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A volunteer here, a volunteer there
- January 21, 2023
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Do you ever get volunteers?
Volunteer plants that is.
We sure do.
And it seems like we have a lot of volunteers right now.
Especially baby bok choy. There is a lot of baby bok choy in the lettuce right now.
Baby bok choy is always seeded into trays and then transplanted, so I don’t know how these guys came about. But they did!
Did you note the empty 4-pack that’s keeping the lettuce company like a good little pot? Maybe we’re shifting the lettuce dependency from the empty 4-packs to baby bok choy plants….
There’s also cilantro and tomatoes. Although I know how they came about. Both crops were grown in that tunnel previously. The cilantro was allowed to go to seed, and dropped tomatoes just get plowed into the soil.
Boom. Instant future crops.
On their time table. Not ours.
It’s still fun to see tomato plants voluntarily growing in January.
Future volunteers is one of the risks of trying to save seeds. All the cilantro in this planting of lettuce. Another tunnel, where we grew swiss chard to seed, also has lots of swiss chard volunteers.
An outdoor field has dill.
And of course the volunteer tomato and pumpkin plants.
For the most part, we leave the volunteers alone. After all, it’s something to harvest and we didn’t need to actively plant it. #worksmarternotharder (you know, the problem with hashtags is there’s no spell check. I must’ve looked at that hashtag a billion times making sure I typed it correctly).
Plus, the volunteers let us know the soil is a-okay for growing in. If nothing wants to grow in that spot of ground… you’ve got a problem.
And one more volunteer picture, just because it is so big and beautiful: one salad turnip.
Some seasonal inspiration:
Open Tue-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-5.
Closed Sunday & Monday.
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About Highland Orchards
Completely surrounded by suburbia, our small farm has been growing beyond expectations since 1832, just north of Wilmington, Delaware.
Growing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, Highland Orchards provides true “farm fresh” for the community all year. If you want to shake the hand of the farmer who grows for you, here is the farm! With plants in the ground or under cover in tunnels, we grow for every season. A family farm, we have three different generations involved in running the farm right now.
Come see us to eat fresh, eat local, and eat well!