Now matter how hard I try, a lot of my life is a bit haphazard. Maybe it’s because I have a “let the chips fall where they will” kind of attitude. Maybe it’s because at work I have to be so exact that I am in a continuous state of rebellion (mild, though, as I’ve aged….like wine and cheese). Maybe it’s because I am too tired to make everything just right. I don’t know, however, this laissez-faire (not lazy fair….thank you very much) attitude extends to most areas of my life. I make stews and soups (throw it in the crock pot with a few seasonings…easy, just act like it took forever and everyone thinks you are a genius), color outside the lines (those lines are suggestions), and garden volunteer style. What’s volunteer style? It is the lazy girl’s way of composting. No barrel, no pile, no turning, just bury the scraps, add water and presto! like magic, plants appear. For those of us who are OCD in the garden, this will not work but I choose to be OCD in other areas and let the garden do almost what it wants to. Besides, the last time I tried to compost the local critters and varmints thought it was a smorgasbord made just for them. Almost scared me out of my….never mind, that’s another story. Back to the volunteer garden.
The volunteer garden is a reflection of your eating habits, and sometimes your didn’t eat it habits. Tomatoes do pretty good. What variety? The “I didn’t pay extra for seeds” variety. Watermelon, squash, and cantaloupe do OK as long as they get enough water. The onions are growing because they look good (and didn’t get chopped up in time). We have cucumbers growing, too, a few peppers, and even sweet potatoes.
The sweet potatoes are my favorites. I got very lucky with these. I planned to plant some but by the time I got around to it I was a month late. I bought some pretty sweet taters at the store and put them in the pantry with plans to cook them….and promptly forgot they were there.
One day, while getting something out of the freezer, I felt something rub against my arm. After I calmed down I noticed it was a sweet potato vine, one of about a dozen. We planted the vines and let them grow.
Sweet potatoes have some of the prettiest flowers in the garden.
A few months later we harvest the sweet potatoes. Here’s the harvest.
Not a lot, about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket. Imagine if I’d of planted them sooner.
Post by Eileen Patterson.
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