[Elcie]

We (including me!) worry so much about whether things will grow/pollinate/produce fruit or vegetables that I thought it would be nice to hear some stories about how easy it is to get some things to grow.

For example, last year I decided that I would try to grow some Christmas potatoes.  I bought the seed potatoes and planted them in a potato planter which is basically a big sack.  They didn't do anything!  Anyway, earlier in the year one of the back panes on my plastic greenhouse decided to come out so I put a lot of stuff up against it so that it wouldn't break, one of which was my unsuccessful potato sack.  Anyway, earlier today I happened to look behind the greenhouse and what did I see?  A potato sack full of potato leaves.  No watering, no fertiliser, no looking after.  Just lots of potato leaves!

Any other stories of how things love to grow?

[Shop Keep]

i didn't plant any weeds.
Hay presto, up they come

[mumofstig]

I planted rocket in the corner of the garden, and used it as required. It quietly went to seed and I forgot about it. This spring I have loads of rocket to eat untouched by human hand. Think I'll keep a better eye on the ones in the polytunnel though 

[kel28]

Ha my weeds do that too!  Im not sure if this counts but I only remembered on Monday I have a potted sage plant that has been hidden around the side of my greenhouse in a pile of pieces of wood since last yr. I have re-potted it and somehow it seems to have survived all the hot temp we had last month all by itself wish all the other plants were as easy to please!

[ember]

Potatoes & Lettices
These were planted by a troupe of scouts who came to help out  

They dug deep holes, nobody had a fork tine through their foot or their teeth knocked out by handles.   The tatties went into the ground with the stones & the glass (warning had been given to shout if any found) into lakelike puddles. Managed to get soil sieved on top - eventually. The lettices went in along the 'ridges'.

Several weeks later the tato tops are coming up well - no manuring, composting, anything. We'll see what grows undergrpund   The lettices? They're growing phenomenally well. Maybe sweaty scout is a pest deterent - takes one to know one sort of thing. :

M

PS: Proper cultivation plans in place for the autumn.

[strangerachael]

Yes rocket has taken over my garden like a weed. Also have found squash/courgette seedlings all over the allotment, strawberries pop up all over the place and so do tomatoes, not to mention the ubiquitous volunteer potatoes!

[Shop Keep]

I did drop a packet of carrot seeds a few weeks ago on a particularly wind day.
I’m proud to announce 100% germination. 

[JayG]

In my garden raspberries are rampant thugs which happen to produce delicious fruit!

Last year's volunteer feverfew plants which I rashly allowed to flower and set seed is now feverhundreds (and everywhere in a 12' radius from the parent!  )

[rivkele]

So far this year i've had tomatoes popping up in a pot of lettuce, lettuce in a pot of basil, and chives which i'd given up on and stopped watering have suddenly sprung to life weeks later.

[mumofstig]

It looks as if the title should change to ..........Things Will Grow But Not Necessarily Where You Want Them   

[chimaera]

Exactly

Form a half pack of parsnip seeds; 7 seedlings
amongst fruit bushes 2 metres away; several parsnip seedlings (I sowed on a windy day)

Charlie

[Beklet]

More last year than this....laast year was first year I had an allotment, and basically sowed stuff from free packs of seeds in the mags, spuds and onions from the pound shop and whatever else I was given.
Apart from broccoli, everything came up fine - even the carrots although the spuds were small....looking at the pics I posted on Facebook, we put the tomatoes, sunflowers and other stuff out in April - this year had to wait till late May...

This year we've done everything 'properly', and we had to sow more courgettes, beans and sweetcorn after the frost got the first lot   

This year I sowed cauliflower and sprout seeds in the ground, not entirely convinced they'd even germinate, and so far they're not doing too badly - apart from the flea beetles we noticed last week 

I also have a load of weeds that look like some kind of lettuce - looks less grim than the other weed beds so they're staying, for now

[viettaclark]

Hoping to get an unexpected crop of spuds from plants sprouting willy-nilly in the runners bed. The deep trough full of uncomposted kitchen waste is to blame....
It's amazing isn't it....when I plant spuds properly they give me a rubbish harvest. Potato peelings on the other hand......(and I didn't need to earth them up!!!)
Didn't they plant peelings during the war because they couldn't spare whole spuds? And they grew ok!!!

[woodburner]

First time I grew potatoes, I had run out of dug beds, and time to dig more, so I tried no-dig potatoes. (In well rotted manure on top of cardboard, 'earthed up' with straw etc. ) The manure was contaminated with pyralid, not enough to stop them growing completely though, and by the end of the season it had completely broken down and the potatoes were looking good, then the blight hit, and I don't know whether I over planted or not, but I had plenty of spuds, of yummy not for sale in the supermarket varieties too.

Next time (last year) I struggled to get them all in (normal method), and apart from the initial mounding up, didn't earth them up at all. I must have mounded up just enough though, as I had very few spoilt by green. Too many to harvest before the rain set in and turned the plot to a bog. I dug up the rest when the weather improved this spring. Hey presto! Ready chitted spuds to replant in no-dig beds at home! I was extra lucky, as they were a variety I really wanted, but the shops and market had run out of! (Arran Pilot).


Then there's French tarragon. After I think three failed attempts to keep it going over winter in a pot indoors, I gave up and put it outside to take it's chances in the ground. (Actually I had bought two pots as one was going cheap at a garden or club sale.) After the winter being both horribly wet and very cold I didn't expect to find anything left of them when I cleared the winter weeds away, but they were still there! And still going strong, one better than the other though.

Other stuff I haven't had any particular miracles with, but I have to mention my carrots. They were riddled by the fly, but what was edible was so delicious, that even the boys noticed!! Whatever you do manage to grow, will still be far superior to shop bought.