Bringing home wrong or weird items

[Linda0818]

I grew some coriander one year. It did well in terms of seed production after it bolted. I had volunteer coriander the following year. Since I don't like cilantro, we didn't use the leaves.

I have volunteer (tons of it) spring onions every summer. And that's from ONE year, about 12 years ago, of tossing a packet of spring onion seeds into the bed under the kitchen window. Didn't plant them, just tossed them. And they've been coming up every spring ever since.

Funny thing is, I rarely use them for anything. Maybe all summer I'll go out and pick some 3 or 4 times and that's it.

 

[pepperhead212]

I'm jealous, Linda! I might try to toss some seeds in an area behind my shed, and maybe they will become weeds there. I already have patches of garlic chives all around, so I never have to plant those anymore. Strange though - regular chives, though they flower like the garlic chives, and probably the spring onions, never spread like that! I never once had a patch pop up around the yard or garden.

 

[JustJoel]

I have volunteer (tons of it) spring onions every summer. And that's from ONE year, about 12 years ago, of tossing a packet of spring onion seeds into the bed under the kitchen window. Didn't plant them, just tossed them. And they've been coming up every spring ever since.

Funny thing is, I rarely use them for anything. Maybe all summer I'll go out and pick some 3 or 4 times and that's it.

Spring onions are scallions, right? I love them, but hate buying them because they go limp in about a day. I found out, though, that they are freezable, AND they were on sale yesterday. So I bought three bunches (?) washed ‘em and chopped and froze ‘em. Perfect!

 

[rodentraiser]

I used to go up in the Santa Cruz Mts and dig up plants I liked. One year I got some pretty, white flowered ones. They grew and spread and I finally thinned them. When I dug them up, they looked like they had some small onions on the roots. I have no idea what they were. Wild onions? Green onion wannabes?

I never had a chance to use them because I moved shortly after that.

 

[Linda0818]

I'm jealous, Linda! I might try to toss some seeds in an area behind my shed, and maybe they will become weeds there. I already have patches of garlic chives all around, so I never have to plant those anymore. Strange though - regular chives, though they flower like the garlic chives, and probably the spring onions, never spread like that! I never once had a patch pop up around the yard or garden.

You should try it and see what happens

Spring onions are scallions, right? I love them, but hate buying them because they go limp in about a day. I found out, though, that they are freezable, AND they were on sale yesterday. So I bought three bunches (?) washed ‘em and chopped and froze ‘em. Perfect!

No, spring onions are different from scallions. Scallions and "green onions" are the same thing, but spring onions are a little different, not only in flavor (the green stem part is stronger in flavor than scallions), but spring onions have a small bulb at the end of them (the part that's in the ground) whereas the white part of a scallion is a straight tube, no bulb.

 

[Linda0818]

I used to go up in the Santa Cruz Mts and dig up plants I liked. One year I got some pretty, white flowered ones. They grew and spread and I finally thinned them. When I dug them up, they looked like they had some small onions on the roots. I have no idea what they were. Wild onions? Green onion wannabes?

I never had a chance to use them because I moved shortly after that.

Probably wild onions. I've picked and ate them before, but it's been a long time ago.

 

[Addie]

Dried cilantro has no flavor whatsoever! I’ve read that if you want to preserve it, the best way is to chop it finely and put it into and ice cube tray with a little water, then freeze it. I’ve not tried this yet.

I have done that ice cube tray with other fresh seasonings. Just make sure after it has thawed out, that you pat it very dry with a paper towel or two.

One year one of the maintenance workers who grows his own seasoning, told me to put in one leaf. Just barely cover it with water and freeze, place a second leaf on top of the ice and repeat. When all the cubes are full and frozen, remove to a zippy bag and keep in the freezer. When done right, you can get quite a lot of fresh seasonings even in the middle of winter. It is a time consuming effort, but so worth it. I found that each cube held four to five leaves. I will be doing again this summer. He sells his seasonings at the farmers market. That is all he grows. And he makes a pretty penny. He also sells new plants in small pots for the buyers to grow their own.

 

[Katie H]

Okay, my mother was just a good "basic" cook. As some background, I grew up in the '50s and she did the "meat and potatoes' kind of cooking. Nothing special, just what was necessary to feed her husband and five children. We didn't have a restricted budget because our father provided very well.


As it happened, at one of our parents' visit to the market on daddy's day off, the clerk, in error, put someone else's groceries into daddy's car. That was in the day when grocery store staff helped you with your purchases.


In the end we discovered we had a lovely pork loin roast. A BIG one, which would have been good for a family of seven.


I still remember the tasty, crispy favor of that piece of piggie!

 

[Cheryl J]

I have volunteer (tons of it) spring onions every summer. And that's from ONE year, about 12 years ago, of tossing a packet of spring onion seeds into the bed under the kitchen window. Didn't plant them, just tossed them. And they've been coming up every spring ever since.

Funny thing is, I rarely use them for anything. Maybe all summer I'll go out and pick some 3 or 4 times and that's it.

I've tried that over the years, but the birds get to them before they can germinate.

 

[Linda0818]

Okay, my mother was just a good "basic" cook. As some background, I grew up in the '50s and she did the "meat and potatoes' kind of cooking. Nothing special, just what was necessary to feed her husband and five children. We didn't have a restricted budget because our father provided very well.


As it happened, at one of our parents' visit to the market on daddy's day off, the clerk, in error, put someone else's groceries into daddy's car. That was in the day when grocery store staff helped you with your purchases.


In the end we discovered we had a lovely pork loin roast. A BIG one, which would have been good for a family of seven.


I still remember the tasty, crispy favor of that piece of piggie!

I'll bet that was yummy. I'd feel bad, though, that I ended up with someone else's food

I've tried that over the years, but the birds get to them before they can germinate.

No doubt the birds had their share of some of mine. But luckily it rained the next day and beat some of the seeds into the ground. Now they won't go away. Not that I want them to. But most of them sit so long that by the end of summer, they have flowered and more seeds get strewn everywhere.

Sometimes our lawn care guy will hit some of them with the weedwacker, even though he does his best to avoid them. And when you walk outside, the air is heavy with the smell of onions.

 

[Addie]

At the Winthrop wellness clinic, someone tossed a couple of tomatoes into where there had landscaping done. Eventually, the tomatoes rotted and the seeds took hold. There were tomato plants all over the nicely groomed land. Tomatoes grew on the vine, but as a lot of gardeners found out this year, it rained so much, and we had so little sun, that the tomatoes never ripened. Great if you love fried green tomatoes. Well, the landscapers didn't get up all the vines. Because the tomato plants are throwing out vines again. Come Spring, I wonder if the tomatoes will ripen this time around.

 

[Addie]

I've tried that over the years, but the birds get to them before they can germinate.

Buy sheets of gauze. Place over the plants to protect them from the birds. The sun can still reach the earth to warm the plants. Peg the gauze into the ground to hold it down and not blow away.

 

[larry_stewart]

I have volunteer (tons of it) spring onions every summer. And that's from ONE year, about 12 years ago, of tossing a packet of spring onion seeds into the bed under the kitchen window. Didn't plant them, just tossed them. And they've been coming up every spring ever since.

Funny thing is, I rarely use them for anything. Maybe all summer I'll go out and pick some 3 or 4 times and that's it.

I had a similar situation a few years ago.
I was cleaning out my spices and came across the motherland bag of mustard seeds. ( One year I tried making mustard, wasn't the most successful thing I've done, and wound up with a huge amount of extra mustard seeds). I had way more than I'd ever use in a life time, so I just kinda tossed the seeds over the deck railing and forgot about it. A few months later, I was walking on that side of the deck on the " grass", and realized I smelled mustard greens. Took a few minutes for me to figure out what the source is. Now, each year, I have a little self-grown mustard patch. Dont use it much, but occasionally, ill take some snippets and toss them into a salad.

 

[Linda0818]

At the Winthrop wellness clinic, someone tossed a couple of tomatoes into where there had landscaping done. Eventually, the tomatoes rotted and the seeds took hold. There were tomato plants all over the nicely groomed land. Tomatoes grew on the vine, but as a lot of gardeners found out this year, it rained so much, and we had so little sun, that the tomatoes never ripened. Great if you love fried green tomatoes. Well, the landscapers didn't get up all the vines. Because the tomato plants are throwing out vines again. Come Spring, I wonder if the tomatoes will ripen this time around.

I used to grow my own tomatoes every year and would get the occasional volunteer plant. But I stopped doing that a few years ago. I just don't have the energy anymore. That and the ground I planted in - from planting every single year in the same spot - became so deficient in nutrients that the tomatoes just stopped growing. Some plants didn't see one tomato because the blooms would die and fall off. Last year I tried container gardening with tomato plants. Same thing. So I give up now. I'm done trying.

Luckily, just up the road, we have a wonderful farm market that grows the yummiest tomatoes, the most amazing sweet corn, plus other vegetables. During the summer, I'm in there every week replenishing my tomato supply. I eat my weight in tomatoes every summer.

 

[Linda0818]

I had a similar situation a few years ago.
I was cleaning out my spices and came across the motherland bag of mustard seeds. ( One year I tried making mustard, wasn't the most successful thing I've done, and wound up with a huge amount of extra mustard seeds). I had way more than I'd ever use in a life time, so I just kinda tossed the seeds over the deck railing and forgot about it. A few months later, I was walking on that side of the deck on the " grass", and realized I smelled mustard greens. Took a few minutes for me to figure out what the source is. Now, each year, I have a little self-grown mustard patch. Dont use it much, but occasionally, ill take some snippets and toss them into a salad.

Isn't nature wonderful sometimes?

 

[larry_stewart]

Isn't nature wonderful sometimes?

Whats funny is the stuff I plan and put so much effort into growing usually doesn't do as well as the stuff I just threw over the fence.

Same thing happened to me with a spaghetti squash. During the winter, I just kinda throw the compost directly into the garden. Ive been trying to grow spaghetti squash for years. Some times successful, other times, not so much. But this past year, was my best year by far. All coming from self seeded plants from the composted stuff I threw out during the winter. I guess the seeds that were best for the conditions in my area were the ones that germinated. They also decided to grow when it was best for them. A lot of times we get stuff from the nurseries, that were started in greenhouses, and we kinda try to force them to grow in not such ideal situations for them, leading to failure or disappointment.

And yes !!! nature is wonderful.

 

[Linda0818]

Whats funny is the stuff I plan and put so much effort into growing usually doesn't do as well as the stuff I just threw over the fence.

Same thing happened to me with a spaghetti squash. During the winter, I just kinda throw the compost directly into the garden. Ive been trying to grow spaghetti squash for years. Some times successful, other times, not so much. But this past year, was my best year by far. All coming from self seeded plants from the composted stuff I threw out during the winter. I guess the seeds that were best for the conditions in my area were the ones that germinated. They also decided to grow when it was best for them. A lot of times we get stuff from the nurseries, that were started in greenhouses, and we kinda try to force them to grow in not such ideal situations for them, leading to failure or disappointment.

And yes !!! nature is wonderful.

That's been my experience as well... the stuff I'm trying to grow doesn't do as well as the stuff that pops up on its own.

I've never grown spaghetti squash (love that stuff) but I have grown zucchini and bell peppers and even peas. Not many of the peas made it into the house, though, because I would sit outside and eat them right out of the pods. Best flavor ever.

 

[pepperhead212]

One of the volunteers that I've actually found useful is tomatillos. At the end of the season, they would always start producing countless, smaller fruits, which would ripen before they could be picked, and most would just fall on the ground. Next season, there would be volunteers all over, and I'd just dig up the best looking ones, and plant them. After 3 years or so, the fruits would be smaller, so I'd start another few plants from seeds, and start over again! Last few years I have been growing in SIPs, and comparing 2 varieties each season, so I didn't use the volunteers, but they are still all over!

 

[rodentraiser]

Buy sheets of gauze. Place over the plants to protect them from the birds. The sun can still reach the earth to warm the plants. Peg the gauze into the ground to hold it down and not blow away.

Hmmm...I tried putting netting over lettuce once. The birds just landed on the netting and ate the lettuce through it. I know I did that wrong, but it was sort of funny at the time.

I had a similar situation a few years ago.
I was cleaning out my spices and came across the motherland bag of mustard seeds. ( One year I tried making mustard, wasn't the most successful thing I've done, and wound up with a huge amount of extra mustard seeds). I had way more than I'd ever use in a life time, so I just kinda tossed the seeds over the deck railing and forgot about it. A few months later, I was walking on that side of the deck on the " grass", and realized I smelled mustard greens. Took a few minutes for me to figure out what the source is. Now, each year, I have a little self-grown mustard patch. Dont use it much, but occasionally, ill take some snippets and toss them into a salad.

I did that with marigolds one year. I had a slab of cement about 2 x 3 feet in front of my trailer next to the steps with maybe 3" of dirt over it. I didn't think anything would grow, but I threw out some marigold seeds anyway and then ignored them (except to water them). When they started blooming, I quit counting at 200 blooms...I was thinking if maybe I just threw the seeds of all my plants out so carelessly and ignored them, they might grow better, too.

 

[JustJoel]

When we were living at my folks’ house, taking care of Mom after Dad passed away, an enormous bush of what we later identified as Thai bird chilies (man, were those things HOT). We really don’t know where they came from. Mark had planted some lovely herbs, and some tomatoes, but no chilies of any type.

We did put up a bird feeder, but I don’t think there are any chili seeds in bird feed! We got some sunflowers from it though.