Garden volunteers
What are garden volunteers?
Volunteers are not nice friends who come & help pull weeds or finish that to do list for you in your garden. They are plants that have lovingly popped up in random places where you did not plant them. The plant either had self seeded (it happens even with annuals!), or an animal ate some of your precious veggies or flowers & when they defecated left the seed to survive another year. Or that seed will pop back up with determination in a place you like, or do not like. It’s the will of the wind.
You found a volunteer…. What should you do?
I just let the plant continue its course. I mean, if it was able to survive my winter in Québec. I think it deserves to keep living. On the other hand, having a sunflower that popped up with my garlic patch just won’t do for me. The sunflowers that are popping up along the outside of the perimeter of my plots will be ok.
You can also just dig it up carefully and move to another place of your choosing. For example, I have found some dill. I let the dill get a bit bigger & then I transplanted it for companion planting next to my squash. I’m not a gardening encyclopedia, but apparently they help keep the squash bug away. Therefore it’s a win win for all. The dill, the squash & me. I didnt have to grow it again! My random sunflowers that pop up in different places, I let grow as well, then transplanted them in my sunflower patch.
What can you do about the volunteer plants?
Let them grow! I mean, they made it that far. There is something special about the fact that, you are able to keep the birds, squirrels & other little critters fed. Remember, we are apart of an ecosystem. The plants were also here way before we even were a thought. We are dependent on the plants. It’s not the plants that dependents on us. How long can you hold your breath for? Not too long. We need them to breath, so live and let live. Why not?!
Candice
I want to show others that medicine is all around us. There are many common backyard plants that we can benefit from. Including what we use as a day to day culinary herb within our dishes can have a huge impact on our daily health. Being conscience of different common herbs that you might already have in your pantry & work with them to enhance your families health.
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