THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS

One of the joys of gardening is the many volunteers that decide to visit during the growing season. Though some volunteers are unwelcome and need to be aggressively controlled like crown vetch and clover, others are quite welcome to share space with my crops. Some volunteers could be called weeds, like lambs quarters, purslane and cress, but I see them as yummy surprise gifts. There are volunteers that I expect and count on every year like tomatoes, lettuce, arugula and dill. And every season, there are one or two unexpected visitors like cateloupe or Chinese cabbage.

This year was no different. This spring, I had the biggest Chinese cabbage I've ever seen show up from a seed dropped from last year's crop. After several stir fries, I ended up making a batch of egg rolls to use up the rest. Over the summer we enjoyed several varieties of tomatoes and tomatillos. I pickled some purslane to enjoy on eggs, sauteed lambs quarters, and added dandelion greens to my family's salads. And, this fall, I just recently discovered what I think is either broccoli or mustard greens growing just outside one of my

compost bins. Just this week, we enjoyed a delicious salad with the wild cress that has decided to take over my strawberry patch with the onset of cooler weather.

Over the years I've had to reluctantly learn to curb the proliferation of tomatoes in the garden because they would overrun what I'm actually trying to grow. But, it's fun to let a few take hold to find out what they are. This year, I've been enjoying some sweet yellow grape tomatoes, which I've never planted, and must have come from the store. I've saved a few seeds to cultivate in next year's garden.

Probably the biggest reason for volunteers is the cold composting method I use. The

teperatures in the piles don't get hot enought to destroy seeds, especially tomato seeds, which are one of the few seeds that can actually make it through the human digestive process without damage. While cold composting brings wanted volunteers it also brings unwanted ones like weeds and disease. That's why it's so important not to include weeds that have gone to seed or diseased plants in the compost bin.

It's always fun to try to figure out what bonus the garden has given when it starts too grow. And, once you know what you have, it's a joy to incorporate it into a creation in the kitchen. Volunteers are a fantasic side-benefit and part of many culinary adventures in the garden.

#edibleweeds #volunteers #coldcomposting