Volunteers

The key to making your garden work more rewarding and less arduous is to strategically plant your garden with a combination of perennials and annuals that re-seed. Perennials are plants that over winter returning each year with more growth; like strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or asparagus - You plant once and eat forever.

Annuals are plants that need to be started again each year, that is according to definition. However, there are many vegetables and flowers that re-seed themselves and come back every year, if you allow the plants to mature and go to seed. I often refer to them as volunteers.

This year is my 3rd summer here where we currently live and I’m grateful that I have a patch of bok choy returning a second year as volunteers after having only planted it once in May 2020.

Some plants such as tomatoes will re-seed if the fruits are left to decompose. However, they are heat loving plants so if you live in places with colder climate the growing season won’t be long enough if you just let nature take it’s course. Due to this, many people start tomatoes, pepper and other heat loving plants inside in January or February.