yet if it is a cucumber or a zucchini as it only has the 2 leaves so far. I am thinking that it is more likely a cucumber since we had a few of the lemon cucumbers that fell to the ground and didn’t get noticed until they had started to re-unite with the soil. I’m going to let it get a tad bit more established and then try to transplant it to where it belongs. Hopefully by then I will also know which plant I am dealing with and will be able to plunk it where I seeded that plant for this year.

Shortly after, I was showing my parents the garden and listing what we had planted in all the different areas and my mom pointed out some plants that had popped up. Now in the top bed, where the corn, sunflowers, pumpkin, butternut squash and cantaloupe is planted, I marked where I put all the seeds so that I can keep an eye on when they first sprout. None of these plants are in the marked areas. Turns out we have 3 little scallywags that have popped up in that bed. Based on the location and the way we turned and raked that soil, we are certain they are sunflower plants. Once again, we will let them get a little more established then may have to move one or two of them to a better location. One in particular is almost right against the front wall, so it will definitely need to be moved.

I predict that moving forward, we may run into this more often. It is a pleasant surprise to have some un-intended plants, and we will make the best out of them and find them proper homes in the garden. They worked that hard to pop up, that we need to let them continue on.