Volunteers

I am in love with my volunteers.  It might be a problem. 

Here's a picture of one of them. 

Yes, that's Brussels sprouts!

I didn't plant Brussels sprouts this year, but here we are. 

And, yes, by "volunteer", I am actually talking about the garden-variety volunteer.  

I mean, the actual, garden volunteers.

A garden volunteer is a plant that just grows.  In my experience, usually an annual that has self-seeded.  Not to be confused with "weeds", which are also self-seeded, but usually from some other source - that is, I never planted whatever it is in my garden, and I have no idea what it is. 

Having a crop of Brussels sprouts that I didn't plant (this year) doesn't seem like it should be problem, except that those volunteers take up space that I could use for growing something else, and I have precious little space for gardening to begin with. 

Volunteers make it difficult for me to actually plan my garden, and since I do have such a small area of my very small suburban lot available for garden space, I really shouldn't be allowing these volunteers, but I do, every year, and most years, I end up with something like the above - an unexpected boon of a crop I didn't plan for.

This year it's Brussels sprouts that grew in the bed I'd planned for my salsa garden - the tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.  I didn't get any peppers, but the tomatoes were so prolific, I offered them to my neighbor, who picked the tiny, sweet cherry tomatoes with his toddler, who (like me), ate them straight off the vine.

That's the problem, see.  Not my neighbor's sweet little girl eating  cherry tomatoes off the vine, but the fact that sometimes, my volunteers out compete the crops I intended, like jalapeno peppers.

My favorite volunteer success story, and the reason I am loath to pull any volunteer, is Hubbard squash.  We had such a bountiful year, once, with volunteer Hubbard squash, that I almost always, just let them grown, no matter what they are.  

That year, we harvested 180lbs of squash. At first, I had no idea what it was.  I think I had to ask my blogger friends for an ID.  I suggested to Deus Ex Machina the other day that we should buy a Hubbard squash and strew the seeds in the backyard ... and see what happens.  

I'm harvesting the Brussels sprouts tonight for dinner.  I'm going to roast the sprouts with some peppers and cherry tomatoes and serve them with Kotlets (the recipe I use is similar to this one, but without any flour - mine is just ground meat, egg, shredded potato, shredded onion, and seasonings - recipe below), quinoa, and some homemade hummus. 

Next year, maybe I'll try growing chickpeas for a real "home made" hummus. 

What are you growing?

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Kotlet

1 lb ground meat (i use beef)

1 large egg

1 medium potato, grated and squeezed of excess water

1 medium onion, grated and squeezed of excess water

1 TBS each, turmeric, chili powder, black pepper, salt

1.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl

2.  Form mixture into patties.

3.  Fry in a skillet until deeply browned through.